TBrennan Posted February 17, 2002 Share Posted February 17, 2002 I got the dusty old record player out this morning and hooked it up to my Altec 605As, had to pull my ASL integrated out as it has no phono preamp, I'm using a Yamaha AV receiver, a nice one. Record player is an old Thorens TD-160 with an ADC XLM mounted (how many of you guys remember those). Played a JBL demo disc, instrumental music, sounds good. I think I'll look for a phono pre-amp. Had our Chicago Horn Club meeting at my crib yesterday, very interesting, I love to see $3000 amps get smoked by DIY stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted February 17, 2002 Share Posted February 17, 2002 Well, I'll be damned, Tom! You're scaring the bejesus outta me! Indeed. Do you have the Mk1 like above? Actually, there are several sites that talk about how to get those beasts up to snuff. How old is the cartridge? Lordy...who knows what you have been using that thing for... perhaps even a Edgar Salad Bowl Rotation device to show the beauty? heh. Find a nifty tube phono preamp. Get out of that that AV unit as they really have notoriously BAD phono stages as manufacturer wont put any money into the phono knowing that only 1 out of 20,000 will ever even use it. Check out this vintage Conrad Johnson PV-2a preamp with phono. As upgraded caps to Hovlands. Will be old tube vintage sound in some ways but would be nifty to play with, has an excellent phono stage, and is only a whopping $275 (offer $225). http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?preatube&1018543707&class&3&4& IF you get that puppy setup correctly and with a good cartridge (if that one is a bit past prime), you might be pretty excited. A good phono stage fleshes out the sound a hell of a lot with more detail and info then you imagine. Good to see you're experimenting with analog again. Analog - tubes - horns really sing. kh This message has been edited by mobile homeless on 02-17-2002 at 11:41 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Disc Posted February 17, 2002 Share Posted February 17, 2002 Tom, Was the Chicago meeting open to all those interested? I'd love to attend one of those meetings. Please put me down on the list for next time. I'm in Palatine. Mobile - Its evident that your a designer at heart as all your posts that contain photos are all outlined cropped and have drop shadows in them, even the crappy photos. ;-) ------------------ Tim's Home Theater This message has been edited by tbabb on 02-17-2002 at 02:00 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted February 17, 2002 Author Share Posted February 17, 2002 tbaab---Yeah, anyone can come, it's very informal. Meeting notices are posted on the high-efficiency forum at www.audioasylum.com I posted notice of our first meeting on this forum as well but got no response from the Klipschies so I didn't bother this time. We had about 15 guys at the meeting and listened to several intersting amps over my Altecs; AudioNote monoblocks with dual 300Bs (gorgeous sound), an OTL that sounded very nice, a Gaincard and Kurt Chang's Gaincard clone (which cost $50 total and SMOKED the real Gaincard). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted February 17, 2002 Author Share Posted February 17, 2002 Mobile---Yeah, that's it. I've had the player only a couple of years, I junked my old TD-165 after one of my kids knocked it off the shelf. My best friend collects LPs, has over 10,000, and gave me the TD-160 which he got for free at a garage sale. The XLM is the original not a MK-II, I suppose the rig dates from the early 70s. I was pleased to see the ADC as I consider the XLM the best cartridge I ever heard and I used to fiddle with lots of cartridges. But the needles collapsed at an alarming rate and I moved on to reliable units like Shure V-15s and Grados. This XLM must be a good one if it hasn't failed after all this time. Maybe I'll use the player with my Wondercapped PAS-3 and SA-100 feeding the 605As, should sound nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted February 17, 2002 Share Posted February 17, 2002 There is Pics of the circuit of the original 47 labs gaincard on the Tweakers Asylum. Not to mention the sites for the Clones. 47 labs is making some big bucks off those gaincards! 9 peices in the circuit?!!! I've had kinda wanted to build a clone, but backed out. Maybe down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted February 17, 2002 Author Share Posted February 17, 2002 mdneen---Interesting, good to know they can be fixed. The Dyna is stock save for the caps as far as I know, I picked it up used for a song. It sounds pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted February 17, 2002 Author Share Posted February 17, 2002 Mike---Yeah, that Gaincard sounded thin and cold, not a sound I like. Kurt did something a little different with his clone, I forget what but I guess it's discussed, his amp sounded better, pretty decent. But still not as good as his TriPath, not near as good. But for the 50 bucks he spent it sounded very nice, I could see a fella building a bunch of them for surround sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted February 17, 2002 Share Posted February 17, 2002 Tom, I think you should at least consider the AES PH-1 . I just purchased this unit used off of AudiogoN and it made a huge difference over the phono stage in my Denon 4800. I know there are many others but this one seems to be highly regarded by most at it's price point... Mike ------------------ My Music Systems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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