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First two channel system in 15 years

HankScorpio

HankScorpio

Dude in Seattle
So after a long time, and a lot of cruddy sound, I managed to put together my first 2 channel system since the all in one Aiwa bookshelf system I picked up in 8th grade, and continuted to rely on for far too long. THe receiver is a KLH Model 55 driving Boston Acoustics A60's. It's a low powered set up, but in a 1 bedroom Queens apartment, I can't exactly have something blowing the windows out.
I got the 55 from a guy on Craigslist for less than I had wanted to spend, and spent Monday giving it a dexoit bath, which cured all the ailments I was hearing, except for some issues in the headphone stage. I still need to find some replacement bulbs and get that fixed, but she's up, running and sounding great.
The A60's come from a garage sale for $10. I spent last Friday refoaming them, and tested them on my father's 2235b, and they sounded great once I got that finished. I was shocked at how easy the refoam job went, as I was admittedly nervous about completely screwing these speakers up.
This is currently in the kitchen, since that's where I had the surface space to do the deoxit work, and the table had room for the speakers (and I'm not going to start rearranging the living room without the wife's go-ahead - painting, sure, moving furniture, I know better).
That said, the WAF on this stuff is pretty high, and as a bonus, I was playing some Neko Case records (er FLACords or albums or whatevers) which she turned me onto, while I was cooking dinner, and she stopped in her tracks and commented on how good it sounded. So this weekend, we're going to find some room in the living room for this.
So for a little 17 WPC unit, I'm finally enjoying some nice sound quality for the first time in a while, and I don't think I ever would have dared to take on even the minor upkeep that this entailed had I not found AK. So much great info, and so much help.

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Great looking setup, especially for an apartment in NYC! What part of Astoria are you in? My wife and I used to live just south of Astoria Park.
 
the_stone said:
Great looking setup, especially for an apartment in NYC! What part of Astoria are you in? My wife and I used to live just south of Astoria Park.
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We're on the other side by Steinway and 30th ave, absolutely love it here. I think come February we may be moving over toward the park.
But yeah, it's a nice little setup, and even pushing low volumes it does a terriffic job of filling the room, and has it's providing details that I haven't heard outside of headphone listening in a long time. I can't wait to get this into the living room this weekend, and just chill out on the couch with a nice bottle of something and enjoy. And I'm extremely excited that I have a wife who, as long as speakers have a wood finish (she hates the black stuff) and sounds good, she seems to be into it.
I may order some new grill cloth and see if I can keep this great sounding little system to look a little better for an already understanding and appreciative missus.
 
HankScorpio said:
We're on the other side by Steinway and 30th ave, absolutely love it here. I think come February we may be moving over toward the park.
But yeah, it's a nice little setup, and even pushing low volumes it does a terriffic job of filling the room, and has it's providing details that I haven't heard outside of headphone listening in a long time. I can't wait to get this into the living room this weekend, and just chill out on the couch with a nice bottle of something and enjoy. And I'm extremely excited that I have a wife who, as long as speakers have a wood finish (she hates the black stuff) and sounds good, she seems to be into it.
I may order some new grill cloth and see if I can keep this great sounding little system to look a little better for an already understanding and appreciative missus.
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Now that's a wife with taste I can appreciate :thmbsp:

Great looking set-up. I bet it sounds as good as it looks!
 
HankScorpio said:
We're on the other side by Steinway and 30th ave, absolutely love it here. I think come February we may be moving over toward the park.
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Nice. I used to work at a bank on 30th Ave & 35th Street. Loved living in that area. We were on 18th Street, barely 50 yards from the park. Great neighborhood, and there were a few nearby streets that never did cleaning, so we could leave our car there all week.

Ever make it to Sweet Afton, on 34th st. and 30th ave?
 
the_stone said:
Ever make it to Sweet Afton, on 34th st. and 30th ave?
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That's probably our favorite bar. Amazing beers, stellar food, and they're always playing great music. Between that place and the Quays / Pulpit where Shane McGowan goes to drink (and occasionally perform) when the Pogues are in town I'm surprised we ever go anywhere else.

