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I love the combination of silver and wood on the Philips GA-212

Any of the late 80s -early 80s brick bodied tri-poles such as the Akai PC-100 or Acutex / Piezo YM-3XX equivalent makes a nice sound even with the generic stylus. More than good enough for my ears if they are dialed in well. Never listened to an MC though . Budget moving magnets such as the...

Great Info above.

A good entry level spherical cartridge or something like an Audio Technica AT93 ( depending on how heavy your tonearm is) should be fine on old well played vinyl. With care and the right cartridge alignment those old records it might actually sound better than you remember. Also these two are...

Actually it seems like Philips drew a compromise line between Loefgren A and B and aimed for the average lowest rms distortion between those two ( ?) based on EWarriors original spec numbers. So , 0.45 % rms distortion for loefgren A , 0.4 % for Loefgren B ,and 0.55 % Stevenson.... and then...

Here's the plot for 3 geometries I got on Vinyl Engine for Philips owners to compare with the above plot from Ewarrior. Might come in handy for anyone using a standard Ortofon or generic protractor with enough gridlines to mark off the two null points with a ruler and use the above date to...

Great info Ewarrior. it seems the distortion figures are actually comparable to the standard Loefgren A , B or Stevenson figures based on those Philips null points. Loefgren B had the best rms average distortion over an entire side of a 12 inch record when I compared them..Loefgren A next and...

Here's a table of what the various alignments look like for a 201 mm tonearm mounting distance ( if the specs above are correct). I measured 200mm roughly so 201mm *published* is good enough to work from. At Loefgren A ( Baerwald) or Loefgren B null points alignment , you're looking at...

The tonearm mounting distance would seem to be 201mm then (effective length minus overhang) In my example using the slide in cartridge mount ( not the 1/2 inch slide in mount that came extra for using other cartridges exccept the Philips GP4xx series) it aligns to the null points grid on a...

I believe that Philips originally set up GA-212 and their GP-400 / GP-500 series cartridges to align to Baerwald geometry and corresponding null points. The Ortofon protractor shown in the post above should be Baerwald also so it's just a case of getting the styus tip of the cartridge to sit...

Funnily enough I scored a pair of Diamond IIs just before xmas as I never got around to listening to them when they were all the rage back in the mid 80s. And yes they are inefficient..soemthing like 86db/watt/meter but still iconic little things that sound far better than they have any right...

There's a lot of interest in Cassettes at the moment... the prices of good quality blank tapes (especially sealed in the wrapper) has become eyewatering.

Fantastic work. This is a seriously good looking unit too!. Not sure how easy it is to take the main relay cover off on this unit, but I managed to get inside the one in the Aiwa that had low . intermittent output on one channel when I first got it. I ran some very fine 1000 grit paper through...

Reinvent yourself. Become the best version of you... go visit somewhere you've always wanted to go... check out some live, upbeat music... new shirt, new shoes, new hat... find a cool spot and hang out as if it's normal....eventually you'll find your mojo and realise that time is a gift and...

Always wanted this tape deck when I was in my mid-teens and putting together my first HI-Fi system on a shoestring student budget. But it sold for about £200 around 1986/87 and by the time my Aiwa AD-F350 had given up its belt a few years later , I ended up with the later Marantz sd-451 auto...

Glad the site is still going strong. Facebook has pretty much picked up most of the newcomers to vintage audio ( and other hobbies) that used to frequent the traditional forums...but a google search for a specific audio component or general knowledge topic concerning hi-fi equipment no longer...

Give it a listen. At worst it will need a new belt and some fresh oil in the platter bearing. A friend of mine bought a new Project turntable a few years ago and thought it sounded good. He wanted something cheap and cheerful with easy speed change so I told him to hunt for a PL-12D in good...

I 've found that the AT-95E is anything but lacking in bass , unless they've changed the formula since my circa 1988 model. It's actually quite a rich sounding cartridge with good midrange for vocals and a solid bass and pretty good treble too considering it was a budget cartridge. It's been...

I don't think there is any plastic on the PL12D ,the sprung top plate is metal. The later PL-112D maybe with the grey top plate but it didn't have the suspension of the former.

It's sometimes hard to compare turntables on specs alone but a Thorens at a good price with a tonearm that has good bearings ( no play ) is always worth a look. Depending on what arm is fitted ( especially its effective mass) it might actually allow you to use cartridges with a medium or low...

Hang on to the Philips 212 if it's in good working order. It makes a nice platform for affordable High-ish compliance cartridges despite its toy-like ( but actually decent sounding) tonearm. It's a very musical sounding turntable when paired with a cartridge that suits its arm mass and the pitch...

A well set up Pioneer PL-12D with an Audio Technica AT-95E is a very nice sounding vinyl spinner for not much money and they are bombproof. What it lacks in automation it makes up for in low maintenance simplicity. The tonearm ( and its pivot bearing assembly) is good enough for a stylus upgrade...

try some drinking straws in the port cut to the same length

Monacor make some good 4 inch drivers. https://www.monacor.com/products/components/speaker-technology/hi-fi-speakers-/sp-60-8/

Even with floor standers, I'd also factor in some low spiked stands into the equation to get the tweeters up to ear level and keep the speakers boxes decoupled from the floor and rigidly anchored to whatever surface is below the carpet.