Tell us about your stereo!

[gcczep]

Analog talk

MrJim... That was a funny story. I also have a Pioneer laserdisc player...the Elite CLD-97. My god daughter thought it was a record player. Another kid said a laserdisc was the biggest CD he's ever seen. Some people swear by the laserdisc's digital audio quality saying it was superior to DVD due to lack of compression.

Bruce...I wasn't really keen on getting that Akai but that jump on it's price was surprising.

I may start frequenting thrift shops and real estate sales to see if I can score vintage gear. During a break, I decided to surf for info on amps with meters and saw this:



220W at 8 ohms [likely both channels driven] at 66 pounds comes in silver or black.

 

[LG]

^^Nice looking beast love the meters too.

From my experience on ebay the last 30 minutes are when things spiral out of control, if someone really wants the item badly they'll set a very high bid, then if you pass it they jump again. I've lost out on quite a few, thank gawd too because the price ended up twice as much as I wanted to spend but you get caught up in the moment.

I prefer Canuck Audio Mart, the price is set and within reason, those folks know what vintage gear is worth and want to sell it to people like us, or young folk who are getting the bug and not satisfied with the Chinese knockoffs that have proliferated like blowflies in dead meat.

 

[LG]

Was surfing on one of my vintage sites and saw a DBX dynamic range expander, wished I kept my old one and have wanted a replacement for a long time. $200 is a little expensive not including shipping but then again you don't see them very often anymore.

Have to sleep on it...

 

[mrJim]

MrJim... That was a funny story. I also have a Pioneer laserdisc player...the Elite CLD-97. My god daughter thought it was a record player. Another kid said a laserdisc was the biggest CD he's ever seen. Some people swear by the laserdisc's digital audio quality saying it was superior to DVD due to lack of compression.

my son (a junior in high school) said; "sounds better than a DVD, maybe not BlueRay maybe"

Lord just step away from the submit button before you go broke bud

Jim

 

[LG]

my son (a junior in high school) said; "sounds better than a DVD, maybe not BlueRay maybe"

Lord just step away from the submit button before you go broke bud

Jim

...It's not all one-sided Jim. I do sell off gear too but just don't talk about it much.

It almost balances out, but when I saw that DBX my 'submit trigger finger' was twitching uncontrollably.

 

[LG]

I didn't buy the Marantz tape deck after all, instead I spent the money on some RAM for my new PC.

Now it looks like I have to get some work done on my truck so no new toys for a while I'm afraid.

I'll post a picture of my current tape deck later, after firing it up again and experimenting with my PC sound card then I'll decide on whether to get another one down the road.

 

[gcczep]

No Stuff Awhile For You...and Me!

I didn't buy the Marantz tape deck after all, instead I spent the money on some RAM for my new PC.

Now it looks like I have to get some work done on my truck so no new toys for a while I'm afraid.

I'll post a picture of my current tape deck later, after firing it up again and experimenting with my PC sound card then I'll decide on whether to get another one down the road.

Means of transportation are usually priority. I will be in the same boat as I will likely off my hooptymobile ['99 Camry] with over 297K miles. Black Friday will be a trip to a car dealer.

***:

 

[LG]

You know things change faster than ever before in the technological world we live in. The Blu-Ray player I bought a month ago doesn't have any analog out RCA jacks...it's HDMI and Co-axial only, not even an Optical output. Oh and no component out feature either.

I did know that before I bought it, and some of the entry level players do have the 'legacy' outputs but I always want the most flexible component possible so it can connect to everything out there old and new.

Now to the point, the new DVD player is in the bedroom with the 30" TV, I don't want a full 5.1 surround there is not enough room, so I'm running a vintage Sansui 2-channel stereo receiver with my ADS 300's for sound, WAY better than the TV speakers and fits in a small space which is a priority. Anyway over 2 years ago I picked up a nice old Audio Alchemy DA converter, the 2nd or 3rd generation they made, it's been sitting in a box gathering dust for ages now, so when I remembered I had one I ran the co-axial signal from the DVD player to it, and then connected the analog outputs to the Sansui. Man the sound is amazing, very impressive only one problem the signal is so 'hot' I might have to try another amp/receiver with different gain...next up will be my old Rotel to see how it performs.

Paid $40 for the Audio Alchemy D/A converter and it's in perfect shape, nice to have a use for it now.

 

[mrJim]

You know things change faster than ever before in the technological world we live in. The Blu-Ray player I bought a month ago doesn't have any analog out RCA jacks...it's HDMI and Co-axial only, not even an Optical output. Oh and no component out feature either.

I did know that before I bought it, and some of the entry level players do have the 'legacy' outputs but I always want the most flexible component possible so it can connect to everything out there old and new.

That's happening more and more particularly with the "over the counter" stuff... anything you can just go to the local store and buy.

have you tried putting a DAC in front of a CD/DVD/BlueRay player ? you can breath new life into even the most basic players and get the flexibility your looking for.

Jim

 

[LG]

^^The CD player I bought 2 years ago has a beautiful DAC built in, but I bought the Audio Alchemy because I always wanted one, before I really had a need for it. There are some really expensive high end converters out there, but I'm more likely to buy an expensive cartridge these days.

I do have a Yamaha DSP 3000, one of the most beautiful pieces of digital gear ever made and the D/A converter in it is excellent. Not using it right now though, been doing more analog listening than digital for the last year since I upgraded the TT/Cartridge.

Flexibility is nice and some of the first DVD players were amazing with all the features they had, my Toshiba was great. New players don't offer the features the old ones had unless you go way up in cost.