Hey!
Question for you geniuses over here. My dad was a DJ until a few years ago and I think he would get back into it if he had a working amp. He also needs a new amp for his home system with some old JBL speakers (L-100's). I'm trying to kill 2 birds with one stone. Could I use the Peavey IPR 1600 Class D amp in his home system? He NEVER adjusts treble or bass and I could connect a sourse selector unit to it. It's certainly light enough to move around as needed.
The only thing is this - he would have to use the input attenuator knobs on the amp as the volume control for the system. I don't want to have to to buy a separate pre-amp. For the cost of a pre-amp or control amp, I could just buy him a basic receiver. And in the manual it says the same thing that the manual for his old CS 400 did in 1979. (see links if you like) It says that you need to turn the amp attenuators up as high as applicable to give more headroom, at the sacrifice of some more noise. Is this really a concern for a class D amp, being that it works so much differently than the old class A beasts, and is so much more efficient? Furthermore, is it really a concern in a home environment?
Thanks for any and all advice!
Now, my daughter wants to add some smileys:
😡
😛😀🙂😱😎
😎
Question for you geniuses over here. My dad was a DJ until a few years ago and I think he would get back into it if he had a working amp. He also needs a new amp for his home system with some old JBL speakers (L-100's). I'm trying to kill 2 birds with one stone. Could I use the Peavey IPR 1600 Class D amp in his home system? He NEVER adjusts treble or bass and I could connect a sourse selector unit to it. It's certainly light enough to move around as needed.
The only thing is this - he would have to use the input attenuator knobs on the amp as the volume control for the system. I don't want to have to to buy a separate pre-amp. For the cost of a pre-amp or control amp, I could just buy him a basic receiver. And in the manual it says the same thing that the manual for his old CS 400 did in 1979. (see links if you like) It says that you need to turn the amp attenuators up as high as applicable to give more headroom, at the sacrifice of some more noise. Is this really a concern for a class D amp, being that it works so much differently than the old class A beasts, and is so much more efficient? Furthermore, is it really a concern in a home environment?
Thanks for any and all advice!
Now, my daughter wants to add some smileys:
😡😛😀🙂😱😎😎
I would be wary of using a high power amp with home speakers.
A class d output isnt much diffeent from a class a, both are analogue out.
A class d output isnt much diffeent from a class a, both are analogue out.
You wouldn't be able to "turn down" the volume enough with just the input adjustments on the amp.It just won't bring down the output to zero. The old JBL Centuries were only rated for 75 Watts RMS......that Peavey I'm sure is several times that rating & one could torch those classic JBLs quite by accident.
_________________________________________________________Rick.......
_________________________________________________________Rick.......
I'm with dickl. Please don't trash those classic JBL's. Buy a preamp and enjoy them for many more years to come.
Always lots of preamps on ebay. Some great NADs for $100 or less. Or there are some great mini preamps that are fully assembled.
Another option is a small mixer.....does the same thing and also lots around used on eBay and Craigslist, or even new you can get a small one for not much $$.
Another option is a small mixer.....does the same thing and also lots around used on eBay and Craigslist, or even new you can get a small one for not much $$.
"I'm trying to kill 2 birds with one stone. Could I use the Peavey IPR 1600 Class D amp in his home system?
You certainly "could" use the Peavey in a home system, it would pass sound and, depending on the priorities your father has established for music reproduction, it "could" be satisfactory. "Priorities" is the operative word here. We all have our individual expectations of just what constitutes "good sound". You need to establish just where you father exists on a line from pure "set it at 11.5 on the volume control" typical of too many sound reinforcement roadies to the "palpable presence" of what passes for high end consumer audio in 2011. If you have no idea what your father expects from his home audio system, then you can't meet those expectations and IMO the Peavey wouldn't be where I would start trying.
Read a few reviews of high end audio gear in a magazine such as Stereophile or The Absolute Sound to get an idea where home audio exists. I made a comparsion in another forum a few months back on how various individuals see "music". Not to pad what might be a rather long post but here's a portion of that response ...
