(Part 2) Best products from r/vintageaudio

We found 23 comments on r/vintageaudio discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 222 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.

Top comments mentioning products on r/vintageaudio:

u/neomancr · 1 pointr/vintageaudio

>Wow that's a lot to take in. I'm happy you told me about the whole tweeter position.
> as I was about to try and turn them sideways cause I figured that my ears are up here so why put speakers below where my ears are.
>And your 100percent correct that the human mouth aims at the listeners ears.
>I haven't tried to play anything between 300 or 2000 hurts as yet. Is there a record or download I can get that will help me test that?

just anything vocal heavy. down to the river from "Oh Brother where art thou" the movie sound track is beautiful as is landslide by Fleetwood Mac the demo version or album version.

virtually all of her voice will be emanating not from the tweeter but from the woofer since the human voice tonally peaks before even 1000hz.

think about that. the human voice which is essentially the hardest thing to get right ranges from about 200hz to 1000hz and that's like Barry white and Mariah Carey minus her squeal which goes a bit higher.

and then around 1000-3000 is where lip noises breath the sound of consonants and sibilance are which is why our hearing is actually most sensitive there to allow us to be able to comprehend speech.

that range is such a hot spot that it's also the range of nails on chalk board and why the sound of people chewing with their mouths open cuts through the mix and is considered rude. it sounds louder to us than it really is...

a baby crying it's loudest, belting is what it's technically called, also falls within this range which again makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint.

so the role of the tweeter is really only reserved for the percussive sounds in vocals while tone is all handled by the woofer and tone is richness which is what you want the most of, while clarity on the other hand adds air and dimension / sound staging but is also fatiguing to our ears just like nails on chalk board.

in all music the entire spectrum is basically covered so at any given point you are actually hearing nails on chalkboard but along with other stuff so it doesn't sound as bad but regardless having that range a bit off axis is just more comfortable.


>
>Other wise they r great speakers and once I figure out how to get them hooked up to my Bluetooth I should be happy as a clam.

you can find pretty decent Bluetooth adapters with line out for around 20 bucks. just make sure it has good reviews and supports apt x.

>Thanks for your help, I feel good knowing that these are better than 5 pairs of ls50s! (And that must be a lot of speakers)

I like this one especially since it allows you to stream to two devices at once:

Check this out at Amazon.com - TaoTronics Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter/Receiver, Wireless 3.5mm Audio Adapter (aptX Low Latency, Pair 2 at Once, for TV/Car Sound System, Volume Control) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IV1H1ME/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_ZLAQDb9X2X27K

the advantage is also that it's super compact so I can carry it with me on a plane or something BUT it's range is limited. if you plan on expecting it to work across the house rather than just when you're in the room I'd grab something with actual antennas like this.

Check this out at Amazon.com - 1Mii B06Pro Long Range Bluetooth Receiver, HiFi Wireless Audio Adapter, Bluetooth 4.2 Receiver with 3D Surround aptX Low Latency Optical RCA AUX 3.5mm for Home Stereo System

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KTK8YP3/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_9IAQDb1SV9BFACheck this out at Amazon.com - 1Mii B06Pro Long Range Bluetooth Receiver, HiFi Wireless Audio Adapter, Bluetooth 4.2 Receiver with 3D Surround aptX Low Latency Optical RCA AUX 3.5mm for Home Stereo System

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KTK8YP3/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_vIAQDb26B5EHG

I think they're the same, one I thought was cheaper so I copied tbsh link too so I could check.

added: okay just reviewed my copied and pasted links, yea the last two are the same.

u/codepoet82 · 2 pointsr/vintageaudio

I ordered caps for both the DB-114 and the DB-212 at the same time, so you'll want to verify by counting the caps in your amp to be sure I've got them correct.

