So, my wife picked up a beautiful looking mid century record console but good looking is all it was, pretty much all the audio gear was shot so I’m taking a stab at refurbishing it.
Firstly, I understand by it’s nature I’m not likely to get something that sounds “perfect”, I’m OK with that but I do want it to sound decent.
I started playing around with some old gear I had. I changed out the turntable for a Dual 1257, put in an airport express for Airplay and, temporarily, put some Yamaha satellite speakers inside each enclosure with 8” Yamaha Sub sitting by it for now. I tried putting some Pioneer BS22 bookshelf speakers inside too but found, weirdly, that they sounded muddy and undefined inside the cavernous enclosures of the Console. This made me wonder if smaller drivers are going to be the way to go?
I ran it all through an old Yamaha amp I’d found at a goodwill for $10. I also have a Qinpu Q2 headphone amp, the little Chinese Tube/Hybrid one. I tried running the line out from it in to my Yamaha using it primarily as a tube preamp and found that I liked what the tube did to the sound a lot.
So, here’s where I’m at. I’m happy with the Dual, I like the idea of having some kind of tube pre-amp stage, the cheap chinese ones do me just fine, I’m sold on a 2.1 system being the way forwards and I want to build everything in to the space I have
What I need:
A good amp for powering tops and subs, I was thinking maybe a plate amp with a crossover and/or some kind of small T Amp with a tube preamp before it
I’m considering too using a Minidsp to set more accurate crossover points and do some basic cutting of the resonant frequencies etc
This is the biggest one, SPEAKER AND SUB RECOMMENDATIONS. The enclosures are around 20” tall, 18” wide and 18” deep. I was thinking some kind of 2 way woofer/tweeter combo and a sub but I’m really not sure what kind. As I say, my inkling is that smaller drivers might be better?
I saw that someone undertook a similar project and ended up using car speakers because they could be used open baffle. That’s very interesting to me, I love the idea of not having to build enclosures because I really need to get both the woofer/tweeter combo AND the sub enclosure in to that 20”x18”x18” space.
Is there any way to have a sub without it’s own enclosure too? Maybe cut a hole in the bottom of the cabinet and have it down firing and use the dimensions of the cabinet itself or am I way off?
Will vibrations likely be a problem for the turntable? I put the Sub I had in the cabinet for a minute and found that it didn’t cause any problems, the vibration suspension was good enough on the dual to not cause any huge issues and I don’t need crazy high volume but any thoughts on how to minimize would be great.
Any pre-amp recommendations?
Lots of questions! I’d really be glad to hear from any of you. I can post pictures of the cabinet if you like? Basically, there are two sections each side with the dimensions I gave and an area in the middle for record storage around 26" wide, the turntable is on the left so I aim to have the sub on the right.
Budget for pre-amp, amp and speakers is around $500. I know that may be a tall order so if it needs to go beyond that I would get it
Thanks folks!
Firstly, I understand by it’s nature I’m not likely to get something that sounds “perfect”, I’m OK with that but I do want it to sound decent.
I started playing around with some old gear I had. I changed out the turntable for a Dual 1257, put in an airport express for Airplay and, temporarily, put some Yamaha satellite speakers inside each enclosure with 8” Yamaha Sub sitting by it for now. I tried putting some Pioneer BS22 bookshelf speakers inside too but found, weirdly, that they sounded muddy and undefined inside the cavernous enclosures of the Console. This made me wonder if smaller drivers are going to be the way to go?
I ran it all through an old Yamaha amp I’d found at a goodwill for $10. I also have a Qinpu Q2 headphone amp, the little Chinese Tube/Hybrid one. I tried running the line out from it in to my Yamaha using it primarily as a tube preamp and found that I liked what the tube did to the sound a lot.
So, here’s where I’m at. I’m happy with the Dual, I like the idea of having some kind of tube pre-amp stage, the cheap chinese ones do me just fine, I’m sold on a 2.1 system being the way forwards and I want to build everything in to the space I have
What I need:
A good amp for powering tops and subs, I was thinking maybe a plate amp with a crossover and/or some kind of small T Amp with a tube preamp before it
I’m considering too using a Minidsp to set more accurate crossover points and do some basic cutting of the resonant frequencies etc
This is the biggest one, SPEAKER AND SUB RECOMMENDATIONS. The enclosures are around 20” tall, 18” wide and 18” deep. I was thinking some kind of 2 way woofer/tweeter combo and a sub but I’m really not sure what kind. As I say, my inkling is that smaller drivers might be better?
I saw that someone undertook a similar project and ended up using car speakers because they could be used open baffle. That’s very interesting to me, I love the idea of not having to build enclosures because I really need to get both the woofer/tweeter combo AND the sub enclosure in to that 20”x18”x18” space.
Is there any way to have a sub without it’s own enclosure too? Maybe cut a hole in the bottom of the cabinet and have it down firing and use the dimensions of the cabinet itself or am I way off?
Will vibrations likely be a problem for the turntable? I put the Sub I had in the cabinet for a minute and found that it didn’t cause any problems, the vibration suspension was good enough on the dual to not cause any huge issues and I don’t need crazy high volume but any thoughts on how to minimize would be great.
Any pre-amp recommendations?
Lots of questions! I’d really be glad to hear from any of you. I can post pictures of the cabinet if you like? Basically, there are two sections each side with the dimensions I gave and an area in the middle for record storage around 26" wide, the turntable is on the left so I aim to have the sub on the right.
Budget for pre-amp, amp and speakers is around $500. I know that may be a tall order so if it needs to go beyond that I would get it
Thanks folks!
If there's anything about that speaker it's probably designed to work into a large rear volume rather than a small box. A dipole is one thing, used a certain way. An open baffle used because it's easy will sound that way. It is especially difficult to use one as a sub.
Thanks Allen. I figured that an open baffle sub was not going to work, I'm happy to build an enclosure for it. It's more the woofer/tweeter combo I want to try without having to build additional enclosures.
As I say, the space is 21"x18"x18", I guess really I'm looking for a tweeter woofer combo that would work well in that kind of space.
As I say, the space is 21"x18"x18", I guess really I'm looking for a tweeter woofer combo that would work well in that kind of space.
You say you tried some small speakers in the enclosures, but did you just place them into the open space? Or try to seal the fronts from the insides of the outer boxes. That could explain what you heard.
Some consoles used an open baffle, that much isn't unusual. They weren't expecting a very wide bandwidth. Large paper cones often gave a smooth but not extended top end.
If you did seal your woofers, your subs might be less critical.
Some consoles used an open baffle, that much isn't unusual. They weren't expecting a very wide bandwidth. Large paper cones often gave a smooth but not extended top end.
If you did seal your woofers, your subs might be less critical.
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