Here's one of my long time frustrations with the audio industry and particularly the audio press; this is how most component/speaker reviews are written, "I compared the PSB Image B6 ($495) with the Epos ELS3 ($295), the Epos M5 ($695), and the Nola Mini ($600) ... The Epos ELS3 shared with the PSB its silky, neutral, and detailed midrange, but I found the Epos's highs to be more delicate and refined. However, the ELS3's bass was much less extended, and the PSB was far better at high-level dynamic bloom in loud passages ... The Nola Mini shared its midrange characteristics with the two speakers mentioned above, but its bass seemed the deepest of the three, with much more effortless gut-slamming of high-level dynamics. However, compared with both the PSB and the Epos ELS3, the Nola had some high-frequency roughness in upper-register passages ...
The Epos M5 shared the positive midrange attributes of the other three speakers, but with a bit more resolution of detail--the M5 made it much easier to follow individual voicings in solo-piano recordings, for example. The M5's highs were as refined as the Epos ELS3's, and therefore a bit more natural than the PSB Image B6's. Finally, I found the Epos M5's midbass to be cleaner than the PSB's but the Nola Mini was the best of the lot in terms of effortless, high-level dynamic bloom."
Here's how most reviewers write about a live music performance, "'Caprice' is all runs and riffs and fitful chords. In the slow middle piece, 'Aubade', melodic fragments are woven into strings of thick yet lucid chords with hints of Berg, Messiaen and Bill Evans. 'Arabesque' is an exercise in quick repeated notes and skittish spurts. Mr. Biss played this brilliant 13-minute group of pieces with nimble technique and myriad colorings ... Somehow the Janacek and Rands set the mood for Mr. Biss's murky, moody account of Beethoven's 'Appassionata'. Mr. Biss writes that as an enthralled 13-year-old he loved this music for its 'desperate intensity', and his performance here was alive with youthful, impetuous energy ... Schumann wrote his Fantasy, an epic, idiosyncratic 30-minute piece in three movements, in homage to Beethoven. But Mr. Biss admitted in the interview to having chosen the Schumann for this occasion because it was 'probably the piece that I feel most strongly about in the world.' Except for a few tangled moments in the daunting second-movement march, he played a poetic and surging performance. The reflective finale ended in rapt repose."
Here's how one musician talks about another musician, "I copied (Robert) Johnson's words down on scraps of paper so I could more closely examine the lyrics and patterns, the construction of his old-style lines and the free association that he used, the sparkling allegories, big-@ss truths wrapped in the hard shell of nonsensical abstraction--themes that flew through the air with the greatest of ease. I didn't have any of these dreams or thoughts but I was going to acquire them. I thought about Johnson a lot, wondered who his audience could have been. It's hard to imagine sharecroppers or plantation field hands at hop joints, relating to songs like these. You have to wonder if Johnson was playing for an audience that only he could see, one off in the future." -- Bob Dylan
As you can see what one person expects from music is far from what another might desire. Therefore, you start answering your own questions by asking questions of your father. Just judging by the 40 year old JBL's, I wouldn't guess your father to be the type of listener who sits intently centered in front of a pair of spiked to the floor speakers which have been set up using, say, the WASP speaker placement technique (WASP: speakers placement [English]) judging not so much the music but more the quality of "dynamic bloom" afforded by his various tweaks to the system. This is where too many "audiophiles" exist today, listening to the system more than to the music. In that regard the Peavey amp would pass muster for someone who is more basic in their expectations of home music reproduction. That said, the Peavey products are more "garage band" oriented than anything else.