Here's the list of the parts I ordered that I believe went in the 212, it might be best to order a spare of everything but the multipart caps, just in case you find you clipped the leads too short or something:

2x https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/C-EC2010X2-475 (multi-section filter caps, the big cans on top)

6x https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/C-P-600V -- .022uF (smaller good-all, two on the input selector, 4 on the 12AX7s)

4x https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/C-P-600V -- .1uF (big good-all, between the 7199 and 6V6s)

1x https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/C-T-630V (Between case and neutral on mains input)

The reset of these are the standard electrolytics, if your amp is like mine, you should be able to spin the cardboard wrapping on them so you can read which is which without desoldering anything, keep track of polarization on them when you take them off:

2x https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/C-ET50-50
2x https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/C-ET10-50

Not so sure on these counts.. I ordered 3x and 5x, but I believe the mono used one of each:
2x(?) https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/C-ET100-25-IL
4x(?) https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/C-ET4D7-350

If you've not worked on anything like this before, feel free to message me with any questions you have about doing it, and I'll help the best I can.

I highly recommend obtaining a proper desoldering vacuum gun, I've got an Aoyue 2702 station which did a pretty good job clearing the old solder out of the way. You can probably get a cheaper setup, but my first repair job on this amp using only desoldering braid was a real pain in the ass.

You may also want to pick up some chip-quik low-temp alloy like this:
http://www.amazon.com/ChipQuik-SMD1-Low-Temperature-Removal/dp/B0019UZP7I/

It came in very handy to remove the soldered tabs between the multi-part capacitors and the chassis, as I just couldn't get it melted otherwise. The metal would just carry all the heat away. Even with the easy melting chip-quik, it was still a two hand, high powered soldering iron job to get them free.

Also, you'll want some kind of a very pointy knife or tool that you don't care too much about to use to unwrap the leads as you work over the circuit. You will have to detach plenty of resistors and the like from at least one end as you go, to move them out of the way.

Just take your time with it, and only work on one component at a time, so you don't lose track of where things are all attached. Also, if you're going to get up and take a break, tack the parts back down first! And pay attention to which driver tubes your schematic shows vs. what is in use. The schematic for my DB-114 showed a 6U8 driver, but my amp is wired and labeled for the 7199, the pinouts aren't quite the same.

Also, tubes are HIGH VOLTAGE... Don't plug the thing in while you're working on it at all, unless you're 100% confident in your ability to not kill yourself. I also advise that you set up a dim bulb tester when you first fire it back up, just to make sure you aren't going to burn your house down with a bad short. http://www.ppinyot.com/dimbulb/dim_bulb_tester.htm

u/schuylercat · 1 pointr/vintageaudio

Yes on the edit/update you made on Headphone amps. Not needed, but you might find some purists who will tell you a decent headphone amp will sound better than the Marantz. I think if you gather up a nice set - like those Sennheisers, which people seem to like - you'll be fine!

Those Pioneers are surprisingly nice sounding speakers for the price - remember that I said "for the price" there.

At the risk of sounding didactic, I would also assert that they are reasonably efficient, which is good because you're only working with 25 vintage watts. Not a ton of power. If you listen the way I listen, which can get "loud" but not "piss off the neighbors loud", you'll be just fine, but driving those Pioneers leaves you with the possibility of clipping at high volume. Clipping is a condition when the speaker needs more power to create a waveform than the amp can produce, and the wave is cut off, or "clipped", from the amp. This forces the speaker to stop creating it's waveform mid-wave: instead of a smooth back and forth motion, it's forced to try to make a square wave. Sounds awful, and speakers aren't meant to move this way. Clipping can damage speakers - seems odd, because overpowering speakers is less likely to cause damage. Hard to explain in words, maybe Google.

Anyway, if you keep your volume in line with your system's capabilities, no harm done. Clipping makes a loud popping noise, usually associated with Bass sounds. You hear popping, turn it down.

3 sounds like it might be redundant: get a 2.5MM stereo jack to RCA stereo converter cable: whatever makes the headphone out of your player/laptop turn into a pair of RCA plugs like this.


Plug the 2.5 into the headphone out, plug the RCA's into the "aux" input on the back of the receiver, select aux via the input selector dial on the Marantz, and adjust the volume out of the MP3 player until it sounds right. My Samsung Galaxy S3 phone sounds best 1 tick below full volume. My little Acer netbook I use for in-house streaming needs to be turned all the way up.

