Mighty Favog

What was that bumper sticker I saw years ago..."Ted Kennedy's car killed more people than my gun." ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

I would say that most internal parts are still available. Things like protruding style bbl nuts, old style rear sight assemblies and fixed front sight blade bbl. shrouds are not around anymore. Of course this is all depending on how old yours is. I don't think an exact list of serial numbers coinsiding with production changes is still around anymore. Nice to hear good stories about someone getting ousted after fleecing the people for their own gain. My girlfriend once went to an auto mechanic only to find on the bill an extra $20 charge to, as he said, "Pay for my tools.". I told her she should ask which ones he used so she can take $20 worth of "his" tools home to keep since she paid for them. Being "automotively mechanically adept" myself I know that the cost of his tools comes out of HIS pocket. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

TTK- The beltbuckle did come with the pak. You can barely see a corner of it since the patch is sitting on top of it (lower right). Me, like an idiot at the time, wore it for about a week and got some scratches on it. Value isn't much these days (or ever was). I think it would probably bring about 6 or $700. The serial number is fairly low. I haven't been able to find a price for a Pistol Pak lately, just adding the individual prices together, bbls., stocks, the frame w/ 8" attached. D.W.s never really did bring a whole lot of trading value, not sure why. O.k., so it's not a Smith. I'm glad! DW did go into bankruptcy a couple of times but there were just some people that didn't like the interchangable bbls. Quite frankly I think they were/are stronger than most others. It was the only revolver at the time whose bbl. was supported from the front AND the back. Dan Wesson Firearms I do have the belt buckle for the North American Arms. Now that thing is a machinists dream! The cylinder would take forever to make. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit This message has been edited by tblasing on 04-09-2002 at 09:33 AM

Dean- I used to go to Camp Perry but that was YEARS ago. Hell, I was only in Class C. Here's one more. It's one of the last fully Belgium produced Bowning P-35 Hi-Powers. Gee, my first semi-auto. GRN ------------------ Tom's Money Pit How do you guys get the pics to be so small cause I know I just ruined everyone's screen-width. This message has been edited by tblasing on 04-06-2002 at 11:58 PM

O.K.- So as long as were on a subject I have no problems keeping up with, here goes. Yes, I'm another Colt owner. But I use mine for IPSC competition. Here's the other money pit, A Colt Gold Cup Series 80 with some ad ons I did myself. Then a Dan Wesson 15-2VH Pistol Pak with a few internal mods as well. Dean- I don't blame you for not wanting another S&W. Between the floating firing pins, single sided frame support on revolvers and having the thinnest top straps in the industry...I'll keep my SP101, KMK678GC, 10/22RB, Sig P228 (current house sentry), North American Arms NAA22LR, Rem 11-87, Rem 700ADL, Rem 541T-HB, Sterling HR83(air rifle). ------------------ Tom's Money Pit Alright, so the pics are a little big and there's a lot of dust on my scanner This message has been edited by tblasing on 04-09-2002 at 09:29 AM

MoparMan- Back when I was selling audio gear for a local store chain I do remember people bringing me styli and cartridges for replacement styli. I don't ever remember Empire being all that expensive to replace (under $12.00 and most running under $8.00) but that was 1983. Shure makes a pretty decent MM cartridge. Though like many manufacturers there is a price/quality range. The V15VxMR is Shure's flagship model and can be found for about $237(?) on the net. Most other places will sell it for $275 to $325. Shure does make a lower line for, say, DJ work and fro people on a tighter budget. About $100 or so. I can't vouch for the sound of that one though, I've never heard it. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

M2- The larger binding posts usually have more surface area that comes in contact with the speaker cable. Thusly the easier it is for the signal to pass through the contact point and get to your speakers. The more unicombered signal that gets to the speakers the higher quality sound. But, your right. Those spring clip type "push down on tab and insert 22ga. wire" connections do suck in a big way. But like everything else, I'm sure there's a marketplace for them. Not here obviously..... ------------------ Tom's Money Pit This message has been edited by tblasing on 04-05-2002 at 10:13 PM

Fini- O.k. so I'm one of these low-lifes that is only 2-channel. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

It's possible that it doesn't sound as good. I may be wrong but the optical hook up is for multi-channel set-ups (i.e.- 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 etc.) So your system, assuming it's two channel, while using the optical may only play some of the program and not what has been sent to speaker channels that don't exist on your system (yet). ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

