Gear Thread

relax buddy im not looking to drop $500 on old outdated tech like tape decks and turntables, i just like having a spare setup that looks nice.
i also have some 70s gear too during the "golden age" so calm down

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Are you the insufferable guy from /g/ who's been saying he's going to buy a 4K TV next month for eight months now? The one with the CRT?

dig the SL-1200. Hoping to get one someday down the road. I own a SL-1500 myself and love it.

talk about being insufferable lmao

Which stylus did you put on your table btw?

Buy it already or stop making threads, you dumb fuck.
>Im not looking to drop $500 on old outdated tech like tape decks and turntables
And who the fuck says you should?
If you do your own research you can find absolute bargains on great components. There were shitloads of good Hi-Fi gear made in what you call the "golden age", and the Internet doesn't know about three quarters of them. The Internet only knows about memeing the SL-1200 and all its clones, praising audiophool gear the likes of the Cambridge Audio Topaz amplifiers (Which use actual car radio ICs, not making this shit up) and overpriced "interconnects", shilling stuff like STAX and shitting on anything with a black front panel. Then you have retards like this
which just regurgitate that shit.
When will you fuckers understand that DDs are SHIT for Hi-Fi use due to how inherently rumbly they are? Right, you'll never hear the rumble because the rest of your gear is either overpriced shit or just plain shit.

>Buy it already or stop making threads, you dumb fuck.
buy what faglord? and I'm not creating any threads, nigger.
You don't even know the context behind posts and yet you throw shit everywhere.
Either give useful advice or just fuck off since you are obviously too good to be here

Im curious to see your setup now.

My current setup for music and movies:
Infinity SM-155s
JBL HLS Center
Pioneer PD-M702 CD player
Kenwood KD2070 record player
Denon X1440h receiver

And for computer speakers I have a pair of Micca PB42x. Can post pics if anyone cares enough

Go back to audiokarma gramps

>Either give useful advice or just fuck off
Okay. Here goes:
Auto-reverse tape decks are shit if you don't plan on adjusting the azimuth every few plays, the mechanism that flip their tape heads tends to knock them out of alignment very often. Look for decks with amorphous heads and huge flywheels, three-head decks if you're going to do recording.
DD turntables are generally not good for Hi-Fi because of the motor rumble. Try to get belt drives, or even better, PLL-controlled belt drives. These have a feedback loop that constantly adjusts the platter speed just like a DD, but have the motor completely isolated so there's no rumble.
Ortofon OM and Super OM carts are extremely underrated. They're mostly sold as entry-level, however the OM series is used by professionals in its Concorde form (same internals), and the Super OMs are exactly the same as the 2M series, but with better compatibility due to their lower mass. Styli are interchangeable between all OM and Super OM, and can even be fitted to 2M carts. Avoid rebranded carts, like Rega or the lower end Goldrings. These are just Audio-Technicas with higher pricetags.
Avoid amplifiers/receivers based on ICs, be they TDA or STK. The early STK ICs aren't inherently bad, it's just that they were shoved into the cheap designs. Never go for Class D amplifiers. They sound good and are pretty efficient, but they tend to dump power into speakers at supersonic frequencies. Most speakers can take this, some can't.
If you can, get separate pre and power amp stages. Even using a separate preamplifier connected to the power amp inputs of a receiver is better than using an integrated. Reason being separate power supplies.
Avoid gear with switching power supplies. Always go linear.
Power conditioning is a meme if your gear is good and your power is stable. All common mode noise gets filtered before it even reaches the voltage regulators. Snake power cables are a meme too.
Cont.

Snake cables with a thousand layers of shielding can actually be detrimental, due to their increased capacitance. Triple-shielded is the highest anyone should ever go, and that's for extreme cases where there's tons of RF interference present. Non-shielded cables (Those clear things that look like tapeworms, for example) are also detrimental for obvious reasons.
Get an EQ. There's no such thing as a perfect system with a flat response curve. The main culprit of this is the room acoustics. Measure your room and EQ your system accordingly.
Go to thrift stores and see what you can find there. Learn how to interpret component spec sheets, and how to look them up. As I said, most audio components are unknown to Internet circlejerks, even good ones.
Learn how to fix broken belts. You can get extremely good deals on tape decks and turntables with broken belts, sometimes people will give them away for free.
I'll try to take a pic, but I have fuckall light and my camera is a piece of shit. Meanwhile, have a list of my components:
Turntable: Grundig PS 4000 (rebranded Philips AF-877), Ortofon OM cart, currently fitted with a Stylus 10
Tape deck 1: Technics RS-B18
Tape deck 2: Pioneer CT-X707WR. I use this one to test suspicious tapes
CD Player: Marantz CD-48, modified to have a direct output from the DAC
MD Deck: Sony MDS-JE480
Tuner: Grundig ST 6000
Preamp: Grundig SXV 6000, all capacitors in the signal path replaced with Elna Silmic IIs, they were originally RDE shits.
EQ: Sony SEQ-D705
Power amp: Lobotomized Proson RV-2050 receiver. With the preamp and tuner sections completely disconnected, signal fed straight into the power section.
Misc: Kenwood SS-3300 Dolby Pro Logic decoder, used for quasi-quadraphonic sounds.
Speakers: Technics SB-CS7
Fuck audiokarma. They are the epitome of judging gear by its looks, see the term "BPC".

wtf this guy actually fucks

>quasi-quadraphonic sounds.
Quasi-quadraphonic record decoding*

Here's the shitty pic. I'm pretty damn sure I posted a proper pic on /g/ at some point, and I must have it stored in my homeserver somewhere, but fuck if I know where. I'm moving soon, so I haven't bothered getting proper shelving for my system yet. I'm fully aware this looks like ass.

