is this the right place?

[HDBRbuilder]

I wouldn't exactly call my system 2-channel, but it consists of:

1975 Harmon Kardon 900+ receiver

1975 Technics SL1300 turntable, with JVC 4MD-20X cartridge and JVC 4DT-20X Shibata nude diamond stylus

1975 Technics RS 676 AUS Cassete deck

1975 Teac A2340R Simultrac 4 channel Reel-to-Reel

1975 DBX II model 124 noise reduction for the reel

2 ea. 1975 Soundcraftsman 20-12A Equalizers

Teac single play CD player

1978 Klipsch Heresy HDBL's

couple hundred record albums

over 400 CD's

So, am I in the right place or what?...I dont see any vintage 4-channel message board here.

I am the kinda guy who has a few other currently unused items sittin around waiting their turn...such as a dynaco tube fm tuner and a dynaco stereo 400 M/A amp...etc...

[Curmudgeon]

I haven't seen too many posts about quadraphonic on this board but there's a few dinosaurs like me that own them. Quad may be officially gone but I still have a Sony SQR-8750 4-channel receiver. This was Sony's top of the line unit in the mid 70's and will do SQ, R-Mtx, & Discrete formats. It's not currently in use but played well when it was last hooked up a few months ago to listen to some old SQ quad LP's. The thing is friggin huge: 20.5" x 7.5" x 14" and weighs around 50 lbs. My first audio equipment purchase was a Rotel quadraphonic receiver somewhere around 1975 when I was in high school, even had a 4-channel 8-track deck (Fisher maybe?) to go with it!

I also have some vintage 2-channel stuff: 2 Pioneer SX-1250's, a Sansui G-8000, a Yamaha B-6 amp (pyramid shaped), Yamaha R-1000, a good variety of Kyocera components, and a bunch of older turntables (Yamaha PF-800, B&O RX2, Denon DP45F, Pioneer PL-50, & a couple of Sansui models).

Since 1975 seems to be your favorite year and I read that you once worked for Klipsch I thought I would mention one pair of my speakers: 1975 CD-BR, serial #'s 5N856 and 5N857. They are in great condition, I got them from the original owner recently when he built a smaller house to retire into that didn't have enough room in it for large speakers. The only flaw is that one of the logo's are missing and the other is slightly worn, it seems one fell off and the other I found stuck to the bottom of the cabinet. I would love to find a pair of correct badges, even if they are reproductions. I have a question if you don't mind: what was the real difference between regular and designer series Cornwalls, was it just cosmetics and veneer?

You've got some nice equipment worth hanging on to, today's HK stuff isn't built like your high-current 900, the same with the Technics, Teac and other lines. Very nice build quality in those days. I still try to keep a few of my older components hooked up in a back room, they are fun to mess with and hard to part with even though I've moved on to more modern stuff for everyday use. There's just something about massive receivers with aluminum faceplates, aluminum knobs, analog tuners, and caps that look like drink cans! Turn off the room lights and there's still enough illumination to read by!

Current Line-up:

Aragon Soundstage pre-pro

Aragon Palladium monoblocks, balanced (for 2 channel)

Aragon 8008ST amps (3 of 'em for home theater)

Aragon D2A2 DAC (for HDCD decoding)

Aragon 47K phono stage

Linn LP-12 turntable, Lingo power supply, Basik Plus tonearm

Rega Planet CD player

Nakamichi DVD-15 DVD player

Denon DR-F7 cassette

Denon DR-F6 cassette

Klipsch Cornwall - HT mains

Klipsch Cornwall II - HT surrounds

Klipsch Academy - HT center

Klipsch LF-10 sub

Klipsch KSW-12 sub

B&W CDM9NT - for 2-channel

roughly 250 LP's

roughly 600 CD's (OK, so I'm lazy)

[HDBRbuilder]

Audioholic,

Yeah, I remember that Sony SQR-8750 real well...I had even narrowed down my choice to it and the HarmonKardon 900+ because both of em had similar specs...but the HK won out....by a very narrow margin...mostly because it had the CD4 demodulator built into it instead of it needing an outboard unit...but even moreso because I was able to get a demo model under full warranty for under half list price...the sony had 30 w rms into 4 channels, hk had 32w....both could be strapped with the sony puttin out 80 w into 2 channels and the Hk puttin out 90 w into 2 channels...both had same THD specs...both had SQ matrix built in...the HK had QS too, not sure about the Sony....both had same number of speaker outputs...both had same fm sensitivity...sony had loudness control, but HK had contour instead (different kinda thing)...and the HK had "enhanced stereo", which was some kinda early format dolby developed for makin surround outta regular stereo(works real good with dolby surround material of today...cant even tell the difference!!!!)...BUT I gotta admit the sony looked really mean with those 4 VU meters!!!!!...I almost went for it until they put that HK on sale!!!!...LOL!

My HK is still my primary daily sound machine...had to get a bad pot replaced about ten years ago...had all four replaced while they were in it and one pigtail bulb replaced...other than that it tested out to original specs...cant complain about that!!!!

The reason most of my stuff is 1975 vintage is because I saved up my bucks for over two years while in Army in europe...learning about all the high end stuff...watching the guys around me who bought their stuff...seeing how well the high end stuff held up to abuse and such...and then i made my choices...went down and bought it all within a few months in 75 at the audio clubs where we got bigtime discounts over the MSRP's...almost everything was at or below 50% MSRP when i made my purchases....the only way to do it!!!!!

