What's new

Stereo equipment question

Rating - 100%
17   0   0
Joined
Jun 6, 2014
Messages
2,403
Location
Joplin, MO
FINALLY!

Put everything together and fired it up. Sounds as good as I remember!

Initially put on a Genoa Keawe CD just to see if I could get sound out and yes, indeed, all was good. Switched to a mixed Santana CD and spaced out to “Samba Pa Ti”, “Song of the Wind” and “All the Love of the Universe”. Had the speakers about 4’ apart, perpendicular to each other and sat in the middle of them. The headphone experience without the headphones. Didn’t quite crank it up but I know it was louder than what my wife would normally approve of. I think she let me go knowing I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.

Speaking of the wife, she wants to re-paint the room so set-up with be temporary and nothing like the final layout (…at least the layout I’d like…). Once that’s done, I’ll move a dresser out and bring back the stereo and CD racks. Filling them back up will be another small project.

And then there’s that whole “discussion” about getting a new turntable….

View attachment 171071

View attachment 171072
Those Jubals look great. I know this is something you have been wanting for a long time and it's now coming together! Congrats and enjoy.

What turntable are you considering?
 
Rating - 100%
14   0   0
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Messages
5,117
Location
Hawaii
Those Jubals look great. I know this is something you have been wanting for a long time and it's now coming together! Congrats and enjoy.

What turntable are you considering?
Thanks!

Yah, took a few months to find someone to do the re-coning, Then a few more months to be the next speaker up. I knew it wasn’t gonna be cheap but about $200 more than budgeted. Still, being able to listen to them again brought me back to the days of my youth so well worth the time and money.

Trying to figure out what to do about my CD player(s) as neither of our spare DVD players are cutting it. Thinking I’d get a good Blu-ray player to serve as my single CD player as well as DVD back-up (…although we rarely play them anymore…). Been looking on eBay for a decent CD player but haven’t, yet, found a reasonably priced one that’s in good shape with a remote.

Re-painting the room is a big key as it will determine when the stereo rack and CD holders come back home. And then the boxes of CDs.

Turntable shopping / overthinking after that.

Getting the cassette decks back in shape is last on the list.
 
Rating - 100%
14   0   0
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Messages
5,117
Location
Hawaii
Update(s)

The 12ga OFC speaker wire I bought a few weeks ago turned out to be too big for the push-in speaker terminals on both the speakers and receiver. It didn’t help that I couldn’t heat up the wire enough to solder the tips so when I did try to push in the wire, it just unraveled. Figured I’d just downgrade to a thinner gauge so got some 16ga OFC from Amazon. Got the spool on Wednesday and changed out the (…close to…) 46 years old lampcord wires. Fired up the speakers and I dunno if it was my imagination or not but the speakers sounded better. Bass was tighter and the mids and highs sounded clearer too.

Since soldering the tips was a no-go, searched for an alternate method to attach the wires and found flex banana pin connectors so ordered a set. ETA is tomorrow. Hoping the 2mm pin is small enough, if not, gotta go back to plain end wires. They work fine right now but my OCD doesn't allow for plain, unfinished ends.

Totally not satisfied with any of my DVD players I was using to play CDs so did some online research as well as asking a couple of friends and ended up ordering a Denon DCD 600NE from Crutchfield’s the other day. ETA is Tuesday the 17th.

Now I'm wondering if the Sony receiver is sufficient so starting peeking into getting an integrated amp. Oh boy....
 
Rating - 100%
17   0   0
Joined
Jun 6, 2014
Messages
2,403
Location
Joplin, MO
Update(s)

The 12ga OFC speaker wire I bought a few weeks ago turned out to be too big for the push-in speaker terminals on both the speakers and receiver. It didn’t help that I couldn’t heat up the wire enough to solder the tips so when I did try to push in the wire, it just unraveled. Figured I’d just downgrade to a thinner gauge so got some 16ga OFC from Amazon. Got the spool on Wednesday and changed out the (…close to…) 46 years old lampcord wires. Fired up the speakers and I dunno if it was my imagination or not but the speakers sounded better. Bass was tighter and the mids and highs sounded clearer too.

Since soldering the tips was a no-go, searched for an alternate method to attach the wires and found flex banana pin connectors so ordered a set. ETA is tomorrow. Hoping the 2mm pin is small enough, if not, gotta go back to plain end wires. They work fine right now but my OCD doesn't allow for plain, unfinished ends.

