Non-motoring > Remember life before ipods?? Miscellaneous
Thread Author: BobbyG Replies: 21

 Remember life before ipods?? - BobbyG
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/kenwood-stack-system-/261429974190?clk_rvr_id=606591891384

I spent two hours putting this together today and it fair brought back memories!!
Turntable, Amp, Graphic Equalizer, Tuner, Twin Tape and multi CD player. All separates, all to be cabled together at the rear.

End result was I got it done and the sound in the system, I would say, is definitely better than the ipod in my Pioneer docking station. But the ipod is so so so much simpler to set up!!

I remember for my 21st I got enough money to buy an Aiwa system similar to this and we used to use the speakers as seats they were so big. Later replaced them with smaller Mission ones. My dad also had a system - think was it called Trio???

Of course the purists out there say that the vinyl sound is still the best.
 Remember life before ipods?? - Zero
I'm sure this is much better quality.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amstrad-Hi-Fi-System-TS331V-Untested-/131144265484?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Compact_Shelf_Stereos&hash=item1e88ceaf0c
 Remember life before ipods?? - R.P.
Old school.
 Remember life before ipods?? - BobbyG
Ha ha I remember having an Amstrad Tower System and eventually taking it apart bit by bit to discover the insides were just a huge void!!

Could have been a third of the size if they had really wanted to , even with the technology of the day.
 Remember life before ipods?? - R.P.
I had a tiny Akai bookshelf system in 1982....great sound from the little British made Akai speakers. Loads of wires. Wasn't Trio the predecessor to Kenwood...?
 Remember life before ipods?? - Fenlander
>>>Wasn't Trio the predecessor to Kenwood...?

The names swapped about a bit. In the early days (60s?) Kenwood was set up in the USA as the sole importer of Trio products. Then I think they gave Trio a go as the brand which Americans didn't like as much as Kenwood so they reverted to Kenwood.

I've owned 70s Kenwood badged items in the past with the internal components all marked Trio.

Never a top brand but some well made gear.
 Remember life before ipods?? - PhilW
"Turntable, Amp, Graphic Equalizer, Tuner, Twin Tape and multi CD player. All separates,"

Got a Technics load of stuff like that just sitting to my left - in the early '80s seemed very expensive at about £600. Not sure anything has been played on it for about 20 years except for my old stuff - still looks good though!
Mrs W has an ipod thing - sounds just as good and plays about a million tracks but I don't like 90% of them!!.
Can't get Clapton's 1991 (ish?) live stuff, recorded from R2 from Albert Hall on it like I can on the old tape player! And some really old Buddy Guy and BB King stuff. I'll wear out before the tapes do!
Keep going Technics - few glasses of wine and the headphones on while rubbish TV on - I'm in heaven!
 Remember life before ipods?? - Crankcase

>> End result was I got it done and the sound in the system, I would
>> say, is definitely better than the ipod in my Pioneer docking station.

It ought to sound much better. Are you sure you've got the speaker cables the right way round?
 Remember life before ipods?? - Mike H
>> www.ebay.co.uk/itm/kenwood-stack-system-/261429974190?clk_rvr_id=606591891384
>>
>> I spent two hours putting this together today and it fair brought back memories!!
>> Turntable, Amp, Graphic Equalizer, Tuner, Twin Tape and multi CD player. All separates, all to
>> be cabled together at the rear.
>>

Two hours?? Blimey, how long was your tea break?
 Remember life before ipods?? - Mike Hannon
A new 'crack converters' shop opened near me and I went in last week for a look.
I came out with a pair of mint condition Mission 760i bookshelf speakers, complete with three-month guarantee, priced at what I first thought was €69. Then I spotted a dot between the 6 and the 9. Yup, €6.99.
The girl behind the counter said 'You're English aren't you? These speakers are English'. I grinned and said 'yes, I know'.
Result!
 Remember life before ipods?? - RattleandSmoke
Very hard to find bargains like that, I have recently bought a very nice HIFI rack for £25 off the Facebook community group, the guy paid £250 for it only five years ago.

In my workshop I have a second hand Yamaha amp I bought as a stop gap when my old Camrbridge Audio 640A became a fire starter, paid £35 for that amp and four years later it is still going strong. It sounds a bit commercial and a bit thin but the workshop is perfect.

It doesn't have the same musicality as my Marantz PM6003 but that cost me £250.

