No kidding! Welcome to the SX-1980 owners' club, Joe. I can tell you that we are all a pretty happy bunch

Thanks! I'm a little worried my IKEA expedit is going to break from its weight.

skylab said:

No kidding! Welcome to the SX-1980 owners' club, Joe. I can tell you that we are all a pretty happy bunch

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80's Kenwood reporting in.
I'm considering upgrading my center piece, it doesn't seem to be doing my loudspeakers justice anymore. It sometimes doesn't push out sound to one or both channels when I turn it on and I have to twist the volume knob all around. I'm looking for something decently budget, sub 200$, vintage preferred, with enough inputs and able to fit in the space I have my current receiver in. Tubes would be awesome.

Edit, MUST MUST MUUUUST have phono amp built in.

ahorsenamedjeff said:

80's Kenwood reporting in.
I'm considering upgrading my center piece, it doesn't seem to be doing my loudspeakers justice anymore. It sometimes doesn't push out sound to one or both channels when I turn it on and I have to twist the volume knob all around. I'm looking for something decently budget, sub 200$, vintage preferred, with enough inputs and able to fit in the space I have my current receiver in. Tubes would be awesome.

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Seems that a good treatment of DeoxIt on the volume control might solve your problems and remove the need to upgrade.

speakerbox said:

ahorsenamedjeff said:

80's Kenwood reporting in.

I'm considering upgrading my center piece, it doesn't seem to be doing my loudspeakers justice anymore. It sometimes doesn't push out sound to one or both channels when I turn it on and I have to twist the volume knob all around. I'm looking for something decently budget, sub 200$, vintage preferred, with enough inputs and able to fit in the space I have my current receiver in. Tubes would be awesome.

Click to expand...

Seems that a good treatment of DeoxIt on the volume control might solve your problems and remove the need to upgrade.

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hmm really? Why is that? I got that exact same response in a different thread.

The problem as you have described indicates a dirty volume control.  DeoxIt is what you use to fix that problem.

speakerbox said:

  The problem as you have described indicates a dirty volume control.  DeoxIt is what you use to fix that problem.

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Yeah but then he can't upgrade to a new receiver. You're no fun at all. 

roadcykler said:

  Yeah but then he can't upgrade to a new receiver. You're no fun at all. 

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I would deoxIT the volume and then get a new receiver aswell  
 
@AHorseNamedJeff  DeoxIT should be used on all old vintage gear. Clean all the pots and switches, as the audio signal travels through them all. Dirty controls = Dirty sound! 

roadcykler said:

  Yeah but then he can't upgrade to a new receiver. You're no fun at all. 

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Just call me Mr. Kill Joy.

My AMC 1100 preamp (not vintage, I know, but old enough to start having electrical issues) is having trouble getting contact in both channels through its 1/4" headphone jack. I have to find a sweet spot twisting the cord back and forth where both channels will make contact, which is a process that can take up to twenty seconds or so. I haven't yet taken the case off to see if anything's obviously amiss inside, but it seems like it may be getting worse over time. Does that sound like something that could be fixed through a simple dose of DeoxIT, or is it more likely to be a deeper failure?
 
In other news, I've bought another Dynaco PAT-4 after my old one encountered issues that would've cost me much more than the unit was worth to fix. This new one has been properly looked after and recently serviced (without melting bulb glue like what was done to my SX780), and it sounds very crisp and powerful. In fact, it's one of the few amps I've owned that makes a large portion of my headphone collection too bright for my ears, but it's perfect for balancing out the HD650's darker sound signature.

I'm curious what people are doing as far as subwoofers and low pass filters and high pass filters with vintage gear. 
 
I'm using an SX-750 with some Pioneer bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer. I'm using the line level inputs on the sub and using the crossover knob on the subwoofer itself which is no big deal. The sub is crossed at about 60hz. The thing that bothers me most is that I'm running my little bookshelf speakers full range 20hz - 20khz. I'm using them near field so it's not taking much power to get them going, so I'm not too worried about them trying to play the frequencies below 60hz or so. For the first couple weeks I used these bookshelf speakers with the grilles off so I could watch the cone excursion and to my surprise I never saw them moving all that much even on the bassiest music. I'm just curious as to what people are doing here in this regard. 
 
My speakers have a sensitivity of 87db at 1 watt at 1 meter. Using a digital Radio Shack SPL meter I never see myself listening at higher than 90db, even on peaks. I'm always listening somewhere in the 70-85db range. So looking at the math it seems that I'm never giving these speakers more than 2 watts each. Most of the time, especially night time listening when I listen at under 80db, if the math is right they aren't even getting a full watt each. This seems crazy low and hard to believe, but if this is true, then these speakers should have no problems being run full range. 
 
If they are really 87db at 1 watt at 1 meter then here is the math, +3db = double the power.
87db @ 1 watt
90db @ 2 watts
93db @ 4 watts
96db @ 8 watts 
99db @ 16 watts 
102db @ 32 watts
105db @ 64 watts
 
Is anybody else running small(ish) speakers full range on their vintage amp? If so, have any comments or concerns?

ssrock64 said:

  My AMC 1100 preamp (not vintage, I know, but old enough to start having electrical issues) is having trouble getting contact in both channels through its 1/4" headphone jack. I have to find a sweet spot twisting the cord back and forth where both channels will make contact, which is a process that can take up to twenty seconds or so. I haven't yet taken the case off to see if anything's obviously amiss inside, but it seems like it may be getting worse over time. Does that sound like something that could be fixed through a simple dose of DeoxIT, or is it more likely to be a deeper failure?
 
In other news, I've bought another Dynaco PAT-4 after my old one encountered issues that would've cost me much more than the unit was worth to fix. This new one has been properly looked after and recently serviced (without melting bulb glue like what was done to my SX780), and it sounds very crisp and powerful. In fact, it's one of the few amps I've owned that makes a large portion of my headphone collection too bright for my ears, but it's perfect for balancing out the HD650's darker sound signature.

Click to expand...

 
I have heard of DeoxIt helping with dirty HP jack connections.  You may also consider bad solder joints on the HP jack or a intermittent cable/plug leading to the headphones.
 
Nice find on the PAT-4.

speakerbox said:

   
I have heard of DeoxIt helping with dirty HP jack connections.  You may also consider bad solder joints on the HP jack or a intermittent cable/plug leading to the headphones.
 
Nice find on the PAT-4.

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It's the second PAT-4 I've owned in as many years, and with any luck this one won't self-destruct. I love the way they sound, but they're not exactly known for reliability.

My Marantz 2226B left channel has stopped working and will only work if I use the main in - pre out jacks on the back. I'm taking it in to a place to have a light replaced I cannot change but this sucks... It worked perfect last time I used it. so my H/K 670 did the same thing and now my 2226B... all the controls are very clean etc. It's like they are all mad at me because I favor my 4270