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What was the the last audio-related item you purchased?

couple of cheap Bluetooth units. 12v thing that plugs into the aux inputs in one of the cars, and a different cheap one to put on the stereo at work. Under 40 bucks for the both.
 
My brother bought a Starrett Surface Plate that could be a most fantastic turntable stand. Picked it up on Tuesday.

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This device is a specified flatness surface used in metrology. Came with the stand. Since Dave has taken up metrology as a hobby, buying a few lots at auction in the last year, I guess he needed one of these. This 24” x 18” x 6” chunk of Starrett White Crystal Pink Granite weighs in at a comfortable 250 pounds, plus the stand. Perfect for a turntable.

Not going to be used for a TT as the one I gave him, Sony PS-X7 he has passed to his son. I have his amp and preamp here and he just doesn’t use a stereo at his place as his wife just wants the radio, stream, voice adjustable and such.

Anyway, I’m surprised I haven’t read about these surface plates being used for TTs. Available in metals and stone, this one probably retailed at more than $2000 new and I saw one with an auction price of less than 15% of that. Getting into the vintage home audio price range “cheap” and is getting to be Vintage. The quarry for the pink granite is closed and Starrett now has Red granite to make these instruments.

Got a manufacturing facility closing or moving, look for the auctions of these units. I think an 18 x24x4 would be much more user friendly. This unit was too much for me and Dave to roll down the driveway 20 feet and push up the ramp into the rental box truck. Fortunately there were 3 guys from the plant that gladly took care of that part of the movement of this unit from State College PA to Dave’s in West Chester.
 
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Blue Shadow said:
My brother bought a Starrett Surface Plate that could be a most fantastic turntable stand. Picked it up on Tuesday.

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This device is a specified flatness surface used in metrology. Came with the stand. Since Dave has taken up metrology as a hobby, buying a few lots at auction in the last year, I guess he needed one of these. This 24” x 18” x 6” chunk of Starrett White Crystal Pink Granite weighs in at a comfortable 250 pounds, plus the stand. Perfect for a turntable.

Not going to be used for a TT as the one I have him, Sony PS-X7 he has passed to his son. I have his amp and preamp here and he just doesn’t use a stereo at his place as his wife just wants the radio, stream, voice adjustable and such.

Anyway, I’m surprised I haven’t read about these surface plates being used for TTs. Available in metals and stone, this one probably retailed at more than $2000 new and I saw one with an auction price of less than 15% of that. Getting into the vintage home audio price range “cheap” and is getting to be Vintage. The quarry for the pink granite is closed and Starrett now has Red granite to make these instruments.

Got a manufacturing facility closing or moving, look for the auctions of these units. I think an 18 x24x4 would be much more user friendly. This unit was too much for me and Dave to roll down the driveway 20 feet and push up the ramp into the rental box truck. Fortunately there were 3 guys from the plant that gladly took care of that part of the movement of this unit from State College PA to Dave’s in West Chester.
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When I was a machinist in the late 70's we used those to ensure flatness of parts that had a tolerance of .0001"... we taped wet/dry sandpaper to the top and sanded the parts surface as flat as possible.
 
I've been on a DAC buying binge. About 6 weeks ago I bought a used Topping D50 to replace the old E30 in my office system, I didn't hear any difference.

I wondered if network attachment would be better than USB from the computer. So I bought a WiimPro, SQ is much better, but now I don't have computer audio on the system. So I ordered a sound card with an optical out, it's still a couple weeks out for delivery.

In my main system my Marantz network/CD player has had many hiccups on the digital source handling. So I ordered 3 pieces to see which one sounds the best feeding my standalone DAC. 2 are streamers, Node N132, and Arcam ST60. The other one is a digital transport (no DAC) Lumin U2mini. Currently in the process of getting it all connected.
 
