[kstuart]

Quote:

You just described the marantz house sound in one sentence. They do have a beautiful tone, but not much sound stage depth to speak of. The sound stage width is pretty good though. But I'll take depth over width any day if I could only have one. I

You remind me of a question:
 
Can someone describe how the Sherwood .... and Kenwood .... amps sound ?
 
Is there anything about their sound that you particularly like... or dislike ?

 

[jasonb]

Jason - if a control has dirt between the contacts, and that control is "live" (meaning that it has not been switched out by a "tone defeat" switch), then your audio is literally going through that piece of dirt.   The contacts has less conductivity, and more resistance.  It's electrically different, so it should sound different and is not a placebo.

In the 80's, a "tone defeat" switch became popular for this reason, amongst others.

Alright, so I'm not crazy. I could tell right away, and the difference wasn't small. I had a feeling that the audio signal flowed right through the pots, but I'm not an electrical engineer, so I wasn't really sure. So I guess it might still be beneficial to actually buy some quality contact cleaner like deoxit and really give this thing a heavy duty cleaning.

Thanks.

 

[bce22]

well what an Awesome day!  I picked up the Scott 299B and 370 tuner with a set of quad matched Mullard 12ax7 for $300.  The amp has its original telefunken tubes.  i also have the covers for both units.
 
i think these are really stunning andare cosmetically very very good.  The amp has an issue in one channel (volume is low) that i hope my thorough deoxit treatment fixes.  None-the-less, both units are going in for service.
 
i do have a couple of questions:
 
1.  What are these inputs?  if i want to attach my turntable what input selector should i use?
 
2:  The back panel is confusing to me.  How do i connect  my 8 ohm Cornwalls to this amp?  what rcas for phono?
 
Thanks guys!
 
Here are some pics.
 
.
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 
 

 

 

[BmWr75]

Quote:

well what an Awesome day!  I picked up the Scott 299B and 370 tuner with a set of quad matched Mullard 12ax7 for $300.  The amp has its original telefunken tubes.  i also have the covers for both units.
 
i think these are really stunning andare cosmetically very very good.  The amp has an issue in one channel (volume is low) that i hope my thorough deoxit treatment fixes.  None-the-less, both units are going in for service.
 
i do have a couple of questions:
 
1.  What are these inputs?  if i want to attach my turntable what input selector should i use?
 
2:  The back panel is confusing to me.  How do i connect  my 8 ohm Cornwalls to this amp?  what rcas for phono?
 
Thanks guys!
 
Here are some pics.
 
 
 
You did very well on this purchase!!
 
Use the RIAA Ortho for the phone inputs.  The black slider switch above this knob selects between Mag 1 and Mag 2 phono inputs on the back.  Mag stands for magnetic, so you will need a moving magnet phono cartridge.  Am certain you should be able to use the Mag 1 input.  The Mag 2 Low and Mag 2 High are also for moving magent cartridges and must refer to the output level of the cartridge.
 
Hook your speakers to the 0 and High speaker terminals.  0 = negative, High = positive speaker wire
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[jmoore914]

I know it isn't technically vintage but I picked up a Marantz SR 68 at a garage sale the other day. It was $30 and Marantz is supposed to be good so I figured why not.
Does anybody here know if they are any good or if any parts inside are worth salvaging?

 

[bce22]

Quote:

 

You did very well on this purchase!! Use the RIAA Ortho for the phone inputs. The black slider switch above this knob selects between Mag 1 and Mag 2 phono inputs on the back. Mag stands for magnetic, so you will need a moving magnet phono cartridge. Am certain you should be able to use the Mag 1 input. The Mag 2 Low and Mag 2 High are also for moving magent cartridges and must refer to the output level of the cartridge. Hook your speakers to the 0 and High speaker terminals. 0 = negative, High = positive speaker wire
----
 
Thanks BmWr75!
 
I have an LPGear AT95VL MM cartridge rated at 3.5mv output.  I bet the MAG low is the appropriate one.
 
I really appreciate your help.

 

[BmWr75]

U R welcome.
 
Try the Mag 1 and Mag 2 low and see which sounds best.

 

[kstuart]

Quote:

well what an Awesome day!  I picked up the Scott 299B and 370 tuner with a set of quad matched Mullard 12ax7 for $300.  The amp has its original telefunken tubes. 

