20 years since I had a separate stereo system !!

turbot1984 said:
I'd have wanted a lifetime guarantee for that cash.
One thing I've realised is don't get rid of good kit, when streaming kicked in I got rid of a lovely Naim cd player but i want one again. Still its made me buy more vinyl in the last 10 years, and most of it before prices went crazy.
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Always went to the sound & vision show in Bristol & spent lots of time listening to the Naim equipment. Always loved the fact you could expand the system with external power supplies etc. However, I never went down that rabbit hole as I knew I would always be upgrading
 
My av pre does at least have a pure mode, sets mains to full range, no room EQ, no subwoofer. So that's closest to hifi unless I add a stereo pre amp but that just adds extra unnecessary complexity, would need HT bypass, XLR in and out etc.
 
It's funny when you think your speakers sound good then you hook up a much better amp and they sound a lot better. I have some Wharfdale Evo 4.2s and when I tested with a friends DIY amp powered by IcePower 1200AS2 I was amazed how much it improved things, I was a bit a sceptic. Law of diminishing returns of course. Then there is the quality of the input, ship in ship out ;)
 
Still using my 20+ year old Arcam CD62. My Naim Nait 5i I got off gumtree a few years ago and the Quad 11Ls I also had 20 years ago I bought again for <£100.

You can get so much for so little in hifi these days, don't see the point in buying new personally.

My Thorens TD160 is older than me :) Tend to buy electronic music on CD still, more acoustic stuff on vinyl, but the vinyl industry seems to be trying to kill the golden goose with pisstake prices these days so rarely bother....CDs are great value at the moment.
 
Heh, I finally got around to unpacking my stereo setup after my move, Pioneer A300x Amp, Pioneer PDS801 CD Player and a pair of Mission 780 Speakers. It has to be around 30 years old now and was still working perfectly before I moved, hopefully the 18 months sat in my garage hasn't harmed anything... it was all fully packed and boxed in it's original packaging, hoping to get it all hooked up at the weekend.
 
Just make sure you unpack it all and dont plug it in for a few days so it can acclimatise to the room etc as you dont want issues with moisture.
As for the equipment, I cant say I ever listened to that CD but the amp and speakers are quality. I am sure they will still put a smile on your face
 
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piggin said:
Just make sure you unpack it all and dont plug it in for a few days so it can acclimatise to the room etc as you dont want issues with moisture.
As for the equipment, I cant say I ever listened to that CD but the amp and speakers are quality. I am sure they will still put a smile on your face
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Yeh, while the garage is dry I currently have it sat on the table in my lounge, it's been there for a few days now so it should be all good I hope, I also let it acclimatise for a few days (I wasn't being lazy honest!) before I even removed it from the packaging :)
 
Managed to test it tonight, all good excepting some nasty crackle from the volume dial(s), it's never had any maintenance done on the pots so it's unsurprising really, I may see how difficult to disassemble and clean at some point when I have time, currently though it's fine once you stop messing with the volume.

My word though, I'd forgotten just how good it sounded compared to my various echo devices, bone conduction headphones, computer speakers, tv 5.1 system and car stereo, simply on another level all together, was tempted to crank it up but I don't want to annoy the neighbours so that can wait until I get it setup properly :D
 
For the record - i dabble in designing and building audio gear as a hobby (i own full bench setup with power supplies, oscilloscope, signal generator and a self built audio analyser that shows me the noise floor in my CDP :)).

Just be a little careful of hi-fi equipment that’s about 24+ years old. Part of the energy stores that amps and other components have (called a decoupling or reservoir capacitor) start to malfunction due to age.
In the worst case this can damage components that aren’t manufactured anymore and are difficult to replace.

My MF A220 blew a fuse, blew up part of the amp’s power supply simply because one of the capacitors shorted the hot and ground when it failed. I’m lucky as I know enough to replace it and test it. I took the opportunity to upgrade and tune some of the components - but that’s a completely different thread.

My Myryad MC100 CDP had 35 capacitors that needed replacing - it had started to misbehave, and the screen was dulling. After that, it’s back to being brand new in how it reacts and the screen is bright again.

Apart from preventing or fixing, replacing the electrolytic and tanalum caps after 24+ years restores some of the sonic sound that degrade over time - capacitance is restored (energy reserves), resistance (affects how fast it can store and release energy) is returned back to it’s pre-degraded levels, and finally the deathly electrical leakage across the capacitor (causes catastrophic failures) is reduced back to it’s minimal levels again.
You don’t need to replace every type of capacitor, just those that are known to have a limited life time after 24+ years they are beyond their end of life usually.
 
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Oh and if you have and original Audiolab 8000 please please get the caps etc replaced professionally before switching it on. The amplifying component (the transistors/mosfets) will have to be taken from a parts donor you won’t find them otherwise. Also the internal PCBs become very fragile hence someone with experience is a good thing. They are a very good amp.
Arcams, MF, Cambridge Audio, etc all need a little TLC checkup before using.
 
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That sounds nasty, I'd be happy to do the physical work of replacing the caps in mine but I'm at a loss over how to tell what would need replacing sadly.

Edit: Unless they are showing physical signs of failure that is, I can usually spot them then :D
 
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