Nightwisher's Systems In "Luxman's Room" And Beyond: Some New And Lots of Vintage

It is fun to have some spare gear to share with friends who are interested. I am still weighing whether to give my spare turntable to a friend who is interested in getting into vinyl or if I will find a way to squeeze it into one of my two systems...
 
Some new pick ups, all good keepers or trade bait:

Marantz 2216

I traded the Advents for this with one of my local friends (I got the 2215b from him as well). Very nice condition and new lights. Sounds excellent through my Missions, even in this quick setup. It'll make its way to join the Imperials eventually.

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Tascam CD-A500

Both the CD and tape side work, which will make it a useful backup.

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JVC QL-A2
JVC JR-S201

I love the look of these units. The receiver works great and is a keeper for now. The turntable engine died as I was testing it, so that may be on the repair bench at some point. It at least has a good Stanton cartridge.

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I traded one of the local guys a pair of Boston Acoustics CR-75s and CR-8s for these

Boston Acoustics A120s

They sound very good despite all the dislikes they get. I agree with Bostown's review - I'm still waiting for something to dislike. Imaging and tone are good. These are very similar to the Polk Monitor 7, but the tweeters in these are way smoother and more detailed. (Polks also get a bad rap sometimes for passive radiators, which is likely a lot of it.) Now, I don't have any other A series to compare to, but regardless these sound great.

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And picked up my first Super Audio CD capable player. Now to find some...

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The A400 is still my favorite Boston Acoustics speaker that I've heard, but I'm very curious about those Lynnfields of yours.
That would be an interesting comparison.

I love the Lynnfields. They're so detailed and have fantastic imaging.
 
A few new pickups (after I sold a few things - believe it or not, I actually have less now):

A couple new loners, EPI 100V and Optimus Pro LX5. The EPI woofers look to have been replaced unfortunately and the Optimus woofer may be toast. But I had to rescue them.

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I got another pair of Missions, Mission 700 "Leading Edge" this time. They sound sweet, but I think I like the 732s more.

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A Denon DCD-425 CD player. Not because I need any more CD players, but because it's a nice looking Denon.

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I took a roadtrip for these Sansui SP-1200a's and Sansui 8900zdb. I went there to get some Wharfedales, but she had accidentally sold them to someone else while I was driving, thinking it was me :(. I spent more than I was planning on, but I couldn't refuse the receiver, especially since he had the replacement board as well. All from the original owner.

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I'd forgotten about EPI's inverted domes! What a flash back

The Linaeum tweeter in your Optimus Pro's are sweet. The woofers died in mine too, used some new old stock Definitive Audio 5 1/4 mid/woofs and stuffed the cavity with acousti-stuff. Nice near field speakers. Enjoy!

P.S. how are the lattice grills of you Sansui's?
 
I'd forgotten about EPI's inverted domes! What a flash back

The Linaeum tweeter in your Optimus Pro's are sweet. The woofers died in mine too, used some new old stock Definitive Audio 5 1/4 mid/woofs and stuffed the cavity with acousti-stuff. Nice near field speakers. Enjoy!

P.S. how are the lattice grills of you Sansui's?
Thanks.

The lattice grills are in pretty good shape.

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A couple updates:

I got a new piece of Luxman, a AS-4III RCA switch. It replaced the out-of-place RCA brand switch I've been using on and off.

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I've also been doing more experimenting with the Lynnfields. I found I like the mid/tweeter modules reversed, so the drivers are on the outside. This is actually the preferred position for the Series II (tweaked by Dave Fokos), which is what these are, rather than the original Series I (designed by Phil Jones). That and a little toe-in sharpened imaging and smoothed things out a bit. I installed the carpet spikes, which sharpened some things up and got the speakers level and rigid on the floor.

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I also got a spare pair of inputs and woofer crossovers for them (for free from the same guy), just in case.
 
Got some new stuff today:

Got a Pioneer SX-750 in trade for my Kenwood preamp and ADC 10 band EQ. Only issue is the cabinet is painted black.

Got the KLH Model Five cabinets for free. I might use them for frankenspeakers. Couldn't resist the walnut.

Got a spare pair of Lynnfield woofers from the same guy as the rest of the Lynnfield stuff in trade for my KLH Model 20s. Just in case, since the Lynnfields are rare.