While the subtleties of music making between home/consumer high end and the "semi-pro" arena where Peavey exists are easily distinguishable to anyone who cares to listen, Peavey gear takes that differentiation to a new level. Peavey is cheap gear - period! And, in most things audio, you do tend to get what you pay for - along with all of the inevitable trade off's which come at any budget level. The question then becomes one of whether the Peavey will be satisfying to your father's ears or whether, even as a more casual listener, he will find the Peavey to be less than stellar in its nautre. My guess would be the latter and even more so when combined with 40 year old L100's. Of course, IMO, no one should buy any audio gear they haven't first heard so, if at all possibe, get your father down to the local pro sound shop and give the Peavey a listen before parting with any hard cash.
In response to a few of the comments posted here, rated power handling of speakers is pretty inconsequential to the amount of wattage any speaker can actually deal with. We should all understand it is far more likely you'll damage a speaker with too little power than with too much. For the most part, ignore "power handling specs" on speakers, ten watts into the tweeter is not the same as ten watts into the woofer. Actually, unless you are quite adept at figuring out just what specs any designer of audio gear wants you to know, it's probably a good idea to ignore most specs as written on paper other than HxWxL plus weight. You have to know whether you're going to need to borrow the neighbor's pick 'em up truck to get this stuff home and whether it will fit where you want it to go! Other than that, specs can be manipulated almost any way the person quoting specs wants them to go. There are some very basic rules which don't fit in this response but, for the most part, when the music begins to distort or the amp starts to run hot, turn down the volume or risk damage. Live by that and you'll probably never blow up anything.
Back to how your father uses the equipment, does he expect to have remote volumne control? If so, then the Peavey won't do. Neither would most basic power amps with gain controls. If the twin gain controls for each channel on the amp aren't a hassle to your father, there's no need for a pre amp between a CD source and the amplifier. Certainly, if you're going budget priced, this would be an acceptable way to start the system. I can't imagine the vc's on the Peavey would not shut down the volume completely. I can imagine the physical placement of the Peavey within the system would make manual adjustment of the vc's a bit of an inconvience. In total, I wouldn't make the Peavey my first choice given your priorities in this purchase and considering how it might actually be used in the home system. Add to that the hassles of connecting and disconnecting the Peavey whenever your father might want to take it out for some DJ work and I would suggest you rethink this buy. In the home the Peavey's input/output connectors will make for a hassle of incompatible adapters that can only be expected to cause problems down the road. You also have no need for the two crossovers included in the Peavey. So, why waste your money when this doesn't seem to be a unit at all meant for home use?
If I were to simply look at the need for a new amplifier and the existence of the 40 year old JBL's and then assume your father is not a card carrying "audiophile" who spends his time in audio salons criticizing the lack of three dimensionality to the bass player or the paucity of inky blackness between notes, I would take your suggestion in a totally different direction. Why not try a pair of powered monitors for your dad? There are far more sophisticated systems available for about the same amount of money you would have invested in the Peavey which are, IMO, far superior to what your father would get from a cheap garage band power amp and his old JBL's. The power amp is tailored to the needs of the speaker and the speaker is properly paired to the right amplifier when you listen to powered monitors. Several home audio speaker manufacturers now also build "pro" monitors. They can be fairly light and manueverable - particularly if they were designed for mobile recording applications - while providing high quality sound far superior to the JBL's. Possibly, this isn't what your father would have in mind since most of these powered monitors in your price range are meant for a "near field" listening position. But, we don't know for sure your father has any intention of going back to his DJ gig. So you need to ask your father just what he intends and what he expects from a new system. Larger (more expensive) powered monitors would still be a suggestion for DJ work.
Otherwise, the Peavey woudn't be my first choice in an amplifier if I were going to use it at home. Don't concern yourself much with the high wattage of the Peavey for the buck. They aren't being all that honest with their specs in the first place. You're going to get the volume potential more from the sensitivity spec (assuming it's been honestly quoted) of the speakers than you will from amplifier watts alone. The L100's wouldn't be my choice for DJ work to begin with so maybe your father has other speakers he would use in his night job. So far all we know about are the 40 year old JBL's.
