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Audio Equipment Thread

Started by wasp_f15ting, June 16, 2018, 12:44:39 PM

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a duncandisorderly

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on July 28, 2018, 11:19:05 AM
The big irony about a lot of this audiophile nonsense is that even if you ignore a lot of it being pseudoscience, by the time you're old enough to afford it you're probably too deaf to notice anyway.

I've got a quad 303 and some linn kans. The top on the Kans is excellent but the low end isn't as good as I'd like, might swap them for some vintage Kef's (C40's or something) or some Tannoys at some point.

ain't that the truth.

I've always had tannoys. currently cheviots (12") & DMT8s, with some genelec 8030s for near-field. but I'm a bassist. I want that bottom octave there properly.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: a duncandisorderly on July 28, 2018, 11:20:57 AM
I took one look at DCC.... again, trying to get a quart out of a thimble. rDAT would've been better if they'd used the video-8 cassette & transport for it, but it would still have been 44.1 or 48 at 20 bits tops, & quarter inch would still make it sound crap. I don't know what they thought DCC was going to achieve. a decent analogue cassette would always give it a good spanking.

Apparently those DCC machines are supposedly very good analogue tape decks in their own right. You'd just buy a nakamichi or something though wouldn't you?

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on July 28, 2018, 11:22:59 AM
Apparently those DCC machines are supposedly very good analogue tape decks in their own right. You'd just buy a nakamichi or something though wouldn't you?

I have a couple of naks, yes... a revox, several technics, sonys, marantz, braun, akai, tascam.... I have a lot of cassette machines.

I use a walkman in public, & fuck what anyone thinks. my DD33 is on the desk here now.
I've never had a cassette tangle on me in over forty years. I have a fair few quarter inch machines too, mostly revox/studer.

olliebean

Quote from: wasp_f15ting on July 28, 2018, 08:56:49 AMHave you guys seen Chord's M Scaler which got unveiled at Can Jam? - I can upscale CDs really well apparently.. I spoke to the guy who made it via head-fi and he's adamant its not just plugging data that isn't there in.

I mean, the big clue that it's bullshit is that the thing he's adamant it's not doing is literally all it possibly can be doing.

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: olliebean on July 28, 2018, 04:56:51 PM
I mean, the big clue that it's bullshit is that the thing he's adamant it's not doing is literally all it possibly can be doing.

^ that.

Sebastian Cobb

Right, after years of being 'a bit dodgy' and needing a good warm up and a slap before working properly my NAD C521bee has given up and consistently displays 'no disc'.

This is a common fault apparently. It broke in warranty and got fixed.

By the looks of it, it's only a tenner to replace the laser assembly:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F321754651013

But the garbled English in the description is confusing me
Presumably as an antistatic protection something in the assembly has been soldered to ground. But it mentions something about needing a special iron to sort it maybe?

I've got a temperature controlled iron that's basically a poor man's weller, I usually use it at about 370 degrees. Will this work? I have a solder pump and flux.

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on September 23, 2018, 06:47:20 PM
Right, after years of being 'a bit dodgy' and needing a good warm up and a slap before working properly my NAD C521bee has given up and consistently displays 'no disc'.

This is a common fault apparently. It broke in warranty and got fixed.

By the looks of it, it's only a tenner to replace the laser assembly:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F321754651013

But the garbled English in the description is confusing me
Presumably as an antistatic protection something in the assembly has been soldered to ground. But it mentions something about needing a special iron to sort it maybe?

I've got a temperature controlled iron that's basically a poor man's weller, I usually use it at about 370 degrees. Will this work? I have a solder pump and flux.

you'll be fine with that- he's being a little over-cautious. I think... if you look in the first image, right at the lower edge of the board that has the connector on the other side, there are a pair of solder pads bridged, that go off via traces back to the rear of the connector. I suspect it's that that needs unbridging. it'll be to stop that delicate pre-amp getting fried when you decide to install the new laser with a VDGG album nearby.....

I changed the laser in one of my sony carousels (I have four of the beasts, 400 discs in each) & it was pretty much plug-&-play; I didn't have to do any of this nonsense, but these things vary.

buzby

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on September 23, 2018, 06:47:20 PM
Right, after years of being 'a bit dodgy' and needing a good warm up and a slap before working properly my NAD C521bee has given up and consistently displays 'no disc'.

This is a common fault apparently. It broke in warranty and got fixed.

By the looks of it, it's only a tenner to replace the laser assembly:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F321754651013

But the garbled English in the description is confusing me
Presumably as an antistatic protection something in the assembly has been soldered to ground. But it mentions something about needing a special iron to sort it maybe?

I've got a temperature controlled iron that's basically a poor man's weller, I usually use it at about 370 degrees. Will this work? I have a solder pump and flux.