That sounds like at least $300 worth of tubes !
 
You could easily pay more than $300 for 4 matched Mullard 12ax7's (assuming they are not 21st Century reissues) and Telefunken tubes are equally valuable.
 
PS  I love pictures of tube gear out in the natural world.

 

[Anavel0]

Bad news 

 
So, I was testing out the Pioneer SX-850 to see if I would keep it and restore it or sell it and move up. I wasn't super sure on the sound signature. It was nice but I wasn't sure if I was in love with it or not. It was kind of forgettable honestly, not much of a sound stage. Pretty nice treble detail though. Well during my last listening session it decided for me when thick white smoke started rolling out the back of it and then there was a really loud sound through my headphones. 
 
I turned off the SX-850 and inspected the insides. I don't see any signs of smoke or fire inside but suffice it to say I won't be turning it back on any time soon. I plugged my HD580s back in to my Little Dot MK III and they appear to have been blown when the receiver went. Volume sounds like it's barely there and if you turn it up at all you get mad pops and cracks. Not horribly upset because the headband was already broke and I have been looking for new headphones for a while now.
 
If anyone is interested in it for parts (knobs, switch caps, etc.) let me know. I'll most likely just sell the remaining hardware pieces or whole unit for a DIY project. 

 

[sling5s]

What is the warmest Pioneer?  I have SX-737 (musical and neutral)  and had SX-850 (thin and bright). 

 

[Silent One]

Quote:

Bad new 

 
 

 
Really sorry to hear that.

 

[MattTCG]

Bad new 

So, I was testing out the Pioneer SX-850 to see if I would keep it and restore it or sell it and move up. I wasn't super sure on the sound signature. It was nice but I wasn't sure if I was in love with it or not. It was kind of forgettable honestly, not much of a sound stage. Pretty nice treble detail though. Well during my last listening session it decided for me when thick white smoke started rolling out the back of it and then there was a really loud sound through my headphones. 

I turned off the SX-850 and inspected the insides. I don't see any signs of smoke or fire inside but suffice it to say I won't be turning it back on any time soon. I plugged my HD580s back in to my Little Dot MK III and they appear to have been blown when the receiver went. Volume sounds like it's barely there and if you turn it up at all you get mad pops and cracks. Not horribly upset because the headband was already broke and I have been looking for new headphones for a while now.

If anyone is interested in it for parts (knobs, switch caps, etc.) let me know. I'll most likely just sell the remaining hardware pieces or whole unit for a DIY project. 

Yikes! That's too bad and sorry to hear it.

 

[ssrock64]

Quote:

Bad news 

 
So, I was testing out the Pioneer SX-850 to see if I would keep it and restore it or sell it and move up. I wasn't super sure on the sound signature. It was nice but I wasn't sure if I was in love with it or not. It was kind of forgettable honestly, not much of a sound stage. Pretty nice treble detail though. Well during my last listening session it decided for me when thick white smoke started rolling out the back of it and then there was a really loud sound through my headphones. 
 
I turned off the SX-850 and inspected the insides. I don't see any signs of smoke or fire inside but suffice it to say I won't be turning it back on any time soon. I plugged my HD580s back in to my Little Dot MK III and they appear to have been blown when the receiver went. Volume sounds like it's barely there and if you turn it up at all you get mad pops and cracks. Not horribly upset because the headband was already broke and I have been looking for new headphones for a while now.
 
If anyone is interested in it for parts (knobs, switch caps, etc.) let me know. I'll most likely just sell the remaining hardware pieces or whole unit for a DIY project. 

Bad news on a few counts. Hopefully somebody on here or on AK will want to take the SX-850 in for you and restore it back to health. As for the HD580, I guess you just made it a little rarer.
 
Hey, maybe tomorrow you'll stumble across a mint-condition SX-1280 for $5 at an estate sale, with a new-in-box pair of HD580s included! I wish...

 

[MattTCG]

I ended up paying $450 for my sx-1280, the most I've paid for any vintage gear yet. I did work a free pair of large Advent's into the deal though. 

 The Advent's cost me $60 to be refoamed but they now sound wonderful. I spent the weekend refinishing the cabinet which now look mint. All in all a good deal. 

 

[Silent One]

Ur up to some good stuff, MattTCG!