If powered monitors just don't fit what you think you want, then I would still tend towards dissauding you away from the Peavey. If the L100's are bound to stay, I would then turn you more towards one of the "T-amp" type amplifiers on the market. These units are almost always integrated amps which would include a "passive pre amp" in the form of a volume control which pads down the input voltage from the source player to adjust listening levels. You can choose from something as basic as the generic T-amps sold by Parts Express or go more sophisticated and give a company like Virtue Audio a try. These class T amps offer a good slice of what is available in the highest extremes of the audiophile market at bargain basement prices as long as the speakers can make decent volume with a handful of watts and maintain a nominal impedance around 8 Ohms. The JBL's should accomplish this without problem. Just get yourself and your dad over the physical appearance of an amplifier the size of a six pack. You could also pick up a used integrated from NAD, Rotel, CAmbridge, etc, for a few hundred bucks from Audiogon. Once the home system is worked out you can then concentrate on the DJ system and do it justice rather than getting by with double duty gear that really suits neither purpose.
While it's commendable that you want to do this for your dad, I would say, overall, you need to get some information from him and then, possibly, expand your budget upwards by a bit. Give the companies mentioned in this post a call and ask their opinion. Musicians Friend, Sam Ash or Guitar Center can provide information on powered monitors. Hope that helps.
You certainly "could" use the Peavey in a home system, it would pass sound and, depending on the priorities your father has established for music reproduction, it "could" be satisfactory. "Priorities" is the operative word here. We all have our individual expectations of just what constitutes "good sound". You need to establish just where you father exists on a line from pure "set it at 11.5 on the volume control" typical of too many sound reinforcement roadies to the "palpable presence" of what passes for high end consumer audio in 2011. If you have no idea what your father expects from his home audio system, then you can't meet those expectations and IMO the Peavey wouldn't be where I would start trying.
Read a few reviews of high end audio gear in a magazine such as Stereophile or The Absolute Sound to get an idea where home audio exists. I made a comparsion in another forum a few months back on how various individuals see "music". Not to pad what might be a rather long post but here's a portion of that response ...
Here's one of my long time frustrations with the audio industry and particularly the audio press; this is how most component/speaker reviews are written, "I compared the PSB Image B6 ($495) with the Epos ELS3 ($295), the Epos M5 ($695), and the Nola Mini ($600) ... The Epos ELS3 shared with the PSB its silky, neutral, and detailed midrange, but I found the Epos's highs to be more delicate and refined. However, the ELS3's bass was much less extended, and the PSB was far better at high-level dynamic bloom in loud passages ... The Nola Mini shared its midrange characteristics with the two speakers mentioned above, but its bass seemed the deepest of the three, with much more effortless gut-slamming of high-level dynamics. However, compared with both the PSB and the Epos ELS3, the Nola had some high-frequency roughness in upper-register passages ...
The Epos M5 shared the positive midrange attributes of the other three speakers, but with a bit more resolution of detail--the M5 made it much easier to follow individual voicings in solo-piano recordings, for example. The M5's highs were as refined as the Epos ELS3's, and therefore a bit more natural than the PSB Image B6's. Finally, I found the Epos M5's midbass to be cleaner than the PSB's but the Nola Mini was the best of the lot in terms of effortless, high-level dynamic bloom."
Here's how most reviewers write about a live music performance, "'Caprice' is all runs and riffs and fitful chords. In the slow middle piece, 'Aubade', melodic fragments are woven into strings of thick yet lucid chords with hints of Berg, Messiaen and Bill Evans. 'Arabesque' is an exercise in quick repeated notes and skittish spurts. Mr. Biss played this brilliant 13-minute group of pieces with nimble technique and myriad colorings ... Somehow the Janacek and Rands set the mood for Mr. Biss's murky, moody account of Beethoven's 'Appassionata'. Mr. Biss writes that as an enthralled 13-year-old he loved this music for its 'desperate intensity', and his performance here was alive with youthful, impetuous energy ... Schumann wrote his Fantasy, an epic, idiosyncratic 30-minute piece in three movements, in homage to Beethoven. But Mr. Biss admitted in the interview to having chosen the Schumann for this occasion because it was 'probably the piece that I feel most strongly about in the world.' Except for a few tangled moments in the daunting second-movement march, he played a poetic and surging performance. The reflective finale ended in rapt repose."