Still got a pair of old JPW 310is on the HIFI system downstairs, paid £39 brand new for those speakers back in2000 and they still do the job nicely. Mainly used as the TV sound system now via an old Marantz PM4000 I bought back in 2001.

Sadly I have stopped upgrading my system now, as to improve it will cost £1000s. My hearing isn't as good these days either to enjoy the benefit.
 Remember life before ipods?? - Fenlander
Yep good buy. These speakers are very underrated as a compact with decent quality. I currently have a pair of 780s and a pair of 780SEs which are very similar in size/sound. I would usually value such speakers around £30-£50 so £6.99 is a bargain.
 Remember life before ipods?? - Mike Hannon
Shame my ears aren't anything like as good as they were 20 or even 10 years ago.
When I had a nice little sideline buying and selling hi-fi stuff they were a useful asset.
The Quad ELSs will be staying in the attic with the rest of the stuff I feel guilty about not using, I guess. Although my pal has a 110v power supply and he thinks we ought to use it to give them a gentle re-awakening...
 Remember life before ipods?? - Zero
>> Yep good buy. These speakers are very underrated as a compact with decent quality. I
>> currently have a pair of 780s and a pair of 780SEs which are very similar
>> in size/sound. I would usually value such speakers around £30-£50 so £6.99 is a bargain.

Cobblers

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-1970S-AMSTRAD-THREE-WAY-ACCOUSTIC-SUSPENSION-LOUDSPEAKERS-/321355447085?pt=UK_AudioVideoElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_HiFiSpeakers&hash=item4ad246fb2d

These must the dog dangles, Amstrad, with a fancy knob on the front.

Couple them up with this special wire

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/400672579203?hlpht=true&ops=true&viphx=1&lpid=95&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=95&ff19=0

 Remember life before ipods?? - Dog
=>£150?

There's one born every minute!
 Remember life before ipods?? - Fenlander
>>>These must the dog dangles, Amstrad, with a fancy knob on the front

When such gear comes my way I do the decent thing...put a hammer through it and off to the tip.
 Remember life before ipods?? - Stuartli
Still use my NAD 7300 tuner/amp regularly (it's one manufactured in Japan in 1979) feeding Audiomaster MLS1 speakers. Sound still beats most other stuff other than the very best.
 Remember life before ipods?? - Mike Hannon
Remember the Amstrad TP12 turntable with the 'tri-arm equipreponderate' platter?

tinyurl.com/pemlmrp

Commissioning carp like that gets you into the House of Lords, apparently.
 Remember life before ipods?? - RattleandSmoke
Seen a lot worse than that. I suppose other than Dixons, Sugar was one of the very first in the UK to design stuff here and then get it made in cheaper countries (back then probably Taiwan or Hong Kong).

I am no fan of Sugar though.
 Remember life before ipods?? - WillDeBeest
Crikey, I'd never heard of that. Looks almost - and you can hear me hesitating to apply this adjective to Amstrad - good.

iPods have their place - I have three, for various purposes - but there's still a world of difference between portable, compressed sound and what comes out of a good fixed system, especially where there's an orchestra involved. I listened with a friend on Sunday to Salonen's 1997 Los Angeles recording of Mahler 3, which is an astonishing piece of engineering in the way it presents individual instruments and the whole ensemble on an utterly believable scale: no blurring but no spotlighting either. Don't think an ipod (or an Amstrad) could manage that.

And no, I don't have million-dollar cables!
 Remember life before ipods?? - Old Navy
Has someone miss spelled tripod?
 Remember life before ipods?? - BiggerBadderDave
The last time I had a turntable was in about 88 when I was at uni. I was in the upstairs room of a shared house and there was girl in the room below. Her room had a bow window but mine didn't so there was a flat roof. The best way to annoy her was to attach things to a piece of string and tap on the roof until she shouted. We were good friends, but she was... well... Scottish.

Then I had a revelation. Tie a piece of string to a rubber ball then attach the other end to the turntable, slightly off-centre and hang the ball out of the window, tapping on the roof. Voila - an automatic annoyer. I should have patented it. I waited until she was having the day off, set the ball tapping early in the morning, locked my room and rushed out. Can't remember if I set it 33 or 45 but I think it was a neighbour who fetched a step ladder and scissors to stop my automatic annoyer. Eventually.

Those happy, crazy student days...
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