What "Audio Related" item were you GIFTED?
- Thread starter pworm14
- Start date
knotscott
Super Member
In the late 80s, my uncle gave me his Dynaco ST-70 that he built from a kit in 1964. I later added a second Dyna 70, refreshed both, and used them as single channel monoblocks for over 25 years. Both got updated in 2020 with the VTA pcb mods, and still live on in my system. My uncle's amp powers my right channel mids/tweeters these days.
knotscott
Super Member
Indeed....should have many of the same benefits. IMHO, (and after owning several other really good amps) they sound amazing in their current configuration.
My wife bought a Parasound ZPhono (phono preamp) and an AT VM95ML/H cartridge with head shell for my birthday to use in the office with my Marantz 6200 turntable. I have been griping about the Shure 95xE cartridge that won't stay in alignment for a couple months so she asked what would fix it, so I jokingly told her "a cheap phono preamp and an AT 95 ML cartridge".. she asked my buddy which ones to get. 
I get to play around with them on Monday.. First I have to fix the hatch opener on out ancient PT Looser so we can haul home stuff from hardware store, then junk/yard waste to the dump (it doesn't have back seats anymore, just a lot of room to haul crap)
I get to play around with them on Monday.. First I have to fix the hatch opener on out ancient PT Looser so we can haul home stuff from hardware store, then junk/yard waste to the dump (it doesn't have back seats anymore, just a lot of room to haul crap)
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I set up the AT VM95ML cart today- easy peasy- I had to shorten it 1mm from factory set 50mm to the Marantz 6200 turntable spec of 49mm. I put on the protactor and it aligned perfectly, so I got out my scale and set it to 2 grams then played some Steely Dan Royal Scam... What an amazing difference in sound quality from the Shure 95xE, and it's not even broken in yet ! The Factory Marantz headshell is very heavy and the slots are all hacked to hell so badly that I could never get any cart to adjust properly - using the protractor some of the carts I tried had to be set to 10-15 degrees off dead straight to get them to align so I think the Marantz headshell was bent. The AT headshell weighs about half as much so I had to push the counter weight in almost all the way, while with the Marantz the weight was almost all the way out. The Vertical alignment is dead flat when using a 3mm cork matt.
Tomorrow I will add the Parasound Zphono preamp into the mix, looking at its specs it shows to have 46 db of gain, so it is a good thing the wife bought the AT95ML with 3.5 mv output- I had been toying with the idea of an Ortofon 2M Blue, but those are at least 5.5mv or more and would have been way too loud for this preamp ( Imagine how loud it would be if I put the Rega Exact 2 off my Planar 3 on it (6.6-7.2 mv out- my ears would bleed to death.
Fortunately, my Parasound New Classics 200 preamp has a nice feature called "volume offset" where you can increase/decrease an inputs volume by +/- 8db. This way you can balance the sound levels between your equipment so they all play at the same volume for a given dial setting (my typical volume setting is 35 out of 99). Currently I have the tuner set to 0, the CD player at -2, and the phono at +6 (for the Shure 95xE) so I'm going to set that back to 0 then adjust as necessary.
Tomorrow I will add the Parasound Zphono preamp into the mix, looking at its specs it shows to have 46 db of gain, so it is a good thing the wife bought the AT95ML with 3.5 mv output- I had been toying with the idea of an Ortofon 2M Blue, but those are at least 5.5mv or more and would have been way too loud for this preamp ( Imagine how loud it would be if I put the Rega Exact 2 off my Planar 3 on it (6.6-7.2 mv out- my ears would bleed to death.
Fortunately, my Parasound New Classics 200 preamp has a nice feature called "volume offset" where you can increase/decrease an inputs volume by +/- 8db. This way you can balance the sound levels between your equipment so they all play at the same volume for a given dial setting (my typical volume setting is 35 out of 99). Currently I have the tuner set to 0, the CD player at -2, and the phono at +6 (for the Shure 95xE) so I'm going to set that back to 0 then adjust as necessary.
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dly66
Addicted Member
Somebody years ago gave me a Technics SA-5170 they were using in a storage unit when working on boats. Worked fine was full of fuzz needed a good cleaning and cleaning of the controls. Gifted to a friend they use for background music at work. Have had to repair a few times over the years, touching up solder joints at the function control fixed a dropping channel and periodically replacing blown lighting. Recapped it a few years ago.
