GuyK
Addicted Member
Since I was asked, I figured this would be the proper place to reply.
I don't have anything outlandishly high end, mostly just solid middle range stuff... and mostly from the mid 70's, some newer, some older.
Main:
Pioneer SX-1010 receiver
Pioneer TX-9100 tuner
Pioneer RT-707 tape deck
Thorens TD-160, AT440MLa
Dual 1219, Shure M91ed
Denon DVD-910
Magnapan MG-I
Bedroom:
HK 330B
Sony CDP-70
Kef K-2
Various assortment of other stuff throughout the house, but these are the 2 rigs that I do my critical listening on.
SX-1010 was found for me by an uncle at a junk shop around 20 years ago, and has been serviced a couple of times. Before this I had been given an enormous Marantz Quad receiver (sorry, don't remember the model number), but it never worked. A repair quote was more than the machine was worth at the time, and I got rid of it, making do with the old Sansui 400 dad brought back while in the service. The only fault I have with the 1010 is how warm the power supply board gets, so a super quiet pancake fan has been sealed to the case, and plugged into the switched outlet on the back, drawing air up through the unit. Since I did this 15 years ago, it has never gotten overly warm.
The RT-707 was a garage sale purchase 20 or so years ago - $5, grocery bag full of tapes included. Since I've had it, I've only had to replace a meter light, and the counter belt. Replacing the lamp was a PIA, but the belt not too bad.
The TX-9100 was purchased for me by my sister for $25 15-16 years ago....at a police auction. Every so often the SPD auctions off (or used to, don't know if they still do) confiscated merchandise that has not been able to be returned to the owners. This is a great tuner, but AM radio around here has devolved to mostly talk shows, now even invading FM, and the FM music stations seem to have very small playlists any more, so I don't use it except as a "pre-set" for this analog rig. Most radio listening is done through the onboard tuner in the SX-1010, which has proven to be exceptional.
Before the Magnapans, there were 2 sets of Speakerlab 3's in the room, stacked on top of one another, the top set inverted. This sounded far better than just a single set, but these MG-1's, while not having the super solid bass of the Sl's, are far superior in most other respects.
I found the HK330B at a thrift shop last year, and gave it a tuneup. My only fault here is not very much power. This works in a small room though, and sounds rather good.
I was given the Thorens by an aunt, who was going to get rid of it, and the cart. was sent to me by an uncle who lives not too far from AT in NE Ohio (Akron area). This is a pretty good combo - far and away better than the Grado that was on it before (I could never get it to stop humming). No knock on Grado, it was not one of their higher end pieces. Most of my listening is done through the Dual / Shure combination though, since so many of my LP's come from thrift stores, and I don't like to subject the AT stylus to these until I know for sure how good the LP actually is. If good, on it goes. The Dual came from a thrift as well. I had been looking for something to play the occasional 78 on, and this turned up. I'd like to get another headshell for it, to have a better cart, and keep this Shure for when I want to play 78's. The tt shelf is decidedly low tech, being 3/4 " fir ply on top of a piece of carpet pad. As long as no one sneezes or walks around, the Thorens is ok. I am currently thinking about how to do something better, since this really doesn't make the grade.
Mom's neighbor gave the KEF's to me, cause she "only listens to the radio in her car". Got them home and played with them for awhile, and finally figured out they sound the best around 16" off the floor, and after further fiddlin' decided to re-fresh the x/o's. As more funds become available, the cab's may get re-veneered, and the X/o's may be re-worked again. In spite of the odd grills, these do sound pretty good now.
It would be nice to upgrade, especially after hearing a VERY high end system recently (A.R.C. SP-11 pre, A.R.C. D-250 & Krell amps, SOTA Star Sapphire tt with air bearing linear tracking arm, and M -something Carnagy cart, through Apogee Centaur speakers), but this sounds pretty good, all things considered, and the biggest upgrade will be to fix the room. But that's money I don't have right now, so it can wait.
So there it is, the story of my mid-fi, c. 1975 audio system.
