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I finally upgraded my main speakers and sub; I now have a Paradigm PDR 12 Sub I don’t need. It’s close to 20 years old, with the glued-on grill, so I can’t see the condition of the speaker. My new sub sounds much tighter, so I’m assuming the Paradigm is damaged or just plain worn out. Any point in trying to sell it? Anybody in OR want a speaker project?
I recently went home to say bye to a family member and while back I was telling my Dad about getting into old 2 channel stuff and he said he had some things I could have if i wanted. I turned down his Bose 901s, probably too heavy to ship and reviews on them just don't seem that positive. But I took him up on the Dynaco A25s. I dropped them off at UPS and they just showed up in Utah today.
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I don't think they've been played in over 20 years. I've got them quietly playing on that old Sony, they sound really good. The high end on one of them doesn't sound quite right though, it's a little muffled. I've got new grill cloth coming and will be replacing the caps in them, hoping that clears up the muffled one, if not I'll find a replacement tweeter.
I've also upgraded the speakers in the living room system. I've got some Zu Dirty Weekends on order that should be here in a month or so but for now I found not 1 but 2 pairs of Polk Monitor 10Bs, each for $150. These sound really good, way better than they should for that price. Not the prettiest things to look at since they just have a vinyl wrap but the sound makes up for it.
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And added a CD player to that system. The one pictured was just a cheapo Sony DVD player I had around but since then I scored a hell of a deal on a Sony DVP-S7700. Apparently this thing retailed for around a grand when new, I got it for $25. I've got a Schiit Modi 3+ DAC that is showing up today for it as well. Went to one of our local used music stores this past weekend and purchased a couple of CDs for the first time in a really, really long time.
Anyone in Utah need a cheap set of Polk Monitor 10Bs?
Sorry for your loss.
Pop open those dynacos and replace any capacitors in the crossover, the speakers should come to life. I was considering going to look at a set of those 10b. I'm tempted.
I love high quality vintage stuff.
I picked up a new to me, basically new condition Sony st-s333esg tuner. Best tuner I've ever had by far, better clearer reception, excellent bass, krcl never sounded so good.
The apt holman continues to blow me away with how much better it is than any preamp I've had to date. I've got the turntable hooked up to it now as well, and, well, I just can't stop playing music.
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New 30 year old tuner...Attachment 357595Attachment 357596
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I also have some stuff for sale, if a mag is interested, make you a deal.
Yamaha c6 preamp, could use a recap, otherwise, it works fine, some occasional scratchiness in the tone controls, but they work.
Sony ta-e1000esd preamp. I've recapped it with nichicon and elna caps, and it has opamp sockets and upgraded opamps installed. Works 100% except for the headphone out. I had to pull the muting transistor to use in one of the main speaker outputs, so I disconnected the head phone out.
Linn lk85 chip based power amplifier. Works great.
Phase linear 200 power amp. Faceplate rack bolts are genuine Porsche 928s4 valve cover bolts.
Works great.
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These are brilliant fucking speakers for the price! I ordered mine last Oct. 1, minutes after they started accepting orders for the new production batch. I went with the tweeter cap upgrade and the rubber footsie-thingys. A great match for my Rogue Audio integrated. Very impressive base response, too.Quote:
Originally Posted by dfinn
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That’s a rad little listening area you’ve got there! I also went with the Clarity cap upgrade. And I got the Walnut finish. Pretty excited to hear them.
I’m about to order caps for the Dynacos. They sound really good as is but they deserve some TLC.
My 10Bs are on KSL. Unlikely you’d find a nicer set. Unless you found a pair new in the box but that would be really hitting the lottery. 🤣
Mag price is a little better than what I have them listed at, happy to audition them if you want to have a listen.
@Viva, did you make that rack? I need something just like that.
No. That's an Salamander component rack that I picked up many years ago.
That's a nice lookin system.
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Ever get that feeling that you can build anything? Well, I got that feeling last night!
My arduino project finally came together and I now have a functional integrated amplifier that I built myself. I would like to thank the inventor of zip ties...
Amplifier is a gb150d designed by Greg ball, assembled into a rotel receiver case and transformer and heat sink. Power supply is arcam. Display is a futaba 2x20 vacuum fluorescent display, and input switching is handled by a small 4 relay board. The display and input switching is handled by an arduino nano and a single pushbutton is used to cycle through the inputs.
Here is a video of the unit in action! Wahoo!
https://youtu.be/ScIkjyl3aQA
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I want to see 'TK421'. That's what you need to display.
Man, and I thought I was a dork.
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Hey viva, you have a pair of ads l1230 isn't that right? How would you compare them to the Zu?
