I have been to several system demos at different dealers and seen woofers moving to the warp of records. The electronics was direct coupled with no sub-sonic filtering. Not every record did this but several did cause a lot of sub-sonic excursion. Some of the records were brand new Mo-Fi’s. At louder levels I thought the bass driver was going to exceed its X max limit. I personally think that a proper sub-sonic filter is a good idea. Why risk damaging the woofer with a non-music signal?
You're right, clue is the magic word: it depends on your priorities. Mine is the sound: good or bad.
I can roughly make out 3 categories:
- Old but great: I still own and use the Quad ESL57. Why? Let me quote the great P. J. Walker Himself: "No, we think our loudspeaker very poor, but we think that the others are even poorer!"
- Old but not hopelessly junk: I still own and use a vintage McIntosh MC240. It sounded terrible when I first got it; upon investigation, it had cross-over distortion, contact rectification distortion, unnecessary capacitors, plus other assorted nasties. I went through it completely, nothing was left alone, see attachment. Now it sounds fine, thanks to the great transformers.
- Old and hopeless: apart from the TT I mentioned, I also had the vintage Tannoy York: terrible: the 12" coax weren't that great to start with, the cross-overs were primitive, and the cabinets were made of thin plywood and were "shaking all over". They went straight to the junkyard. Even though I never owned one, I can also mention the case of the infamous Quad 405 "s**t dumping" amplifier (not my words); I wonder why there are so many clones of it nowadays?
Attachments
Do they re-purpose them? Long ago, when I was a student, I use to buy used tapes from the Swiss radio: it was a great deal even though I had to re-bias because of the strange formulations.
I do hope the more "global" artists like Anoushka Shankar take better care of their legacy.
I just found this good info from a book by someone most of us have heard about, Doug Self. Reference to Tomlinson Holman.
Small Signal Audio Design - Douglas Self - Google Books
Point me to some good Hindustani and Carnatic classical music on vinyl. I went to see Sangeeta Shankar just last night. I've been attending shows run by The Music Circle here in Los Angeles for about 4 years now.
It doesn’t make me feel any better nor any worse. I haven’t any personal involvement in the preference of driving mechanism. I only made the comment based on my uneasiness with the use of strong words.
I have repaired/ restored/ reconditioned many if not all of the idler TTs you’ve named and many more from all technical genres . They belonged to friends and acquaintances.
Two of those idler TTs have been offered to me and I have declined. Another two well regarded and expensive DDs, same with those.
But I am “sentimentally attached” to old FR drivers (no one is perfect
)George
Yes and I even have my grandfather'a tools. But that is the kind of item that the plan books have made it into the net, somewhere.
The issue about broadcast turntables is that they have a transmission neutral position. You spin the record until you hit the start of the recording. Then you back it off 1/4 turn and leave the motor off with the transmission in gear. When you hit the start switch the recording will start at speed half a second later.
That is how synchronization was achieved. I did expect you to know how to switch projectors. I also expect you still see the cue dots other folks miss.
Now do you need to build or repair a dormer?
I did have a visitor, who was a historic repair carpenter, visit the other day. She quickly picked out and asked about my wheelwrights' plane. Also took in the adz, router plane, electricians drill and a few of my other classic tools.
I do have four braces and bits. One was a birthday present in 1959, the others are all older.
BTY I do have folks passing by often mention how they appreciate the flowers carved into my front porch rail. The back porch has even more carvings. But I did recently have to replace the back steps. The pressure treated wood from Home Depot rotted out in only 8 years.
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"I also had the vintage Tannoy York: terrible: the 12" coax weren't that great to start with, the cross-overs were primitive, and the cabinets were made of thin plywood and were "shaking all over".
The most holographic sound I ever heard was from a big Tannoy being driven by a Luxman pre/power amp combo (class A IIRC) in a hi-end hifi store in Akihabara. Source was CD - can't remember what the player was but the sound was truly amazing.
(The Tannoy styling is sort of 'Gentlemen's Club' - kind of makes me think of tweed jackets, faded brown, green and red tartan cloth, leather chairs and a bunch of old farts way past their prime puffing on cigars in a smoke filled, wooden panelled room, drinking whiskey. A bit like this place)
The most holographic sound I ever heard was from a big Tannoy being driven by a Luxman pre/power amp combo (class A IIRC) in a hi-end hifi store in Akihabara. Source was CD - can't remember what the player was but the sound was truly amazing.
(The Tannoy styling is sort of 'Gentlemen's Club' - kind of makes me think of tweed jackets, faded brown, green and red tartan cloth, leather chairs and a bunch of old farts way past their prime puffing on cigars in a smoke filled, wooden panelled room, drinking whiskey. A bit like this place
)
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LOLOL...yer not far off...
And also in my experience, one of the best imaging setups I have had was a pair of Tannoy System 8's driven by an all discrete Luxman L100...some 'lytic caps and not a Class A amp section, but with separate wide band and DC feedback loops they called DuoBeta...I really like the sound of much of the old Luxman pre-Alpine stuff designed by Tim de Paravinci.
Cheers,
Howie
And also in my experience, one of the best imaging setups I have had was a pair of Tannoy System 8's driven by an all discrete Luxman L100...some 'lytic caps and not a Class A amp section, but with separate wide band and DC feedback loops they called DuoBeta...I really like the sound of much of the old Luxman pre-Alpine stuff designed by Tim de Paravinci.
Cheers,
Howie
I remember endlessly tweaking my Luxman T110 FM tuner, I can do without Tim.
Unfortunately you can't experience that music the same way you'd do it in the intense humid heat of monsoon smelling all sorts of Indian smokes . India is still there to remind us where the music is coming from...It certainly comes from a High state of mind
When us the electronics geek take pride in making audio equipment we'd better remind ourselves that we only contribute to some people getting high...
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Anything specific about his designs you have a problem with? I'm not sure he had anything to do with their RF designs. He claims credit for the design of preamps and amps like the C1000, L100, M4000, M6000, and some of the older tube stuff...
Howie
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I should have kept them, considering how much they're worth now.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Can you believe 4K+ USD?
Oh well...
Still, it's collectible worth, not sonic worth.
Looks similar to the ones I heard - but I cannot be sure - 10 years ago now.
Nice flat tops for the wife to put an ornament on . . .
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