Blue Shadow said:
Like we were not expecting that? We knew you would. Are you seeking the preamp power amp units? Interesting they have a block diagram on the faceplate.
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No not really. I'm not looking for anymore (Philips) vintage or new gear. I'm done, 100% satisfied. Not looking for more gear.
Although I will look for some new gear next year at the earlies, like for a CD player, DAC / streamer, TT and speakers. But not before I got my new residence (oversees)

But can you guess what I did purchase today? I will give an honest answer if you got it right or not. And again; It is definitely going to be the last vintage (Philips 1979/81) stereo component for me!
 
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N2552 said:
can you guess what I did purchase today?
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You have the amp, tuner and cassette. Need one of the AF800 or 900 series tables. Those are pretty nice if the base hasn’t warped or can be made right. Don’t need the powered speakers as nice as they are, but maybe speakers would be. Don’t know the series so guesses are just their nice gear. Probably not speakers because you mention a piece. Need more than 1 speaker. Only other things are a component stand and reel to reel to add to your system. Anything else in their catalog would be an accessory.
 
krautmaster said:
Well the new Summit 6SN7's arrived with one minor problem... they only sent two tubes, not the four I ordered. I contacted them and they said "oops, shipping made a boo boo", we'll send two more out asap... So another 10 days or so wait until they get here.

Interestingly, the Summit tubes come with a silicone disc on the bottom so that the tube base and the top of the socket don't make direct contact. It's supposed to help with microphonics and must work because these are dead silent.

I put the two Summits I received in the gain stage of the Freya+ in my main system with a pair of Ray Select 6SN7's in the buffer stage. These Summit tubes have a very PRECISE mid range, you can hear everything crystal clear, but the top end is not bright. I like them with my KEF R7Meta speakers but they may be too clinical for a bright sounding speaker like my Monitor Audio Silver 500's. Anyway, I'm impressed with these right out of the box... tomorrow they are going to get 6 to 8 hours of continous play time.
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The second set of Psvane Summit 6SN7 tubes arrived today, it only took 9 days from order to receipt (FWIW, it usually takes longer for packages to get here from Wisconsin than it does from China). I have them playing as we speak (new pair are in the Buffer side) these are from the same batch as the first set (S004) with the same 11.5 GM rating (who knows if they are even close?) but they sound magnificent: deeeeep clear bass, precise mid range, sweet top... I'm very pleased with these even though they'll need a week of breaking in (20 hours, not 200). The Sound stage is very very wide and deep.
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krautmaster said:
The second set of Psvane Summit 6SN7 tubes arrived today, it only took 9 days from order to receipt (FWIW, it usually takes longer for packages to get here from Wisconsin than it does from China). I have them playing as we speak (new pair are in the Buffer side) these are from the same batch as the first set (S004) with the same 11.5 GM rating (who knows if they are even close?) but they sound magnificent: deeeeep clear bass, precise mid range, sweet top... I'm very pleased with these even though they'll need a week of breaking in (20 hours, not 200). The Sound stage is very very wide and deep.
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(FWIW, it usually takes longer for packages to get here from Wisconsin than it does from China), :eek:
 
I bought some Vampire "Wing Nut" binding posts (Mark Levinson version, on sale for $30 not the normal $60) for my KEF R7 Meta speakers... I hate crawling around on the floor with a pair of pliers trying to tighten up the metal binding posts, so they are outta here! I made some new plates out of 1/8" thick black plexiglass and painted them light brown to match the feet. The Vampire posts have 5/16" shafts so I had to go down to Ace Hardware and get some 14 gauge 5/16" ring connectors and solder them on to the speaker wires and I used copper crush gaskets on top of the rings. Now I have to crawl around on the floor to hook my new speaker wires up to the amps/speakers tomorrow in the daylight when I can see (Worlds Best Cables - Canare S411 Bi-Wires with soldered on Eminence E900 gold plated spades).

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I picked up a BIC 940 turntable for $35 just to mess around with. It's in pretty good cosmetic shape, but it's still running a little slow after I replaced the belt. I've never worked on a turntable before, but apparently I'm about to start.
 
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