He's referring to an iron with a grounded tip. Most soldering irons are ungrounded, an ESD-protected iron has the tip grounded to earth. Most cheap domestic soldering irons (that usually have the heating element powered direct from the mains) don't have total isolation and you will get a small induced current at the tip, which is why in his description he mentions unplugging the iron once it's heated up before using it to break the protective solder link.

If your iron doesn't have a grounded tip (ususally identified by having a 3-core mains flex with an earth connection, or a female 4mm banana grounding socket on the base station that allows it to be connected to an earthing point) his solution of unplugging the iron once it's got to temperature will work (you only need to wipe it across the solder bridged pads on the PCB that Duncan has pointed out). Just make sure not to wear a nylon shirt or polyester slacks while you are doing it.

Ungrounded irons have their place too - if you ever have to work on live circuits that can't be powered off easily, a grounded iron is the last thing you want.

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: buzby on September 28, 2018, 08:41:58 AM
Ungrounded irons have their place too - if you ever have to work on live circuits that can't be powered off easily, a grounded iron is the last thing you want.

my weller is grounded via its base-station, & I've forgotten once or twice. it's easy to just pull the little bulgin out & strike while the iron's hot, as it were.

Sebastian Cobb

Cheers both of you.

This is a dc iron, like a cheap copy of a weller, does the job though.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/60W-Soldering-Iron-Station-Rework-Kit-Variable-Temperature-Stand-Digital-LED-WEP/113164467802?epid=18021704060&hash=item1a5920be5a:g:QaAAAOSwOD9bVt7L

Although it looks like it's got 3 core it won't be grounded at the moment 'cos it came with a europlug and an adaptor. I'll just switch it off when it's up to temp.

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on September 29, 2018, 03:01:48 PM
Cheers both of you.

This is a dc iron, like a cheap copy of a weller, does the job though.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/60W-Soldering-Iron-Station-Rework-Kit-Variable-Temperature-Stand-Digital-LED-WEP/113164467802?epid=18021704060&hash=item1a5920be5a:g:QaAAAOSwOD9bVt7L

Although it looks like it's got 3 core it won't be grounded at the moment 'cos it came with a europlug and an adaptor. I'll just switch it off when it's up to temp.

remember to wear one of them wrist-strap things & chain the other end to a radiator. you might need to cut a small slit in the arm of your hazmat suit to let the chain through; seal this up as well as you can with duct tape, & leave the work-area every five minutes for at least five minutes. the blob of solder you remove may have lead in it; this needs weee-wasting properly.

:-)

Sebastian Cobb

The laser for this has arrived but I'm full of cold and medicating with Jura so am not going to attempt to fit it.

I have two questions though, probably mostly for Buzby again. I'm currently using a Quad 303/33 with some Linn Kans, I love the top but they're just a bit small and not bassy enough. The guy I bought them off dabbles in hifi it would seem and has some Kef C40's for sale for 95 quid. Would they be a good replacement? Before I had the Kans I used Kef Cresta's and they were pretty good, beasted the floorstanders they replaced.

Secondly, can anyone recommend a headphone amp? The Quad doesn't have a headphone out, and I'm lead to believe the 33 isn't powerful enough to drive headphones directly, so I was planning on attaching something to the tape out.

buzby

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on November 04, 2018, 12:47:53 PM
I have two questions though, probably mostly for Buzby again. I'm currently using a Quad 303/33 with some Linn Kans, I love the top but they're just a bit small and not bassy enough. The guy I bought them off dabbles in hifi it would seem and has some Kef C40's for sale for 95 quid. Would they be a good replacement? Before I had the Kans I used Kef Cresta's and they were pretty good, beasted the floorstanders they replaced.
The Kef C40s should be a big step uo from the Kans, The Kans only has a single Kef B110 130mm driver, so their bass output is going to be limited (from the specs, they have a bass rolloff of 5dB at 90Hz, but bass response starts rolling off at just below 1kHz). The Kef C40 is a 2.5way design (it uses 2 B200 200mm drivers, with one being cut off so it is dedicated to reproducing bass) and has a 3db rolloff frequency range of 68Hz-20kHz, o they should be substantially better at bass reproduction.and the 303 shouldn't have any problem in driving them.

The C40 in particular had a reputation as a 'rock' speaker when it came out, though the audiophone cognoscenti regarded the Cx0-series as a bit naff (they weren't built to the same standard as Kef's Reference series speakers) and not in keeping with Kef's reputation. They are better regarded than the follow-up Cx5 series though.