Thanks for all the good vibes on my little system. Once we get this set up in the living room, I'll take some nicer pics to share.
 
deadphish said:
Nice move running yer iPod outta the data port instead of the headphone jack. Good call.
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It makes a world of difference. I'm going to tack on a Pure i-20, but for now the line out through the fiio E5 is working quite nicely.
As far as the refoam goes, I was shocked how easy it was, especially for my first time. I had read up on it here and watched a few youtube videos and read through the instructions that came with the replacement foams. The first one I was a bit messy with the glue, but the second went so smoothly. The hardest part was getting the old foam off the rims.
 
I wish my girlfriend was as receptive to this hobby as your wife. Whenever I start to talk music/stereos, my gf rolls her eyes and checks her phone messages.

I'm not surprised about the low-powered receiver filling the room with music...I had (still have it in the garage) a 15 watt Hitachi receiver as my main amp when I was an apartment dweller, and it did the job just fine.
 
I'm sure the more stuff I bring into our small apartment, the less receptive she'll get. Today, for example, I stopped to a goodwill on the way home and wound up bringing home a pair of Realistic Minimus 7W's. Since they're small, they're being stored in the closet for the time being, but once I get a bachelor weekend, they're getting a steel wool / restore a finish treatment, and I may or may not bring them to work, since I hooked them up to the KLH and they surprised the heck out of me with how much sound they put out, and that it sounded pretty darned good. I figured for another $10 it was worth a shot. I feel like the patron saint of halfway decent speakers for $10 has been smiling on me.
But yes, she has her limits. In the current place I'm limited to one system. When we move, I get two. That means two receivers, two sets of speakers and two turntables. I can probably shoehorn a third, especially with those little realistics ;) but if I bring in a new pair of speakers, another has to be moved out within a week. Not much time to audition, but I feel that it's a fair compromise.
 
Nice system. Welcome back to 2 channels. It will look very nice with all the bulbs replaced. I'm also a sucker for analog dials.
 
So it's been a while, and true to AK form, I've tried out a whole bunch of things, and have been through a couple different receivers (big thanks to the AK folks who have hooked me up with awesome, clean gear that sounds astonishing).
So the KLH is gone. It broke down and I didn't have the know how or the time to really get it back up and running, so I passed it on to another AKer who had a partially working KLH. I replaced that, originally with an awesome little Rotel receiver care of Steelman, which sounds awesome, but is the unfortunate odd man out right now. So without further adieu:


DSC_0201 by viscontijm, on Flickr


DSC_0199 by viscontijm, on Flickr

The bedroom setup, which is small, neat, and gives me just what I need, a great sounding tuner for NPR in the morning, and playback on the ipod for when I read at night, or when I just want some music to fall asleep to. Components wise, it's a Kenwood KR-2600 (from BT), Realistic Minimus 7Ws (nice Goodwill find), and a line out cable for the ipod classic (120 gb).

And the main system in the living room:


DSC_0202 by viscontijm, on Flickr


DSC_0209 by viscontijm, on Flickr


DSC_0204 by viscontijm, on Flickr


DSC_0207 by viscontijm, on Flickr


DSC_0213 by viscontijm, on Flickr


DSC_0215 by viscontijm, on Flickr

So, the speakers are the only part left from the original setup. They're Boston Acoustics A-60's that my mom found for $10 at a house sale, because the surrounds were shot. I refoamed them, and added the white speaker cloth (the wife loves the look of the white covers, so if that means I put in some effort and make all the covers white, so be it). They're being driven by a new to me Kenwood KR-7600 that I picked up from nolasally over in BT. I didn't really get how much more power would give me in terms of sound, but everything I've thrown at this has just been more detailed and sounded fuller. The turntable is a Marantz 6100 with an AT95e (I have the shure classic yellow as a backup as well).
I actually just set everything up against this wall last week at the request of the better half. I don't really love it yet, and there's work to be done, like getting the speakers off the floor, but right now I don't have stands (I'd love to get some custom made, but it's not really in the budget right about now, and I don't have the space / tools to make it happen). But overall, I'm super happy with how everything is sounding, and I'm looking forward to rotating in the Marantz 2230 and the Polk Monitor 5jr+ that are currently in mom's storage into the rotation.
 
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