Totally not satisfied with any of my DVD players I was using to play CDs so did some online research as well as asking a couple of friends and ended up ordering a Denon DCD 600NE from Crutchfield’s the other day. ETA is Tuesday the 17th.

Now I'm wondering if the Sony receiver is sufficient so starting peeking into getting an integrated amp. Oh boy....
That sounds like a familiar rabbit hole. :):):). Enjoy and know when to say Uncle. :)
 
Rating - 100%
14   0   0
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Messages
5,117
Location
Hawaii
That sounds like a familiar rabbit hole. :):):). Enjoy and know when to say Uncle. :)
CD player arrived a day early. Ez-peazy set up (of course). Sounds and operates w-a-y better than the DVD player I was using. Now to futz around with the Presence and Brilliance settings on the speakers to get the sound I want.

lapyap Credit with 6 months interest free was one of the payment options offered by Crutchfield so went with that. The spooky rabbit hole is if I decide to get an integrated amp once I payoff the CD player. At that point, getting a $1500 amp with the same 6 months option could be very, very enticing. But, I told myself to give the Sony a chance and try to have some restraint. We’ll see….
 
Rating - 100%
17   0   0
Joined
Jun 6, 2014
Messages
2,403
Location
Joplin, MO
That sounds like a good plan. I know it takes me a while of listening (sometimes months) to be able to clearily identify the shortcomings of my system and decide if it was something I could happily live with or if it required a change. it takes me years, but I have been quite satisfied for over a decade with no plans for upgrades. My whole system was put together over about 20 years on a very very small budget. It's been fun, but I am done and just enjoy listening to the music I love.

I very much enjoy watching you getting your Jubals back up and singing. My old ears enjoy the west coast sound.
 
Rating - 100%
14   0   0
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Messages
5,117
Location
Hawaii
That sounds like a good plan. I know it takes me a while of listening (sometimes months) to be able to clearily identify the shortcomings of my system and decide if it was something I could happily live with or if it required a change. it takes me years, but I have been quite satisfied for over a decade with no plans for upgrades. My whole system was put together over about 20 years on a very very small budget. It's been fun, but I am done and just enjoy listening to the music I love.

I very much enjoy watching you getting your Jubals back up and singing. My old ears enjoy the west coast sound.
”West Coast sound”, yup, that’s me! :giggle:
 
Rating - 100%
14   0   0
Joined
Jul 9, 2015
Messages
5,117
Location
Hawaii
After blasting the stereo for a couple of hours, I’ve come to the peaceful conclusion that I don’t NEED to buy a more powerful, audiophile-ish integrated amplifier. The plain-Jane Sony receiver did just fine. Even at the loudest listenable volume level, there was no distortion and the amp didn’t clip. Pushing it a little past that resulted in me not wanting to stay in the room for an extended period. The house was filled with the Allman Brothers but I’m rarely gonna pump it up that loud so what’s the point of spending a couple grand for power I’m probably never gonna use? And I’m an old guy that listens to old music that’s recorded on analog tape so “high fidelity”, like beauty is in the eye / ears of the beholder.

I told my wife that while she was out at the mall, I helped her save maybe $2,000 ‘cause I decided to not replace the Sony receiver. She didn’t know wth I was talking about so hadda explain what I did while she was gone. She just shook her head and gave me that “look”. :LOL:
 
Rating - 100%
17   0   0
Joined
Jun 6, 2014
Messages
2,403
Location
Joplin, MO
After blasting the stereo for a couple of hours, I’ve come to the peaceful conclusion that I don’t NEED to buy a more powerful, audiophile-ish integrated amplifier. The plain-Jane Sony receiver did just fine. Even at the loudest listenable volume level, there was no distortion and the amp didn’t clip. Pushing it a little past that resulted in me not wanting to stay in the room for an extended period. The house was filled with the Allman Brothers but I’m rarely gonna pump it up that loud so what’s the point of spending a couple grand for power I’m probably never gonna use? And I’m an old guy that listens to old music that’s recorded on analog tape so “high fidelity”, like beauty is in the eye / ears of the beholder.

I told my wife that while she was out at the mall, I helped her save maybe $2,000 ‘cause I decided to not replace the Sony receiver. She didn’t know wth I was talking about so hadda explain what I did while she was gone. She just shook her head and gave me that “look”. :LOL:
I know "the look" well. I havea small dedicated room where my stereo lives, but I listen near field 6-7' centered in front of the speakers. So while the DB level from my listening spot is fairly loud, when I walk out of the room for something to drink it is barely audible in the LR. Kind of a happy medium!

Rock on Palama!
 
Top