Here's how one musician talks about another musician, "I copied (Robert) Johnson's words down on scraps of paper so I could more closely examine the lyrics and patterns, the construction of his old-style lines and the free association that he used, the sparkling allegories, big-@ss truths wrapped in the hard shell of nonsensical abstraction--themes that flew through the air with the greatest of ease. I didn't have any of these dreams or thoughts but I was going to acquire them. I thought about Johnson a lot, wondered who his audience could have been. It's hard to imagine sharecroppers or plantation field hands at hop joints, relating to songs like these. You have to wonder if Johnson was playing for an audience that only he could see, one off in the future." -- Bob Dylan
As you can see what one person expects from music is far from what another might desire. Therefore, you start answering your own questions by asking questions of your father. Just judging by the 40 year old JBL's, I wouldn't guess your father to be the type of listener who sits intently centered in front of a pair of spiked to the floor speakers which have been set up using, say, the WASP speaker placement technique (WASP: speakers placement [English]) judging not so much the music but more the quality of "dynamic bloom" afforded by his various tweaks to the system. This is where too many "audiophiles" exist today, listening to the system more than to the music. In that regard the Peavey amp would pass muster for someone who is more basic in their expectations of home music reproduction. That said, the Peavey products are more "garage band" oriented than anything else.
While the subtleties of music making between home/consumer high end and the "semi-pro" arena where Peavey exists are easily distinguishable to anyone who cares to listen, Peavey gear takes that differentiation to a new level. Peavey is cheap gear - period! And, in most things audio, you do tend to get what you pay for - along with all of the inevitable trade off's which come at any budget level. The question then becomes one of whether the Peavey will be satisfying to your father's ears or whether, even as a more casual listener, he will find the Peavey to be less than stellar in its nautre. My guess would be the latter and even more so when combined with 40 year old L100's. Of course, IMO, no one should buy any audio gear they haven't first heard so, if at all possibe, get your father down to the local pro sound shop and give the Peavey a listen before parting with any hard cash.
In response to a few of the comments posted here, rated power handling of speakers is pretty inconsequential to the amount of wattage any speaker can actually deal with. We should all understand it is far more likely you'll damage a speaker with too little power than with too much. For the most part, ignore "power handling specs" on speakers, ten watts into the tweeter is not the same as ten watts into the woofer. Actually, unless you are quite adept at figuring out just what specs any designer of audio gear wants you to know, it's probably a good idea to ignore most specs as written on paper other than HxWxL plus weight. You have to know whether you're going to need to borrow the neighbor's pick 'em up truck to get this stuff home and whether it will fit where you want it to go! Other than that, specs can be manipulated almost any way the person quoting specs wants them to go. There are some very basic rules which don't fit in this response but, for the most part, when the music begins to distort or the amp starts to run hot, turn down the volume or risk damage. Live by that and you'll probably never blow up anything.
Back to how your father uses the equipment, does he expect to have remote volumne control? If so, then the Peavey won't do. Neither would most basic power amps with gain controls. If the twin gain controls for each channel on the amp aren't a hassle to your father, there's no need for a pre amp between a CD source and the amplifier. Certainly, if you're going budget priced, this would be an acceptable way to start the system. I can't imagine the vc's on the Peavey would not shut down the volume completely. I can imagine the physical placement of the Peavey within the system would make manual adjustment of the vc's a bit of an inconvience. In total, I wouldn't make the Peavey my first choice given your priorities in this purchase and considering how it might actually be used in the home system. Add to that the hassles of connecting and disconnecting the Peavey whenever your father might want to take it out for some DJ work and I would suggest you rethink this buy. In the home the Peavey's input/output connectors will make for a hassle of incompatible adapters that can only be expected to cause problems down the road. You also have no need for the two crossovers included in the Peavey. So, why waste your money when this doesn't seem to be a unit at all meant for home use?
