Pioneer turntable & Four Score on Vinyl...

[Captain Jack]

Welp, got some new (eBay) speakers yesterday and finally wired up my gramophone in my play room. The Kenwood amp hadn't been switched on for years, so I had no idea whether it would work. It worked sound-wise but the display was dead. Took the top off to find a blown fuse - there are three in total. Replaced the blown fuse and the display came to life!

Nice to hear snap, crackle and pop again, though the Sony speakers are a bit shite - they are from a "mini hi-fi" thing. So need to get something decent.

A bit of Deep Purple on a Soviet(!) made LP... one of their lesser known albums, House of Blue Light.

Pardon the dust...

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[2cvbloke]

Modern speakers are built to suit digital sources (I.E. not enough frequency response), so feeding an analogue source will make them sound like poo, my sony headphones sound terrible when listening to my Pioneer but listening to a digital source they sound fine, so you need a set of decent vintage speakers to suit your setup...

Oddly though my Turtle Beach PX21 gaming headset sounds superb with the Pioneer, but it's all good, especially now I got the cartridge aligned nicely...

 

[Captain Jack]

I DO have "vintage" speakers around - but the wooden box/case is absolutely filthy, having been kept in the garage for many years... I don't even want to touch them! I don't have room in my room for larger speakers, so will need something like "monitor" speakers - some Gales or Missions should do the job.

 

[Llew]

Very nice CJ. Some good Monitors would certainly do justice to your setup, Although then you'll probably be looking for an Amp upgrade...;)

 

[Captain Jack]

Also, the amp is rated at 8ohm impedance and speakers are only 6ohm... let's hope I don't blow anything!

 

[smoggy07]

I have a pair of (old-ish) Tannoy Jukebox speakers here, I acquired them when I bought a wall mounted CD jukebox while drunk on eBay one night

They have a switch on the back that you can set to 2W, 5W or 8 ohm (with an off position too) and they blow the water out of my Hi-Fi and my DVD surround system, I've got an amp to use with them here somewhere but I need to swap out the volume variable or give it a going over with switch cleaner because the volume started to flicker on and off (if that's the right description) and when ever I adjusted the volume it hissed/crackled

It has the proper input on the back for Phono too so should be turntable ready

 

[hexah]

Nice to hear snap, crackle and pop again, though the Sony speakers are a bit shite - they are from a "mini hi-fi" thing.

The icon must be a kind of insurance. Lets hope it all keeps working o.k.

I always remove the metal things over the tweeter because they affect the sound too much. With that type you get pliars and pull each side either straight out or at an angle, I can't remember. The worst type are the grids without screws they are best levered out with an awl. It can help to support the awl with a cork underneath like a seesaw to stop it sliding down and stabbing the tweeter.

It looks like there is a metal thing stuck on the tweeter. That will make some high sounds very metallic. All the studio monitors for musicians and professional use have only soft tweeters to avoid that kind of coloration.

Even more important is isolation.

You need to at least put the speakers on three blobs of white tack (2 front 1 back centre) to stop the sound energy going into the wood its resting on. Wood is very good at absorbing sound waves. Try it with one speaker then listen to the difference. It really is a big difference whether speech or music, listen to Radio 4 then Radio 1 then Radio 3 or classic FM. Ideally you should use feet and white tack, the professional monitors usually come with isolating feet already stuck on.

 

[2cvbloke]

I found that my Pioneer has a problem, the nylon gear that connects the motor to the auto-return mechanism is split, I only discovered it when lubricating the motor spindle (and boy did the old, sticky, gooey oil reek!!), but at least it answered why it knocks when the tonearm is returning to it's rest...

 

[Piltdownpaul]

I'm a fan of those smaller Gale speakers, i have some bookshelf and monitors, nice compact sound and cheap too.

 

[pgh13]

Also, the amp is rated at 8ohm impedance and speakers are only 6ohm... let's hope I don't blow anything!

Wouldn't have thought so unless you really turned the wick up and even then I'd trust a decent not to 'melt'.

 

[2cvbloke]

I think that a lower resistance speaker will draw more current than a higher one, so will make the amp work harder, which can end up with them blowing either the speakers or the amp itself, but I've not delved that far into audio stuff...

Anyway, I'm just listening to two Foreigner records, just washed them as Head Games was so dirty on the Dirty White Boy track that the stylus was lifting off the track, and the self-titled Foreigner album was just crackling away like fireworks even after a good de-dusting, I'm getting good at washing records, ain't hard to do either, and the results can be pretty good assuming the record's not trashed or the stylus isn't worn out...

 

[Piltdownpaul]

I think that a lower resistance speaker will draw more current than a higher one, so will make the amp work harder, which can end up with them blowing either the speakers or the amp itself, but I've not delved that far into audio stuff...

Anyway, I'm just listening to two Foreigner records, just washed them as Head Games was so dirty on the Dirty White Boy track that the stylus was lifting off the track, and the self-titled Foreigner album was just crackling away like fireworks even after a good de-dusting, I'm getting good at washing records, ain't hard to do either, and the results can be pretty good assuming the record's not trashed or the stylus isn't worn out...

I knew a guy who worked at Leicester University when i was a lot younger who said a similar thing. Too much power and the power amp not seeing enough of an impedance will result in some feeding back into the amp,although in your case it is only 2 ohms. Having a higher impedance on your speakers was fine, you just had to turn the amp up slightly higher to drive the speakers.

(My favourite Foreigner track...."Juke box Hero").

 

[2cvbloke]

(My favourite Foreigner track...."Juke box Hero").

From the album "4", which I have (and in the Promo album too), I quite like it too...

The present version of Foreigner were playing in Newcastle last month too, didn't go to see them though cos it's not the same band...

 

[sonnetpete]

The present version of Foreigner were playing in Newcastle last month.....

.....and the way Newcastle are playing I bet they would beat them too....

 

[2cvbloke]

.....and the way Newcastle are playing I bet they would beat them too....

I wouldn't know, I don't follow football, it's no fun unlike record players...

 

[Lazarus]

.....and the way Newcastle are playing I bet they would beat them too....

Not satisfied with beating Cardiff 3-0 ?

 

[sonnetpete]

Not satisfied with beating Cardiff 3-0 ?

In a word...no

 

[Channel Hopper]

(My favourite Foreigner track...."Juke box Hero").

Live

The - later - acoustic version

 

[Channel Hopper]

And the local pub karaoke version of Waiting....

 

[sonnetpete]

And the local pub karaoke version of Waiting....

Sometimes you should realise it's time to retire gracefully before you embarrass yourself.....