[Skylab]

Good news on other fronts though: I've found a nice piece at a score price and am firing up the minivan to pick it up this weekend. Only known problem is that the *ahem* blue meters are wonky, and the wood case can use some TLC.
Also, as of Tuesday, my sx-1980 will finally be off for a complete restore by mattsd, a fellow recommended by Skylab.

That's very cool on both counts!

Just out of curiosity Skylab do you still use your Leben CS-300 or mostly the SX-1980 ?  I realize the Leben is not a "true" headphone amplifier but most Headfiers probably consider the Leben for headphone usage.

Well...I sold the Leben a few weeks back, so I guess that's your answer

 

[BobG55]

 

Good news on other fronts though: I've found a nice piece at a score price and am firing up the minivan to pick it up this weekend. Only known problem is that the *ahem* blue meters are wonky, and the wood case can use some TLC.
Also, as of Tuesday, my sx-1980 will finally be off for a complete restore by mattsd, a fellow recommended by Skylab.

That's very cool on both counts!

Just out of curiosity Skylab do you still use your Leben CS-300 or mostly the SX-1980 ?  I realize the Leben is not a "true" headphone amplifier but most Headfiers probably consider the Leben for headphone usage.

Well...I sold the Leben a few weeks back, so I guess that's your answer

Thanks.  So I'm not the only one who seems to prefer vintage amps over HP amps.  I've got my eye on an Vintage Integrated amp receiver so I've put my Trafomatic Experience Head One up for sale.   

 

[SpeakerBox]

Very happy with the HPO on the SX-1250.  Power to spare!  Excellent (and getting better) sound.   Got parts on the way for the output boards (all audio grade caps).  Can't wait to get started.

 

[captouch]

A few pics of a couple more receivers/integrateds.
 
First, my Mac 1900.  Just finished repairing a FM problem and refreshing the meter gel filters.
 

 

 

 
 
And a Fisher KX-100:
 

 

 

 

 
And where they're residing at the moment. . .
 

 

[.Sup]

everything looks so 70s cap Good stuff!

 

[PhoenixG]

How did you redo the filters on those 1900 meters. I just picked up a 1900 yesterday that needs it done. Photos to follow soon haha.
p.s. you have perfect timing

 

[Skylab]

Beautiful stuff, Cap!!! Love the Fisher - that's a great sounding piece of kit, for sure.

 

[LugBug1]

 
And a Fisher KX-100:
 

 

 

 
 
 
 

We need to see this bad boy again! 
 
Great stuff Captouch. 

 

[captouch]

How did you redo the filters on those 1900 meters. I just picked up a 1900 yesterday that needs it done. Photos to follow soon haha.
p.s. you have perfect timing

You remove the top front cover that has Mac1900 printed on it. 4 screws and it lifts off with a little up/backward force. There was some adhesive, so took a bit of force, but not a lot.

You'll see two tubes of colored plastic/gel filters near the meters and fitted over the bulbs that are simply rolled up gel film taped to keep it in a roll and taped at one end to keep the light concentrated. It may be a bit brittle. Mine had gone pink where the bulb was.

Pull it off carefully and make new tubes of the same size using colored filter gel with tape on one side to keep it coiled and the light projecting out the front mostly - I used electrical tape, but anything that will stand the heat should be fine as you won't see it. Slip them back on and you're done.

I had one bad bulb, so I replaced it at the same time. 1847 bulb (6.3V, 0.15A) - I got mine at a local Frys - it had a different PN (which had 47 in it, but had some letters instead of the 18), but specs were the same, so I went with it.

One source for the colored gel is:
http://www.leefilters.com/lighting/colour-list.html

I found that #118 was almost a perfect match for the color that was originally in there.

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[captouch]

Thanks for the comments. Vintage gear rules.

Skylab, I saw you had the KX-100 in beautiful wood cases. I had to settle for a metal case for now. I also have the FM-50B tuner you had - in a homemade wood case for now.

The gear in the pics spans '60's, '70's, '90's, 00's, and '10's, but no '80's unless you count the vinyl?

 

[BobG55]

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And where they're residing at the moment. . .
 

Love the picture frames above : Cannonball Aderlley & Bill Evans : very cool. 

 

[SpeakerBox]

What are the speakers?

 

[captouch]

  Love the picture frames above : Cannonball Aderlley & Bill Evans : very cool. 

 
I love '50's and '60's jazz.  I came into a decent # of old jazz records through a friend of a friend.  Many of them were unfortunately "too well loved" over the years to be playable now, but some of the record covers were in nice condition, so they seemed natural for framing.
 
 
Quote:

  What are the speakers?

 
They're Alon II's, designed by Carl Marchisotto who designed several of the Dahquist speakers (DQ-20 is one I believe) and now is running Nola.  These are early-to-mid '90's vintage.  Open baffle design for the tweeter and midrange.

 

[SpeakerBox]

I have read that the DQ-20s are better than the 10s.

 

[PhoenixG]

Who loves photos? This guy!
I've taken the vinyl plunge, getting a Dual 1229 turntable (audio technica cartridge) and about a dozen decent LPs. I was relaxing with this earlier today while digging into this new-to-me mac 1900.

This mac was really rough. Like they used it for the floor of a birdcage or as a filter for a vacuum or something. Here are some before photos:


This was one of the nastiest encrusted pieces I've ever worked with, though I'm sure many of you have worse horror stories. Now it's fairly clean with nice new blue dials. I'd like to thank captouch for the advice on the blue gels. I was able to get some gels and help from my friend Foxx to make it look as good as it does. TBD on the sound.

P.S. I didn't touch the dial glass at all, some of the lettering just came right off without any provocation, like it was barely hanging in there.