If I were to simply look at the need for a new amplifier and the existence of the 40 year old JBL's and then assume your father is not a card carrying "audiophile" who spends his time in audio salons criticizing the lack of three dimensionality to the bass player or the paucity of inky blackness between notes, I would take your suggestion in a totally different direction. Why not try a pair of powered monitors for your dad? There are far more sophisticated systems available for about the same amount of money you would have invested in the Peavey which are, IMO, far superior to what your father would get from a cheap garage band power amp and his old JBL's. The power amp is tailored to the needs of the speaker and the speaker is properly paired to the right amplifier when you listen to powered monitors. Several home audio speaker manufacturers now also build "pro" monitors. They can be fairly light and manueverable - particularly if they were designed for mobile recording applications - while providing high quality sound far superior to the JBL's. Possibly, this isn't what your father would have in mind since most of these powered monitors in your price range are meant for a "near field" listening position. But, we don't know for sure your father has any intention of going back to his DJ gig. So you need to ask your father just what he intends and what he expects from a new system. Larger (more expensive) powered monitors would still be a suggestion for DJ work.
Otherwise, the Peavey woudn't be my first choice in an amplifier if I were going to use it at home. Don't concern yourself much with the high wattage of the Peavey for the buck. They aren't being all that honest with their specs in the first place. You're going to get the volume potential more from the sensitivity spec (assuming it's been honestly quoted) of the speakers than you will from amplifier watts alone. The L100's wouldn't be my choice for DJ work to begin with so maybe your father has other speakers he would use in his night job. So far all we know about are the 40 year old JBL's.
If powered monitors just don't fit what you think you want, then I would still tend towards dissauding you away from the Peavey. If the L100's are bound to stay, I would then turn you more towards one of the "T-amp" type amplifiers on the market. These units are almost always integrated amps which would include a "passive pre amp" in the form of a volume control which pads down the input voltage from the source player to adjust listening levels. You can choose from something as basic as the generic T-amps sold by Parts Express or go more sophisticated and give a company like Virtue Audio a try. These class T amps offer a good slice of what is available in the highest extremes of the audiophile market at bargain basement prices as long as the speakers can make decent volume with a handful of watts and maintain a nominal impedance around 8 Ohms. The JBL's should accomplish this without problem. Just get yourself and your dad over the physical appearance of an amplifier the size of a six pack. You could also pick up a used integrated from NAD, Rotel, CAmbridge, etc, for a few hundred bucks from Audiogon. Once the home system is worked out you can then concentrate on the DJ system and do it justice rather than getting by with double duty gear that really suits neither purpose.
While it's commendable that you want to do this for your dad, I would say, overall, you need to get some information from him and then, possibly, expand your budget upwards by a bit. Give the companies mentioned in this post a call and ask their opinion. Musicians Friend, Sam Ash or Guitar Center can provide information on powered monitors. Hope that helps.
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Thanks! Also, more info.
Wow, soufiej , I knew you would have a great viewpoint. Thanks a million for the expert info and advice. You make great, though provoking points. I think perhaps I will expand the budget and try to get his siblings to kick in. He has spoken several times about how modern dj's use powered monitors for a lightweight system, and now at 60 years old (birthday in June), that may very well suit him better. I used to help him dj as a kid and I guess I had this grand vision of his rig working again, but now that I think about it, he may just need something smaller. His dj setup was a mixer, a Peavey CS 400 that lasted for thirtysome years, and 4 speaker cabinets, each with either a 12 or 15 inch woofer, a horn, and piezo tweeters. 2 of the speakers are commercial Cerwin Vegas. And he had the lights and stuff, too. Even up to his last gig a few years ago, he ONLY played vinyl. He LOVES vinyl and only owns a few CDs, which he plays on his DVD player through TV speakers. He ALWAYS tries to find new music on vinyl first. I realize that he would have to have some type of minimal pre-amp at the minimum to boost phono to line level.