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I finished working on a pair of Bose 301 Series I for someone yesterday (new foam, new woofer, new tweeter, and some miscellaneous gluing), so of course I had to test them out for a few hours. They sounded really great.

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New Luxman:

I added another M-02 power amp, so that I can use the pair as bridged monoblocks (in BTL mode). 300+ watts/channel now. The Lynnfields deserve the extra power.

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I also picked up a NAD 7155 receiver this week. My first NAD and I like it.

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Got a couple of nice iPod docks:

Tivoli Audio iYiYi

Sweet and rare unit, but unfortunately the amp doesn't seem to work. I was really looking forward to hearing a Tivoli since I love all things Henry Kloss.

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Kicker ik501

The iPod dock to end all iPod docks. 2 5" woofers and a passive radiator in the back. This takes a laptop charger, so I'll have to see if one of my old ones will work. I remember pining over the Zune version back when these were new 10 years ago.

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Found some cool stuff today:

EPI Microtower Bookshelf 2

A really sweet sounding pair of speakers. Not much info out there on these - even Hue at Human speakers doesn't have complete info on these. Air spring tweeter, dual 4.5" woofers with a transmission line design, similar to the rest of the Microtower series. The grills were glued on, so that'll need to be cleaned up. They sound fantastic with my Luxman LV-105 :music:

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Onkyo TX-2500

Fully working. Always wanted some silver Onkyo. Was a package deal with the Microtowers and an Akai EQ.

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Sony SDP-E800 Surround Processor/Preamp

Cool unit. Fairly uncommon it seems.

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It seems it was Onkyo and EPI day, because I also found an Onkyo surround receiver (run of the mill) and EPI T/E 100 Series 2 speakers (will get pictures soon).
 
Updates:

I finally upgraded my phono cartridge from the Ortofon 2M Red to a Nagaoka MP-150 (installed on a Nagaoka headshell). I like this cartridge a lot. Smoother and more refined than the Red.

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Picked up some cool stuff to play with. I don't need any of it, but it's a hobby.

Scored 2 pairs of Bose 501 Series IV speakers. Got an Onkyo receiver, Sony 100 disc CD changer, Onkyo tape deck, and Sansui turntable as part of the deal. I'll probably keep one pair of 501s for a while.

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Yamaha CR-440: everything works besides the tuner lights. I really love the selector knobs.

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Also found a couple more subwoofers:

Jamo A3SUB.3: a good 10" with lots of power. I like that both the port and woofer are downfiring.

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Pinnacle PB1000: A tiny sealed sub with dual side-firing 6.5" drivers. The amazing thing is this thing easily goes down to 32 Hz at -3 dB, better than the Jamo's 35. And tighter too.

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I got a Harmon/Kardon hk3400 from the original owner with the remote. I really enjoy H/K gear.

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I picked up these cool Pioneer S-MT3W mini component speakers. Normally I'd pass on mini speakers, but these are virtually identical to the well regarded JVCs and have real wood cabinets. They sound quite nice, especially when I added the subs to the mix.

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I also picked up a Pioneer PL-510S turntable. No pictures yet. Needs a counterweight but otherwise works.
 
Here are my systems as of March 23, 2019. The first gets about 50% of my listening; located in my livingroom:
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This system is currently stereo; previously it was 4.0 (bridged front-center channel). From left to right: Teac 4070 bi-directional tape deck, with accompaning Teac Dolby B 180 electronics. Under the teac deck, a Marantz disc recorder. Next the left-front of four Thiel 3.5 speakers, driven by four Outlaw M200 monoblocks (bottom shelf of equipment cabinets). Under the TV an Audio Research SP-6a upgraded preamp feedin the topmost monoblocks. Under that, a Margules Audio 5.1 channel all-analog preamp (now unused). Atop the right cabinet a Dual 701 turntable with Accuphase AC-2 MC cartridge feeding a (hidden) Marcof PPA-2 headamp into the ARC pre. Under that, an Oppo 105 and a Fisher tubed FM90B tuner. Finally, the rightmost front Thiel 3.5. The chair, bookshelves, and rug provide a nice level of damping/dispersal. Would be better to have more space around the Teacs but there is just enough for them to work their magic.