BB- Here is a site for the true Mac-Fan at heart http://www.sundial.net/~rogerr/preamps.htm . Then just go to his home page and you can find the link for the amps as well. For some current trading/selling prices try http://www.audioclassics.com . Their prices may be a little on the high side but there are some people there that are more than familiar with Mac stuff. I usually deal with Frank Gow. He is the son of the late Gordon Gow who designed alot of the older (2 series and some 7 series anyway) equipment. Funny, the C28 was the testing/evaluation preamp for the KLF line of speakers. I opted for the C33 preamp and am working on a Mac amp, maybe. The only problem I have is that the adjustable loudness on the C33 has more hiss at lower loudness settings. No noise at all with it in the upper range or with it off completely. I sent it back to Frank and they replaced a couple IC's which helped a lot but not completely. For the amp you may want to compare THD and S/N ratios with the 7 series (i.e.-7205, 7200, 7300, 7125 etc.) Hope this helps! ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

If you can borrow one for a while, see if you can lay your hands on an AC sniffer and go through the room like a Geiger Counter. It may be coming from something totaly different. There was another thread on here about a speaker that would hiss even when all the equipment was off and disconnected from the speaker cable! He used a sniffer and found the problem. Yes, I use a Monster HTS5000. If anything it's a good spike protector and an easy way to turn on/off all the equipment with only one button. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit This message has been edited by tblasing on 04-04-2002 at 11:01 PM

Wow, Laserdisk....I remember selling a top-loader Pioneer in the early eighties. Man I'm gettin' old! ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

http://www.partsexpress.com ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

Depending on which wires are not connected they should read something like this on the crossover (That's what you removed off the back): T+ = Tweeter Positive T- = Tweeter Negative M+ = Midrange Positive M- = Midrange Negative W1+ = Top Woofer Positive W1- = Top Woofer Negative W2+ = Bottom Woofer Positive W2- = Bottom Woofer Negative Then there are four wires connecting the crossover board to the binding posts where the speaker wires are attached. Again, pay attention to polarity. Getting one of those out of kilter can result from mearly not getting enough bass to....well,.....you don't want to know. Note: If I remember right the positive connection on the speaker driver it self is marked by a white paint mark, that is on the tweeter and maybe the midrange anyway. The woofers are probably marked with the traditional stampings so you may need a small flashlight. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

The external phono stage will have a grounding post but one isn't needed going to the receiver. After using the phono stage the turntable will be seen by the receiver as just another audio source (tape/cd/tv/dvd..etc.) ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

Any tape in/aux in will do fine from the phono pre-amp into the receiver. All those kind of inputs are low-line level except for a phono input (which as you said the unit does not have). So plug away and let em' spin. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

Is your system hooked to up to cable TV? If so try unhooking it from the system and see if it goes away. If it does, Mondial makes a tiny unit called MAGIC. It looks like a coax splitter and runs about a C-note. It's listed on Klipsch's web site. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

How about a more than lifesized Pamela Anderson mural on the livingroom wall. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

I could use some surrounds for some 411A woofers. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

Hey Weiming!! Look what I found on eBay! Still a bute. Since it's direct drive I wonder how it sounds against the belt drive Yamaha that resides on the rack now? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1341658130 ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

Ed!! I just caught this from Amazon. It looks to be something that may be right up your alley. I'll be saving up for it starting NOW! Take a look at this!! UPDATE-- Found it at DVDPlanet for $127.46!! $42.00 less!! ------------------ Tom's Money Pit This message has been edited by tblasing on 03-28-2002 at 02:10 PM

Weiming, Hey, thanks for the link!! Most of my old stuff is in there! The TT I was thinking about is also there, the SL1000 mk2. What a beast!! ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

If you can fit that much cable around the terminals on the receiveer then go for it. As for the sound it's hard to say what the outcome will be. It won't mess up anything. But you'll have to decide if it's the sound you want. The only (obvious) thing not to do would be to use the jumper wire (replacing the gold plated straps) AND the bi-wire connecting of cables at the speaker end. Good luck!! ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

With a dog's sensative hearing could you imagine how loud that would be? ------------------ Tom's Money Pit

Weiming- Thanks! It seems whenever I make an observation like that the more I think about it the more I think it could be something else. In this case I think it's just a bad pressing of the record itself. Some vinyl in the ol' collection IS pretty silent. The brush I'm using is an 18 year old Discwasher SC2. It gets a good dousing about every other record or so. The brush is still in really good shape and I'm still only on my third bottle of cleaner from 1984! Back when I had a P-Mount Technics SL-P350 with an Ortofon P15 Cartridge(cheap thing) it hardley ever saw a the SC2. The only thing that wore prematurley was some of the vinyl and most of that was quickly replaced the next payday. I see in your system that you have a Technics SP-25. Do you happen to remember a Technics turtable that was just monsterous in size and sat in a polished lava rock base? This was about 1982. We had one of those where I used to work but it wasn't there long enough for me to appreciate. From then on we had the SL-1200 and the Yamaha PF-800/PF-1000's. ------------------ Tom's Money Pit This message has been edited by tblasing on 03-27-2002 at 10:03 PM