Then plug headphones into the headphone input, or listen via speakers. A DAC may give you gains in quality, but try this cheap-O method first and see what you think - you may be surprised how good the output sounds running out of a nice mid-fi receiver. I realize that saying this might get me dinged by purists, but there it is.

Last: people like the 2225 more than the 2252b, which is what I have. They say it sounds warmer, clearer. I don't know about that, but welcome to the Marantz club anyway. Good luck!

u/effin_dead_again · 7 pointsr/vintageaudio

I love the look of the old rack systems. They may not have top of the line components but they still sound pretty good.

It looks like your setup was well taken care of! If I were you I would do the following:

  • Before you play any records examine the stylus on the turntable tonearm and replace it if it looks worn or corroded. It looks like this is the stylus you need but you'll need to compare what's actually on your turntable before ordering
  • Before you play any cassettes clean and demagnetize the cassette deck heads. A simple cotton swab and some rubbing alcohol on the head will clean it, and an inexpensive tape head demagnetizer is all you need. Here's a video guide on demagnetizing
  • Get a Chromecast Audio and a 3.5mm to RCA cable so you can enjoy your tunes without the compression problems of Bluetooth.
  • Get rid of the books and binders and other junk and fill up your shelves with records, cassettes, and CDs!
u/rtaylor76 · 2 pointsr/vintageaudio

Here is a link to an AR18 refoam kit. There are many out there as the woofers were used on many different AR models, including your bookshelves there.

The instructions, glue, and everything else needed come with the kit. There are even video's you can watch on YouTube for refoming old Acoustic Research speakers. The long and short of it is, get an Exacto knife or razor blade, cut out the old surround. Clear out all the leftover gunk on the basket. Then carefully glue in the new surround. Some people mount the surround in backwards (the surround going in rather than out), but I think the out looks better and likely is better, although I have no way to prove this. It's a pretty simple job really and something you can certainly do yourself.

The tweeter on those is not the best, but they are a great great start. They will certainly give you that warmer hi-fi sound.

Congrats on a great start. That Thorens and Marantz should last awhile. What model Thorens and Marantz?

u/TravisGoraczkowski · 2 pointsr/vintageaudio

Sorry for the late response hah.

It looks like you'll need an amplifier, just run left and right speaker outputs on your amplifier into the left and right inputs in the sub, then hook the smaller speakers to the speaker outputs on the sub. [Here's a video on that:] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zFs8uSZsCc)

Your amplifier (or receiver as they're many times called.) won't be as crazy as the back of that guy's, but the speaker hookups will probably somewhat be the same. Unless you get one that has RCA style speaker connections. Those are found a lot in older receivers though. Everything is color coded.

As for wire that's not to difficult at all. [Here's what you're looking for] (http://www.amazon.com/Mediabridge-14AWG-Speaker-Wire-Feet/dp/B00I8V8YE2/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1452545344&sr=8-14&keywords=speaker+wire)

Any thing labeled speaker wire will probably do. Higher quality stuff is thicker, meaning more copper wire inside, and has better rubber insulation on it. Wire thickness is measured in "Gage" The lower the gage number the thicker the wire. So 2 Gage wire is thicker than 14 gage wire. I know it seems backwards haha.

[Here's a video on how to strip speaker wire] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySfOKtW_Aig)

The spool of wire I linked is about 50 feet long. You may not need that much, or maybe you'll need more. You'll want to plan where you'll put your speakers before you buy the wire to make sure that it's enough. You'll be surprised at how fast you go through it!

With that large spool you'll make multiple speaker wires at whatever length you need. A pair of wire clippers cuts through them pretty easy. You'll also want a pair of wire strippers to cut the insulation off of the end, but not the copper wires inside. Need wire strippers? How about a clipper for when you need to cut through the whole wire? [Here's a cheap pair that combines both.] (http://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-3775-Electricians-Combination-Tool/dp/B000NPUK2A/ref=sr_1_9?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1452546538&sr=1-9&keywords=wire+strippers)

You can probably fine speaker wire and strippers somewhere locally too if you don't want to wait for shipping. Hopefully those links will let you know what you need.