The only things to to look out for are the condition of the rubber suspension on the cones (which is a common thing to check for all old speakers) and that the voice coils on the B200s are ok - they can get 'cooked' if overloaded by high input levels for a significant length of time (given they are 100W speakers and were meant to be played loud, it would have had to be a high overload, like using them for a party in a big hall).
Quote
Secondly, can anyone recommend a headphone amp? The Quad doesn't have a headphone out, and I'm lead to believe the 33 isn't powerful enough to drive headphones directly, so I was planning on attaching something to the tape out.
The 303 manual has a circuit diagram for a headphone output, which uses 8 banana sockets, a headphone socket, a couple of 100ohm and 10ohm resistors to limit the output and a switch to select between the headphones or speakers. I built one and put it in a nice little box and it works fine witohut needing a separate headphone amp. QED used to sell a ready built headphone attenuator (the MA18, I think) with a built in volume control on it, but it's discontinued now.

Sebastian Cobb

Cheers buzby, what's the top like on the c40's? Have you heard them? For a ton I'm tempted to gamble.

buzby

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on November 04, 2018, 10:31:44 PM
Cheers buzby, what's the top like on the c40's? Have you heard them? For a ton I'm tempted to gamble.
Not heard them myself. They were around when I used to pore over What HiFi? drooling over things I couldn't afford. £100 is around the price they go for in the UK, based on ebay and Gumtree prices.

There's few demos of them on youtube and they sound pretty balanced (with the usual provisos about the camera microphone and youtube compression etc.):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS2JhR6Y44o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGIbMoJKDHg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9LzKdfzAcc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fadp9kplgqA

There's a very in-depth and mostly positive user review here too. It does mention about the second driver being a passive radiator, but one fo the other posters corrects that - it was the C40D with the passive radiator instead of the second driver, which looked quite different

wasp_f15ting

My AKG N40 started to crackle a little bit, so I ended up getting a good deal on the Shure SE846

Now.. I am feeling like the AK70 DAP is holding it back a little, and have seen a second hand AK380 on for sale in a forum for a good price..
Not sure how diminishing the returns will be on a DAP of that pedigree, do any of you have an AK380?

Sebastian Cobb

I finally got round to replacing the laser in my NAD over Christmas. It was easier than I thought it would be, the main difficulty I encountered was trying to get the lid off without stripping the rather tight yet rather soft screws.

It looks like I've missed out on those Kefs, I put it off in November and they were about at Christmas still, I was going to ring but then got a blocked ear so didn't bother. I'm glad I didn't now as I've had a poke around ebay and it looks like I could get some 104's/Cadenza's/Concerto's for slightly more (and sometimes less) and they look more in fitting with the vintage of a quad. In fact there's some Caprice's on ebay at the minute that look alright (I've heard them listed as a bit like a bassier ls35/a, which is what the Kans are derived from and sort of what I'm after) although I think I'll take my time, I've always liked the oval woofers/radiators in the other models.

Sebastian Cobb



I treated myself. They sound lovely and fill the room better than the linns. Will probably recap the crossovers shortly just 'cos of their age.

Sebastian Cobb

Right so two weeks I've alternated between thinking these were a bit light on bass (but could growl), or are possibly a bit too bright (but lovely on top). Throughout that I'd not bothered to have the covers on. I waved them over my ears and they're not transparent, nor are they filled with foam. Was this something manufacturers accounted for?

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on February 16, 2019, 12:46:11 AM
Right so two weeks I've alternated between thinking these were a bit light on bass (but could growl), or are possibly a bit too bright (but lovely on top). Throughout that I'd not bothered to have the covers on. I waved them over my ears and they're not transparent, nor are they filled with foam. Was this something manufacturers accounted for?

possibly. my DMT8s (tannoys with 8" dual-concentric drivers) came without grille-cloth frames, but even with them, I found them brittle, harsh even. I padded down the tweeter with some resistors, basically just knocked 3dB off them, & now they're fine. if the kefs seem bass-light at all, it may just be where or how they're stood. what are the stands like?

Sebastian Cobb

#110
Relatively sturdy jobs I got for 15 quid on gumtree. I could fill them with sand but I reckon the biggest difference that would make is being a bigger pain when moving house.



I've currently got them sat half a metre off the wall as the manual advises (unusual to get that with 40 year old speakers), shoving them back against the wall would probably make them bassier. Could probably get away with that, given they're not ported and thus not boomy.

You can see there's two bits of thickish (RS best LT cable) wire coming off them, one of their predecessors was bi-wirable and since then I've always stuffed both pairs in on the grounds it's basically twice as thick innit?

I'm tempted to replace the caps in the crossovers, falcon audio do matched kits, but from what I've read it's usually the top-end that goes when the caps are getting ropey.

Sebastian Cobb

Pushed them back against the wall and now they sound great. Thanks for listening (har).

Will probably replace the caps though.