His dream is to have a McIntosh amp for his home system, just because he always heard that they were so great. And he is a big Peavey fan as far as commercial amps. You pegged him when you said he is not an audiophile. He loves music, has a vast knowledge of American pop from the 30s to today, and is even a nominal musician, having played drums and piano in his youth. He likes a good, basic, unadjusted sound in general.
So, there you have it. He is retired from his day gig (non-music), and I hope at some point to help him have the opportunity to dj again, because I know he would like it, but I also want him to be able to play records at home, reliably, again. I think this home receiver is a Radio Shack brand from the 70s - Realistic, maybe. Its volume control goes in and out and gives the speakers a very loud and undoubtedly dangerous pop when the sound comes back in. Some times it will only play one channel, etc. I just don't think it is worth trying to fix. I;ve tried to spray air behind the volume pot to no avail.
I'll definately take a look at Virtue and Parts express. Maybe a Virtue amp would be a reasonably-priced substitute for a McIntosh. Feel free to add any other suggestions now that you know more of the story and thanks again!!!
Wow, soufiej , I knew you would have a great viewpoint. Thanks a million for the expert info and advice. You make great, though provoking points. I think perhaps I will expand the budget and try to get his siblings to kick in. He has spoken several times about how modern dj's use powered monitors for a lightweight system, and now at 60 years old (birthday in June), that may very well suit him better. I used to help him dj as a kid and I guess I had this grand vision of his rig working again, but now that I think about it, he may just need something smaller. His dj setup was a mixer, a Peavey CS 400 that lasted for thirtysome years, and 4 speaker cabinets, each with either a 12 or 15 inch woofer, a horn, and piezo tweeters. 2 of the speakers are commercial Cerwin Vegas. And he had the lights and stuff, too. Even up to his last gig a few years ago, he ONLY played vinyl. He LOVES vinyl and only owns a few CDs, which he plays on his DVD player through TV speakers. He ALWAYS tries to find new music on vinyl first. I realize that he would have to have some type of minimal pre-amp at the minimum to boost phono to line level.
His dream is to have a McIntosh amp for his home system, just because he always heard that they were so great. And he is a big Peavey fan as far as commercial amps. You pegged him when you said he is not an audiophile. He loves music, has a vast knowledge of American pop from the 30s to today, and is even a nominal musician, having played drums and piano in his youth. He likes a good, basic, unadjusted sound in general.
So, there you have it. He is retired from his day gig (non-music), and I hope at some point to help him have the opportunity to dj again, because I know he would like it, but I also want him to be able to play records at home, reliably, again. I think this home receiver is a Radio Shack brand from the 70s - Realistic, maybe. Its volume control goes in and out and gives the speakers a very loud and undoubtedly dangerous pop when the sound comes back in. Some times it will only play one channel, etc. I just don't think it is worth trying to fix. I;ve tried to spray air behind the volume pot to no avail.
I'll definately take a look at Virtue and Parts express. Maybe a Virtue amp would be a reasonably-priced substitute for a McIntosh. Feel free to add any other suggestions now that you know more of the story and thanks again!!!
Certainly, to play LP's there must be a phono pre amp in line before the pre amp/power amp. Phono pre amps range in price from about $30 to several $k. Head to a search engine to find acceptable units for either the DJ and the home system or one all inclusive piece. DJ's are typically using two tables to segue between songs so he might be better with a small mixer or at least two inexpensive phono pre amps. A slightly higher quality unit at home, say, a NAD, Project or Bellari would be a decent choice. Once again, shopping Audiogon should provide a good selection at reasonable cost.