Those wire strippers I linked have holes in the middle with numbers next to them. If you buy 16 gauge wire, place the wire in the hole labeled 16AWG, if you buy 12 gage wire place it in the hole labeled 12 AWG clamp down, and pull. It'll strip the wire nice n clean. I used to use scissors before I had one. Strippers make things so much easier though. It's really hard to carve off the insulation with a pair of ruddy scissors.

It's a lot to figure out at first, but it'll be worth it! Having this knowledge is a good thing for the future too. Installation companies charge a lot where I live.

u/teetertodder · 1 pointr/vintageaudio

Sorry for the delay.. I forgot to reply.

I'm sure you already got the adapter and cable. The adapter is perfect and the cable might be OK. I would look for one that is only for audio (red and white connectors only, not the yellow video cable.) This one would be good - https://www.amazon.com/Choseal-3-5mm-Audio-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00A7J1ANA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1483627337&sr=8-4&keywords=rca+audio+to+3.5mm

With your budget in mind I highly recommend the $180 U-Turn Orbit Basic turntable. I have one that I got with an upgraded cartridge (Grado Black) and it is a superb table. https://uturnaudio.com/collections/all

Speakers... hmmm... That's tougher. Used ones on Craiglist can be great. Just be sure that the foam surrounds are in good shape (this is the foam ring around each driver) and check some online reviews. For new speakers, I think these look like a great option for the price - https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-R-14M-Reference-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B00MGQAH2M/ref=sr_1_1?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1483627753&sr=1-1&keywords=bookshelf+speakers&refinements=p_89%3AKlipsch

u/SicilSlovak · 6 pointsr/vintageaudio

Someone in r/Audiophile asked me to give my impressions of the Mac, so here's the overview I gave. . .

Bass: By far the most immediately noticeable difference. The notes that fell into the lower register were thicker when coming through the Mac. I'd call it fuller, but that often comes with the connotation that it was louder or became more overwhelming, which was not the case here.

Imaging: Whereas before I could pick a general area for a particular sound's "source" -- center, off center, at the speakers, just inside/outside the speakers -- it had now become a far more distinct imaging (e.g., the drums sound like they are right there, the piano is a few inches above that). The one negative point I found however, when listening to Portishead's Roseland NYC Live album on the Thorens was that the audience applause fell much further into the background. Perhaps that is a more accurate reproduction, but I missed it sounding like I was in the middle of the crowd.

Mids-Highs: Where I really took note of this was while listening to Queen's A Night at the Opera. Freddie Mercury's voice was so so much more present. As I cycled through a few other songs with power vocalists on them the experience with Queen held very true across them all. High notes were also very tight.

Range: This took a little more to notice, but once I did, I was in love. It seems that my Marantz' internal amp had been cutting off the extra highs, and the extra lows. I was hearing things higher in the upper register, and lower in the lower register -- and to no insignificant degree -- than I had ever before. It wasn't like hearing the bass note extend out a hair lower, I felt like I had gained an entire new frequency band on both ends.

Tone: Here's where I'm a little mixed, and it's something that I never thought I'd be mixed about. The music reproduction was surreal in its accuracy, which is what I always imagined to be what I wanted. Even though the MC250 was tuned to be a more warm tube-like solid state amp, I began to understand what people mean by MacIntosh being almost sterile. I only got the sense of this a few times, but it was there, and was enough to make my ear to ear grin, when considering the other benefits, slip ever so slightly. However, with this sterile accuracy, what I lost in warmth and that certain je ne sais quoi, I was able to gain through hearing absolutely every damn thing that was happening when they recorded whatever track I was listening to. The prime example of this came from a run through of Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" (If you haven't heard it, stop reading and go listen. . . now). Not only could you hear the saxophonist's voice rushing through his instrument (something which I could hear before with the Marantz), you very literally could hear him place his lips on the reed, and when his mouth would release from it, just before taking a breath. I half expected to be able to discern his heartbeat. Whatever you wanted to hear on the track, it was there, and easily isolated by your ears. Listening to old favorites quickly became a game of listening for things I didn't hear before, then zeroing in on it to find out what it was.

