Calling All "Vintage" Integrated/Receiver Owners
May 21, 2018 at 1:12 AM Post #17,641 of 19,093
Yes, the size issue is a problem. I finally got off my duff and built a rack for my 1250. Also included a marble top for my TT. Perfectly level and vibration resistant.



The 1250 has now been totally recapped (with film caps placed where ever I can fit them). Much warmer and smoother sound now:


Nice :thumbsup:
 
May 25, 2018 at 5:14 PM Post #17,643 of 19,093
I can't compete with the scale of these amps/receivers but my newly refurbished Pioneer SA-3000 sure sounds sweet. I have found a solid mix of vintage and modern, with Vintage amplification and one vintage source (turntable) the rest a digital source, NOS dac and valve preamp are modern.

Nothing wrong with a quality 25 (early 70's) to 50 (late 70's) RMS watts/channel vintage amp or receiver. Then as now, that's generally where you get get the most value for you $.
 
May 26, 2018 at 8:17 PM Post #17,644 of 19,093
anyone have an idea as to what model infinity speaker this is ??

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sm150 ??
 
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May 26, 2018 at 8:47 PM Post #17,645 of 19,093
They look like SM-150’s to me.
 
May 26, 2018 at 8:49 PM Post #17,646 of 19,093
They look like SM-150’s to me.

yeah, been doing some research, i think so too, a pair is for sale locally, the guy is asking $100 and that also includes the Pilot rack system
 
May 26, 2018 at 8:54 PM Post #17,647 of 19,093
That’s a pretty fair price if they are in good shape. That’s not Infinity’s best work...a little on the boom-boom-tweet-tweet side of things - but can be a fun speaker depending on what you’re looking for and the rest of your system etc etc.
 
May 26, 2018 at 9:13 PM Post #17,648 of 19,093
they are going to be too big for my room i do believe, it's pretty small, so i'm probably going to pass on them
 
Jun 1, 2018 at 2:57 PM Post #17,649 of 19,093
Finally getting to my record store day purchases! I played Bowie's "Let's Dance" and Pink Floyd's "Piper at the Gates of Dawn".
My impressions: Bowie was a 12" 45 and really not what I was expecting. FIrst off, it was two different single versions of Let's Dance instead of a repressing of the original 'Let's Dance' album. It sounded kinda thin, but ultra clean and low noise, so I'm sure they intended it like that. Kinda a bizarre take, but somewhat in line with the style of his last album more than it was in line with the original copy. It was so different I had to pull out my vintage copy to compare them just to make sure I had remembered correctly...
Pink Floyd was exactly what I was expecting. It was a pleasant and faithful reproduction of the original version. It felt just like buying a new album should. This album is filled with fuzz and distortion by design, so it'll sound good on anything, and it did. :D
I'm happy with the albums I bought, if only for the excuse to pull out some original Bowie for a listen haha.
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Jun 6, 2018 at 10:51 AM Post #17,650 of 19,093
Servicing and restoration of my AU-717 has been finished and it should finally be with me on Friday. It has been re-capped throughout major and minor (Nicichon KG Gold Tune for majors), signal switches modded, replacement major power supply diodes and bridges, new speaker binding posts, bias level / DC offset checked, glue removal, Tech says it sounds 'sweet'. Very excited to receive and settle down to some serious listening! Whilst I was waiting for the work to be completed I picked up a AU-217 on ebay and I must say I am extremely impressed with that amp. Bass and punch on HD800 with AU-217 is beyond anything I've ever heard with them before. Time to sell on the AU-217.
I will initially be using HD800 from the headphone out, but would I hear a better SQ from the speaker taps? I read some people have said there is an improvement using speaker taps compared to HO (but that was with HE6).
 
Jun 6, 2018 at 11:15 AM Post #17,651 of 19,093
but would I hear a better SQ from the speaker taps? I read some people have said there is an improvement using speaker taps compared to HO (but that was with HE6)

I have tried three headphones from speaker taps:

HE-500-I heard no significant difference between taps and jack.
HE-6- Dont have much choice here...Taps are the only way to go.
ZMF Atticus- I heard a slight improvement in clarity,but the difference wasnt worth the tradeoff of almost no wiggle room between silent and ear bleeding loudness.

I have no experience with the HD800,but I would assume the results would be similar to what I experienced with the Atticus.

YMMV
 
Jun 6, 2018 at 2:29 PM Post #17,652 of 19,093
He4 u hear a difference between speaker taps and hp out on my sx1010, it's not some night and day difference but it's enough to where I was using taps everytime. But I didn't want to leave them connected and now just use hp out, still sounds great! Like monsterzero said, it will depend on amps specs and hp sensitivity on if you have enough control on the volume pot to make minor volume changes as opposed to massive swings. The he4 is fine thus way, my denon d2k is not, goes from 0 to 100 and has more noise. Fostex t50rp build is heavily dampened so much less efficient than stock, taps work OK with it but not really worthwhile. He4 is the only one where it was worth it and even still, subtle but noticeable changes. I also only did it because I had a spare cable and just cut the XLR off and bare wired straight to the terminals.
 
Jul 3, 2018 at 11:00 PM Post #17,653 of 19,093
Summer 2018 : :

Finally got my gears installed inside new listening room! Here's what happened...and what happens next.
-
Need a new audio rack. Coffee table got crushed during before move. Overflow components from main rack went there; now temporarily thrown against any of the three remaining walls.
- Just finished muscling everything in to place. Will spend 'The Fourth' installing cables, TT motor & belt.
- Business appointments resume Monday the 9th, lots of good listening to be had between now and then.

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Re: speaker taps
Piloting the Big 'G' with the HE-6, I prefer taps each and every time! Occasionally I'll try to match volume when comparing. Hpo needs much more turn of that dial! Not really problem. Will revisit comparisons this week for sonic differences with my vintage lovely.
 
Jul 17, 2018 at 8:07 PM Post #17,654 of 19,093
Head Hunters on vinyl. Great recording. I have on CD. Bet it is even better on vinyl. Nice rig.
 
Jul 17, 2018 at 8:15 PM Post #17,655 of 19,093
New toy in the house. VPI scout with Denon DL110. Running it into my dual mono Leach phono stage and then into the adaptor input on the 1250 (bypass some 1250 circuitry that way). The sound is stunning, but took a while to get the VPI set up. Don't want to do it again for a while.:relaxed:
 

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