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besides what you have mentioned, what should I look for/avoid when buying older turntables, if you'd be so kind? thanks for the replies though

Fuck off you joyless cunt.
Currently on it is a Nagaoka MP-150. I switch between it, a 2m Blue, and a Stanton 681EEE

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I came to this thread to get angry at someone, but not even that I can manage. I guess I just can't really get angry over the Internet. Thanks, autism.
Whatever floats your boat, I guess. But in my experience record clamps actually make the DD rumble worse.
1/2" cartridge mount and adjustable counterweight are absolute musts. Aside from that, platter mass is important, the more the better. Full suspension is always nice. Check for smooth operation of the tonearm riser mechanism, it's usually a telltale sign of the wear and tear the table has on it. Keep in mind if you get a table with an old cart and a broken stylus, you'll most likely have to replace both. And even if you get a working stylus, it'll eventually wear out. This is why the cartridge mount and the counterweight are so important.

Mate I'm still learning here. Everything in my system including the amp you seem to hate so much I got second hand for super cheap. Did you not figure you could've clarified what I could improve without coming off as a fuckwit? It's already hard enough to learn about this shit when everyone on actual audio forums is a snobby cunt, why are you one too?

the guy has given neat info, true snobs simply stay shut and play dumb. learn and be grateful you fragile cunt.

>Did you not figure you could've clarified what I could improve without coming off as a fuckwit
No, you don't understand. I came here to be a fuckwit, but I couldn't stay in character for long because I guess I wasn't that angry in the first place. Listen, I'm sorry. I have these mood swings sometimes and I just so happened to see a 90s fake component system in a thread, so I decided to let off some steam. I hate those things.
>everyone on actual audio forums is a snobby cunt, why are you one too?
I thought I'd get some enjoyment out of it, turns out I didn't. Again, I'm sorry. I hope the lengthy posts I made helped you in some way.
No, he's right. I acted like a fucking dipshit.

what are some albums about assholes that go through a redemption arc?

ye, fucking nice.

i master some of my synth stuff, also play with tape looks, this shit is sick.

kek

you're fine. thanks for the info. You are very knowledgeable

>1/2" cartridge mount
sorry about the retarded question but by this you meant that pic related must accept 1/2" cartridges?

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Meh no hard feeling my dude.

>EQ: Sony SEQ-D705
what the fuck are you using a digital EQ for in your audiofool audio path, is this some clever ruse?

>DDs are SHIT for Hi-Fi use
muh rubber band. Belt drives are quintessential audiophool gear, and almost all of them have worse rumble, and shit tier wow/flutter than a 1200mk2.

Rega RP1 with a Goldring 2100 cart
NAD 7020e amp
Pioneer 22LR speakers
D-Box 300 sub

1/2" mount refers to the slits or holes the mounting screws go through being 1/2" apart. But yes, the cartridge mount (your pic shows what's called a "headshell", which is a detachable cartridge mount to make installation/swaps easier) must accept 1/2" mount cartridges.
If you don't have much space, you could get a P-mount turntable, as these tend to be smaller. But your choice of modern cartridges will be far smaller, pretty much being limited to a couple of Audio-Technica models and the Ortofon OM with an adapter.
Thanks.
It's connected through the third tape loop in the preamp, most of the time I have it out of the path completely, I use the 4-band parametric EQ built into the SXV 6000. However, even if the controls, the spectrum analyzer and the fake surround thing are digital, the EQ is not. It actually has a shitload of resistor networks inside doing all the work. The DSP also gets completely bypassed when the fake surround thing is off. Honestly I have it there because it's surprisingly accurate for measuring signal levels so I know if I have to use the attenuator in the preamp, and how much. Also, I have a VFD fetish and it looks cool.
Well, almost all shit turntables are also belt drives, so you're right.
But I have personally had DDs in my setup (including a 1200mk5) and I found all of them to have more rumble than my current table.

>I have a VFD fetish and it looks cool.
based

Everyone loves VFDs

>EQ is not
ye. did some research and got pic rel and its the m5289p chip, one for each channel, as you can see, its even simpler than a chorus pedal. might build this very part for my stereo, does it sound good?

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cont. however my goal is to build a full inductor based EQ, those are the goat, not for playback but for recording.

Well whaddayaknow.
>does it sound good?
Yeah, it's pretty damn good, more than you'd expect an IC jobbie to be. When I have it flat I can't tell any difference when I take it in or out of the signal chain. Can't give you any objective measurements because I haven't done any.
Nice.

Anyways, I've taken my crazy pills (I wasn't joking about the autism thing, I have dem assburgers) and they'll be kicking in any minute now, so I have to go to bed. Night, Yea Forums.

sleep tight pup.per

wholesome thread

Technics SL-1300
Yamaha AS501
Cambridge Soundworks Model 6 speakers
Bic F12 sub
and a Chromecast Audio for digital playback

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comfy place. what city?

Technics SL-1200M3D
Art DJPre II preamp
Klipsch R-41M powered speakers
Carts I have are the Nagaoka MP-110, AT95E, Ortofon 2M Red, and Stanton 680 EL that needs a new needle.
I have an ATLP-120 that I use mostly to play 78s with.

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bump

Outside Seattle

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