As to your question about the cornwalls...you see how your heresys are made with overlapping butt joints all around?..( i assume you have the NON drop-in front models since they are 1975 vintage)...well, the decorator cornwalls were built the same way...wheras the NON-decorator types had mitered edges and drop-in fronts...for all intents and purposes they were identical to each other....same interior volume and interior dimensions...same relation of driver component mounting to interior dimensions...just a different cabinet construction method...out of butt-jointed birch plywood instead of miter-cornered lumber-core veneers....that give you the answer you were needing?

Actually the old-style total overlapping jointed decorator boxes are alot stronger in construction than either the later decorator drop-in front ones or the mitered ones...but dont try to tell the engineers that!!!!...LOL!...how do i know?...well...i got to see fist hand when a cabinet would topple off a stack of 20 on a pallet and smash a front corner on a concrete slab...the mitered ones normally came unglued at the corner...same with the the later style drop-in front decorator models but not quite as bad...but the earlier style decorators normally just had a smashed corner with no break in the joint....that was enough to convince me!!!!

As for your need for a couple of the old pie slice plastic black and gold logos...holler at me in an email and give me an address and i will "see if I can help ya out" in the next couple of months, ok? I got some around here somewhere...findin em will be a ***** tho!!!!...since alot of my crap is in storage or sittin around this apartment in boxes!!!!...LOL!

[Curmudgeon]

HDBRbuilder, Thanks for the information and the background, I was curious as to why the cabinets were constructed that way and now I know why. That they are stronger makes perfect sense, plus these probably weigh 10-15 lbs more than my Cornwall II's. Thanks also for the info on the badges, I sent you an e-mail a few minutes ago. I was poking around on the net a few months back and found a web site selling off old electronics manuals and even though they had mostly TV and VCR manuals they happened to have one for the SQR-8750. It ended up only costing $4.00 plus a couple of bucks shipping and was in mint codition, which amazed me. I've watched Pioneer SX series (1250's, etc.) manuals go on Ebay for $75.00 or more, I also once watched a Mobile Fidelity Geodisc go for close to $100.00. Scary!

[ShapeShifter]

You two have some very nice equipment and setups. HDBRbuilder, I really like those 70's vintage components. Still have my AKAI GS-280D Reel to Reel in use, the 70'S Pioneer SX 6000 receiver works, but is retired to the basement. A friend and his wife are retiring and moving, so they gave me an old Panasonic 8 Track recorder and Sanyo 4 Track Tape Recorder. Don't know what I'll do with them, as I have no use for either. They're additions to a basement already filled with audio equipment.

Nice gear!

Wes

------------------

"KLIPSCH IS MUSIC"f>

This message has been edited by ShapeShifter on 04-19-2002 at 05:10 AM

[HDBRbuilder]

Wes,

Thanks...I spent alot of time deciding on what I wanted before I bought my equipment. First I narrowed it down by specifications...then I further narrowed it down based on manufacturers' reputations for quality control, etc. and reviews...then I watched all the others folks around me who had high-end stuff at the time. Some of em really babied their stuff, but still had to take it back for repairs. Others abused their equipment so much it was pitiful, but some of their components withstood that abuse. I intended for my investment to be a very long term one, so I went for the items from my narrowed-down list that withstood the abuse the best. Airborne infantry guys tend to party pretty hard when they aren't on duty..some of em really abused their equipment while under the influence of whatever. Then I waited patiently for them to come up on sale at the Audio Club or the PX.

I can't complain, tho...since I have put a minimal investment into these items since purchase, but have been able to enjoy them for over a quarter of a century so far.

I originally had two JBL 4311 studio monitors up front with a pair of JBL L-36's in the rear...and I had another pair of L-36's drop-shipped to my house before I got home from europe. I sold the 4311's before I left europe. After I got back home, i went to work at Klipsch within a month of returning. Needless to say...I sold the JBL's and bought heresys as soon as I could.

I have been pondering over what I would consider an ideal home theater system for awhile now. As for the audio portion, I am trying to gather up some stuff here and there...alot of it is vintage. I am looking at K-horns up front on sides, with inverted heresys up high in the corners and angled downward...center front channel a belle...right and left rear either cornwalls or heresys with a heresy as a rear center channel...a pair of subs on either side of the couch(havent decided on these yet)...front mains powered by a dynaco stereo 400 m/a, rear sides powered by another, with a third for the front center and rear center, and a fourth for the subs....an as yet undetermined preamp to feed all of this to the power amps and speakers.

Of course, I intend to use this set up for both home theater and listening room, with a switch box to adjust the two for best usage. I already have the FM tuner...it is a dynaco tube model. It is amazing what one can find on the hidden dusty shelves in the out of the way corners in some of the pawn shops that have been in business for a long time. They almost give away some of the stuff that has been sitting for a long time too. Whenever I travel, I check out these pawn shops for stuff and ship it home....thank God for all of these "we can pack it and ship it" places that have sprung up everywhere over the last decade or so!!!

The old HK 900+ will still have a prominent place for playing my old cd-4 stuff when i get the urge. I still consider it superior in many ways to what is currently available in receivers. It is a very warm piece...and goes well with heritage speakers.