Overall: Holy SHIT!

TL/DR: With a Mac solid state, you lose a bit of the warmth and je ne sais quoi that comes with a great tube amp, but in exchange everything is fuller/tighter, and its accuracy would let you hear if a fly shits in the recording studio and enjoy it in its full sonic brilliance.

Here's an overview of the setup I used:

Stereo Rig

u/Danpaulcornell · 2 pointsr/vintageaudio

Here are some useful links: Link; Link; Link. The Marantz cost about $58 using good quality replacements. I did a H/K 330B for $9.58. The Marantz 2285 I am working on cost about $90 for parts.

 

You will need a decent soldering iron; solder sucker; desoldering braid; lead solder; flux; and most importantly a multimeter. Here is another gear thread. Most of the manuals are available on Hifiengine. What you can't find there you can check the forums or Sams. Manuals on Fleabay should be an absolute last resort.

 

I would recommend going to a local thrift store and getting some practice junker units. It will take you some time to good at it and you certainly don't want to screw up your good unit. I still don't know anywhere near enough to do more than replace the parts and do basic troubleshooting. Fortunately for people like us, there are a lot of very helpful and knowledgeable persons on the forums who are always willing to lend a hand. Edit: Forgot about the Dim Bulb Tester.

u/teamhj · 2 pointsr/vintageaudio

This is the EQ you need. You can find them used on eBay. Pretty much all generations of it do the same thing so don't worry too much about matching the series of EQ to the speakers.

The EQ unit sits inline between the pre-amp (or source) and the amplifier. Some receivers also have an "effects loop" or combination of pre-out/amp-in connections that would let you insert this into the path of a single unit.

Despite what was previously mentioned, equalizers don't inherently require more power to the speakers. Just don't underpower these (wattage is super subjective, but let's just say 35 wpc or greater should be fine) and don't expect earth shaking bass. Take some time working on room placement and you'll likely be pretty happy with these.

When I had a pair I did find they liked as much power as you can afford. I used a Kenwood 700M and a Kenwood M2A, both with excellent results.

u/zed857 · 2 pointsr/vintageaudio

Assuming your speakers have binding posts/screw terminals on the back, then you need a cable that has an RCA male connector on one end and bare wire on the other end (something like this example from Amazon).

You'll need two of them (one for the left speaker and one for the right speaker). Connect the bare wire ends to +/- on the speaker, the plug the RCA end into the amp. The positive connection on the speaker is usually the wire that goes to the center post on the RCA end.

If you can solder, you can just buy a couple of RCA connectors and solder some lamp cord/speaker wire to the connectors. Or if you have a spare/cheap RCA cable laying around, you can cut the connectors off one end and then strip the cable to get at the center conductor and shield. This can be a bit fiddly as the wire is usually pretty thin; it may help to tin the wire that you expose with some solder. Then just connected the tinned leads to the speaker terminals.

u/MinnowWouldBeLost · 2 pointsr/vintageaudio

They were pretty cheap on Amazon. I had a 12VDC/2A adapter laying around that I used to power them.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Q8V8DM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

u/nikolajvt · 2 pointsr/vintageaudio

It seems that your record player is actually a receiver amplifier/tuner combo) with a built-in turntable (i assume it's this model: http://www.hifiengine.com/gallery/images/luxor-dirigent-2x17g.shtml)

It should have an input/output for a tape deck on the back, probably a 5-pin DIN connector (usual for European equipment from the 70s). You should be able to hook it up to your modern audio system using a cable like this: https://www.amazon.com/kenable-Phono-Plugs-Audio-Cable/dp/B008N29OSG

When you're using the turntable, the Luxor will send audio through the tape output. This was used for recording records to tape back in the days, but works just as well for connecting it to other equipment.