Got a call from a self storage manager last month someone had given him some Bozak B-207A in what I guess were custom cabinets asked if I was interested. Hauled the pair home in my pickup. Came with the original pamphlets from 5/63 and the warranty cards stapled to the back of each one. Whoever originally bought them never sent in the warranty cards. Currently sitting in the back of my storage unit, would need to make some room to look closer at condition and test them out of at my apartment. They are a bit heavy for me to haul up the stairs by myself.
Got a call from a self storage manager last month someone had given him some Bozak B-207A in what I guess were custom cabinets asked if I was interested. Hauled the pair home in my pickup. Came with the original pamphlets from 5/63 and the warranty cards stapled to the back of each one. Whoever originally bought them never sent in the warranty cards. Currently sitting in the back of my storage unit, would need to make some room to look closer at condition and test them out of at my apartment. They are a bit heavy for me to haul up the stairs by myself.
My neighbor across the street, a NASA engineer whom I barely knew, passed away (~late-80s). His kids (~mid-50s), were cleaning out the house and let me go through his electronics workshop and take what I wanted. Got some really nice stuff (O-scope, signal geneator, RF-generator, drawers of components, spools of wire). I thanked them and gave the $100.
I asked if they had any stereo equipment and we went inside. He had a Yamaha set-up and other things that didn't interest me, though I gave $40 for a Philips 212 turntable (nostalgia as this was my first TT before it was stolen) and it turns out the TT doesn't even work right, but no biggie. He had a pair of MINT Chartwell LS3/5As. Neither of us had heard of Chartwell, but I cerrtainly knew what LS3/5As were. They GAVE them to me along with an extra NOS woofer still in its cardboard!
I asked if they had any stereo equipment and we went inside. He had a Yamaha set-up and other things that didn't interest me, though I gave $40 for a Philips 212 turntable (nostalgia as this was my first TT before it was stolen) and it turns out the TT doesn't even work right, but no biggie. He had a pair of MINT Chartwell LS3/5As. Neither of us had heard of Chartwell, but I cerrtainly knew what LS3/5As were. They GAVE them to me along with an extra NOS woofer still in its cardboard!
ra7c7er
Hoarding records since 1990
I guess it counts as a gift since, I believe, they are from a co-worker who's turned mild stalker. They magically appeared on my porch last Wednesday.
for those interested it's
Pollyanna (not the Australian 90s band) - Slime
Lykkie Ly - Wounded Rhymes (anniversary ed.)
Camp Cope - Running With The Hurricane
for those interested it's
Pollyanna (not the Australian 90s band) - Slime
Lykkie Ly - Wounded Rhymes (anniversary ed.)
Camp Cope - Running With The Hurricane
New toys installed in the system, sounding good ! You can see what a POS my old original headshell was...My wife bought a Parasound ZPhono (phono preamp) and an AT VM95ML/H cartridge with head shell for my birthday to use in the office with my Marantz 6200 turntable. I have been griping about the Shure 95xE cartridge that won't stay in alignment for a couple months so she asked what would fix it, so I jokingly told her "a cheap phono preamp and an AT 95 ML cartridge".. she asked my buddy which ones to get.
Well, it turns out the Parasound Zphono is defective- it plays really nice for two songs (5-7 minutes) then it turns weak and scratchy- almost sounds like a horribly misaligned cartridge. Turn it off and let it cool down for half an hour and it plays fine again for 5 minutes until it craps out again. My wife bought it used from Music Direct, they are refunding her $$ but don't want it back... I guess I'll sell it on Craigs list for $5 as inop unless somebody here wants it for the price of postage only.
I was given a Citation 17 preamp and Citation 19 power amp compilation. They were in a house purchased by a friend, but he had no use for them. I used the 19 to power the JBL bass cabinets under my Oris horns, but have since passed the pair on to a musician friend.
My old audio tech Henry Pyle gave me his personal working 1948 RCA TV when he had to close up shop because of his health. He was a hell of a nice person. Not really audio but a nice opportunity to say thanks to some one I miss.
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