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You NEED all that bass.Quote:
Originally Posted by basinbeater
Viva has 1230s and Dirty Weekends???? :fmicon:
Guessing you've been looking at those 1230s on KSL basinbeater? I've seen those in person, they are mint. That guy is a huge ADS fan. I bought some L500s from him this summer. I tried but couldn't get wife approval of those 1230s. I think he also mentioned that he'd take a good bit less than his asking price when I was looking at them at his house.
That amp is really cool, but how does it sound? I probably should have taken my SX-1000 to to you fix it instead of this local guy who told me "no problem, it'll be done in 2 weeks". That was in October and I still don't have it.
Great question. I actually have the ADS 1290s, with 2X 8" woof / single mid woof, 3" middy, and the tweet. The Zus seem to go a little lower in the frequency range, and tighter, than the ADSs, which is consistent with their respective ratings (35 Hz vs 40 Hz). As an example, certain well known to me tracks with heavy bass emphasis had noticeably less distortion going through the Zus. The cabinets are significantly smaller, too, which is nice in my small living room. The construction is also very good. Very, very pleased with this upgrade.Quote:
Originally Posted by basinbeater
For sale:
One pair ADS 1290. Excellent working and cosmetic condition. Refurbished by former ADS engineer (Gary Somethingoranother, in Phoenix).
One pair ADS 690. Beat-up cabinets, but work and sound pretty nice with a quality receiver. I may use these in a garage system should I go that route.
One pair Linn Ninkas- really great sounding, but base extension is limited unless you bi-amp. Excellent cosmetics and come with original boxes. Sounds great with my Sim Audio Celest integrated (which I'll also will also sell).
I think his name is Richard So. I’m about to send him some woofers. Where are you located?
Happy to hear you prefer the Zus to the 1290, I think those are pretty well regarded in the ADS lineup.
YES! I believe that's our man.
I live in the 81147.
And I'd like to revise something that I wrote previously- the Zus don't have less distortion at lower frequencies (usually a symptom of blasting your system), but the lower frequencies are less muddled, there's better separation and clarity.
I'm pretty sure my dad bought one of these new. Wonder if he still has it kicking around somewhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by basinbeater
The gb150d amp sounds great, and it can even drive the big b and o ms150. It sounds very good, almost on par with the honey badger I would say, and the honey badger a have dispatched all the manufactured amps I have tried, from krell (admittedly a home theater amp, but still) parasound, Denon, Sony, marantz, phase linear, linn. I did a/b testing between the two, and would be perfectly happy with the gb150 in the main system. The case and the compact amp board design has made it a good test bed for me to implement other things, like arduino and input switching. Hopefully I'll apply those learnings to a complete custom preamplifier. It really could do with a little larger power supply, with the big speakers it runs out of gas a little bit at higher volumes, but that is due to the rotel transformer not being able to provide enough juice. Original receiver was rated at 100w per channel, and the gb is supposed to be good for 150+ like the badger. It makes those 4 ohm cantons sing.
You can look up gb150d and find some diy links, it's not on the current hot list of stuff to build, but that crew seems to build, work it out to the max and move on to the next thing. All systems in my house at this point are running diy amps.
Just finished dark side of the moon front to back..
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I was looking at those ads, I saw them on facefuck, but I think I am going to pass. I don't thing they will have the bass to compete with the b and o.
The sony is a fun unit, pretty unit for digital sources, like tv, or cd player, as the dac is pretty good for an old machine. And recapped it actually sounds pretty good. But a nicer analogue preamp will sound better. Older stuff is what is in my budget, but very impressed with the nad 1155 post recap, and of course, the apt holman is current king of the hill.
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The Zu is definitely sharp looking. Would love to have a listen. You will have to bring them to the first maggot sound off summit post pandemic. In salt lake of course.
Edit, just learned Zu is based in o town! Time to recalibrate the ogden scale.
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Second to the glowing reviews they get that was the next reason for buying them. Made locally. And a 60 day no questions asked return policy is nice too. For whatever reason we have some very high end speaker makers here in Utah. Tekton, RBH, Zu, Wilson. I don’t have the details but I think a lot of these guys are tied together somehow with Kimber Kable, ex employees there.
Now we are getting into it. Got a new power supply and figured out how to get my scope to interface with the computer. Whoa! Full screen! Haha.
So first circuit to mess around with is a simple audio signal buffer.
Just finished putting it together on a breadboard and then hooked it up and gave the new power supply a whirl. It works! Sorta. It should be producing a signal that is exactly the same as the input, well, simulation showed 97%. Mine is outputting clean signal, but at 10% level. So, I'll rebuild and try again. Now it's really going to get fun...
I aim to successfully build the circuit, put it on prototype board, test it, understand 100% how it works, and be able to measure different characteristics of it, and install it in my project amp, the one with the sweet display... But tonight it was fun getting the tools setup, working, and testing a first circuit.
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