Here is the left cabinet components:
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And the right side:

audio system 3-23-19crop 12_DxO.jpg audio system 3-23-19crop 13_DxO.jpg
No photos of the tape gear or rear speakers for now.

I also have a system in my den/dining room. It consists of two Thiel 2 2 speakers, driven by an Amber 70 amplifier, preamplified by a Carver C2 preamp and feed by a Denon 47F turntable with Audio Technica cartridge, a Carver TX-2 tuner, a Pioneer 589 universal (except Blu-Ray) disk player, and a Sony CS2000 SACD/CD carousel. Inexpensive but still a very nice sounding system. Someday I'll get around to swapping in my ADC XLM with OLM shibata stylus.
Here 'tis:
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And finally, in my bedroom a basic system used mostly for background music; it consists of oldie but really-goody and rare KLH 5 speakers, driven by an Onkyo receiver and fed (in addition to FM and AM) by a Nakamich CR-1 cassette deck. I've been too lazy to add a cd player or phono, although I've got two of each sitting in my rear storage room.
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All in all, too much gear than I need, but enough to keep me constantly surrounded by music!!
 

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Here are my systems as of March 23, 2019. The first gets about 50% of my listening; located in my livingroom:
View attachment 1458113
View attachment 1458118

This system is currently stereo; previously it was 4.0 (bridged front-center channel). From left to right: Teac 4070 bi-directional tape deck, with accompaning Teac Dolby B 180 electronics. Under the teac deck, a Marantz disc recorder. Next the left-front of four Thiel 3.5 speakers, driven by four Outlaw M200 monoblocks (bottom shelf of equipment cabinets). Under the TV an Audio Research SP-6a upgraded preamp feedin the topmost monoblocks. Under that, a Margules Audio 5.1 channel all-analog preamp (now unused). Atop the right cabinet a Dual 701 turntable with Accuphase AC-2 MC cartridge feeding a (hidden) Marcof PPA-2 headamp into the ARC pre. Under that, an Oppo 105 and a Fisher tubed FM90B tuner. Finally, the rightmost front Thiel 3.5. The chair, bookshelves, and rug provide a nice level of damping/dispersal. Would be better to have more space around the Teacs but there is just enough for them to work their magic.


Here is the left cabinet components:
View attachment 1458075
And the right side:

View attachment 1458083 View attachment 1458080
No photos of the tape gear or rear speakers for now.

I also have a system in my den/dining room. It consists of two Thiel 2 2 speakers, driven by an Amber 70 amplifier, preamplified by a Carver C2 preamp and feed by a Denon 47F turntable with Audio Technica cartridge, a Carver TX-2 tuner, a Pioneer 589 universal (except Blu-Ray) disk player, and a Sony CS2000 SACD/CD carousel. Inexpensive but still a very nice sounding system. Someday I'll get around to swapping in my ADC XLM with OLM shibata stylus.
Here 'tis:
View attachment 1458099

And finally, in my bedroom a basic system used mostly for background music; it consists of oldie but really-goody and rare KLH 5 speakers, driven by an Onkyo receiver and fed (in addition to FM and AM) by a Nakamich CR-1 cassette deck. I've been too lazy to add a cd player or phono, although I've got two of each sitting in my rear storage room.
View attachment 1458107

************************************************
All in all, too much gear than I need, but enough to keep me constantly surrounded by music!!
Very nice systems and collection! Lots of gear in there I would not mind owning :thumbsup:
 
Picked up a nice cassette deck:

Teac V-909RX. A really nice deck, in a nice (and rare) wood case. Plays, but unfortunately does not output sound. I'll try cleaning and demagnitizing the heads, and see what happens.

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Also picked up this bundle of gear from the original owner. The Insignia NS-B2111s are the real surprise. Also included were Advent/9s, Akai AA-1125, and JVC RX-709VTN.

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Traded the Yamaha CR-440 and my Ortofon 2M Red for this Pioneer SA-708 and TX-608. The integrated with need some work as there is a hum and the meters don't display correctly. Majestic EQ was a throw-in.

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Also picked up a PL-510S turntable.

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And continuing with the Pioneer theme, picked up a pair of empty HPM-100 cabinets. Now to find something to do with them.

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