Recent content by birchoak

OMG buy that! Now. Dude, you can't get a good cup of coffee for $5 these days. That may be a tube model--I'm not a Sansui expert.

Specs matter but only to a certain point--some lab queens look fantastic on paper but sound lifeless in reality. I think the topology of an amp's components is most important to sound.

Headphones are as close to a perfect listening environment as you can get---no room variables screwing up the sound waves, drivers one inch from your ears, no reflections. If you get a small pair of good speakers and put them on your desktop, linked to a subwoofer, you can get pretty close.

Great thread---I'm sure there are great sounding new amps, just like there are great new cars, BUT: No one is going to make a truck again like the '73 Ford F350. It had a 351 Windsor that always started and ran strong, and it's iconic hood and see-through lettering on the grill made it one of...

Agree 100%. Far too many variables at play with vintage electronics, vs. furniture.

Normal. Phono as a source is nowhere near as "hot" as the modern CD player signal.

Man, a clean, unscratched dust cover is like gold! Surely someone on that auction site (or in Barter Town here at AK) will want the rest of the parts. Don't feel too bad for the Sony---it had it's day in the sun, spinning records--and you've salvaged some crucial organs.

Based on my own experience, I would agree chazix. I got back into this hobby about 14 years ago...so the KA-7002 I recently bought now has 50 year old components (read, "weak links") instead of 36! And yeah, maybe we're scraping the barrel now. I agree with Conrad, too: if you don't have...

I feel like I've already lost when I drop the F-bomb, like the situation has gotten the best of me. I agree that it could be taken out of a lot of movies (and the intent could be delivered in a cleverer way). Ditto for all the fart jokes, fat jokes, etc. I think all this stuff ends up in a...

Nice finish, Gnesen! That's some tricky veneer work on the front baffles-- Yes, the bass on these is unreal, especially if you build your cabinets well. They respond well to old school amplification--old cap-coupled amps and such--but can also run with big power amps. Possibly the most bass...

I did the test again yesterday and....1 out of 6. The only one I got right was the classical music sample and I'm pretty sure that was an accident. I guess I'm lucky--I don't need fancy stuff to play my tunes.

Full disclosure: these are on my bench. Sometimes I hook them up to an old receiver to listen to FM while I work; sometimes I hook them up to test an amp. Today I used them to test a JVC 5540 and they sounded fantastic for their size--they really respond to quality amplification, which the...

Wasting our time? Ha ha, we live for this stuff, my friend. I'm sure you already know this but I'm pretty sure that's a bipolar (aka NP, BP) cap. F1nut is right, as long as you're in there replace those old resistors---I'll let him advise you on what to use.

This story is touching (and what a title!). Your DJ is lucky to have a listener that appreciates her gifts so thoroughly. A good DJ is curator to a collection too large for any one listener to fathom. I gave up on FM for many years until I stumbled upon a fantastic local station. The...

I love this story. I'm with Travis, as I, too, like to sit right in front of the receiver and play with all the knobs and buttons! I do not have his hearing gifts, however.