1970's Radio Shack receivers aren't worth putting much money into - few forty year old receivers are. But rather than just compressed air, try an actual cleaner which can be found at Radio Shack or from any of the aftermarket retailers such as Music Direct or Elusive Disc. De-Oxit or Cramolin still score high on the value scale and might loosen the oxidiation that has occurred inside the vc. Spray the control and then give the knob a few quick rotations to each extreme, you may need to repeat the process a few times to remove the accumulated gunk. Be careful not to flood the inside of the chassis or you'll create more problems than you already have. Otherwise, an inexpensive two channel receiver that would make music exists from Best Buy and JR.com for around $100. Audiogon surely has a selection of integrated amps (without tuners) and receivers (with tuners) for not too many $$$'s.
Try this thread for more about the current crop of T-amps; http://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/home-audio/668896.html
If your dad gets back into his DJ work, have him play some T-Bone Walker and GateMouth Brown for me.
1970's Radio Shack receivers aren't worth putting much money into - few forty year old receivers are. But rather than just compressed air, try an actual cleaner which can be found at Radio Shack or from any of the aftermarket retailers such as Music Direct or Elusive Disc. De-Oxit or Cramolin still score high on the value scale and might loosen the oxidiation that has occurred inside the vc. Spray the control and then give the knob a few quick rotations to each extreme, you may need to repeat the process a few times to remove the accumulated gunk. Be careful not to flood the inside of the chassis or you'll create more problems than you already have. Otherwise, an inexpensive two channel receiver that would make music exists from Best Buy and JR.com for around $100. Audiogon surely has a selection of integrated amps (without tuners) and receivers (with tuners) for not too many $$$'s.
Try this thread for more about the current crop of T-amps; http://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/home-audio/668896.html
If your dad gets back into his DJ work, have him play some T-Bone Walker and GateMouth Brown for me.
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Dizzy, if your dad decides to separate his two systems, check out the AudioEngine powered speakers for the home system; Audioengine 2 powered loudspeaker | Stereophile.com
@soufiej - those AudioEngine speakers look AWESOME. Maybe that will be my next purchase for dear old dad.
You won't believe what I ended up getting him. I'll tell you, at the risk of being drawn and quartered by the audiophiles in the community. But perhaps I won't be, as my intention was primarily to give a 60 year old dude the opportunity to take some small DJ gigs for fun and a few bucks and spin his turntables again. I bought this portable PA system . It has a lot of good reviews from small time musicians and a few casual DJs and seems fairly reliable, other than the poor cables which I ordered quality replacements for. I got them to throw in some 6 foot tall speaker stands at no charge and, contrary to my usual nature, I purchased the 2 year warranty for $20 for peace of mind. I think it will be a good start. I can even see him bringing the system into his house to listen on for the time being, unless the nice tricks soufiej mentioned will fix his old receiver. This system turned out to be a lot less expensive than powered monitors, which is a bit important to my bank account right now. And I like that the weight is not all in two powered speakers, but is split between the speakers and a separate amp - which is class D and lightweight.
Anyway, thanks a million to soufiej and the others who commented to help me think this through - you really changed my thought process entirely. I know he will be a lot happier with this purchase than the Peavey amp I initially planned to get him. 🙂
You won't believe what I ended up getting him. I'll tell you, at the risk of being drawn and quartered by the audiophiles in the community. But perhaps I won't be, as my intention was primarily to give a 60 year old dude the opportunity to take some small DJ gigs for fun and a few bucks and spin his turntables again. I bought this portable PA system . It has a lot of good reviews from small time musicians and a few casual DJs and seems fairly reliable, other than the poor cables which I ordered quality replacements for. I got them to throw in some 6 foot tall speaker stands at no charge and, contrary to my usual nature, I purchased the 2 year warranty for $20 for peace of mind. I think it will be a good start. I can even see him bringing the system into his house to listen on for the time being, unless the nice tricks soufiej mentioned will fix his old receiver. This system turned out to be a lot less expensive than powered monitors, which is a bit important to my bank account right now. And I like that the weight is not all in two powered speakers, but is split between the speakers and a separate amp - which is class D and lightweight.
Anyway, thanks a million to soufiej and the others who commented to help me think this through - you really changed my thought process entirely. I know he will be a lot happier with this purchase than the Peavey amp I initially planned to get him. 🙂
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