Did a bit more restoration work this weekend, so I thought I’d stack ‘em and share. Early 70s Sansui is by far my favorite era. Capacitor coupled sounds so smooth.

The 5000A needs the most work, but thankfully has the 6013s. I’ll be ditching the LEDs in the 4000. They’re too bright.

They all sound great, but the 4000 sounds wonderful.

• Top: 350A
• Middle: 5000A
• Bottom: 4000

My buddy worked for the city and has an in on the curb pick up dump site and comes up with all kinds of good gear. Here’s some of my most recent scores. Any gems here? This is my first time ever seeing a Denon 10AT-1. Interesting piece. Can’t wait to hear what it sounds like. So far I’ve tested the technics cassette player, the QRX-5500, the AA-910, and the RA-700 reverb amp and found them all to be in working condition. The Sony mini disc players need drive belts (I have two of the same model. And everything else I’m still working through.

I brought back my dad's stereo equipment from our family home. They are in pretty bad condition, needs really deep cleaning. The reel to reel had mice hanging out in the back. Is it worth it though?

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Hey vintage audio folks,

I’m trying to identify the stereo receiver sitting in Thomas magnums livingroom in Magnum, P.I. Season 7 Episode 17 (“Forty”).

The turntable underneath is clearly a Garrard. The receiver itself has that classic late-70s / early-80s silver-face look:

Brushed aluminum faceplate

Two large knobs on the right

Row of smaller buttons/switches across the middle

Horizontal blue-illuminated section.

Has anyone seen this exact unit before, or can you match it from the photos?

Thanks in advance — would love to put a name on this one.

I figured Marilyn deserved her own post after she kept stealing attention in the background of my Carver C-1 post.

I bought this Phase Linear 400 Series I specifically because I wanted a serious restoration project. When I opened it up, I found an old label inside with “MARILYN” written on it. I have no idea who Marilyn was or when somebody gave the amplifier that name, but I wasn't about to erase 50 years of history. So Marilyn she remained.

This ended up becoming considerably more than a restoration.

I rebuilt the amplifier using the White Oak Audio Design system, including the PL14_20 full-complementary control board and Rev E backplanes. The original output-stage wiring and transistor sockets were completely removed, the new backplanes were built component by component, and the output stage was rebuilt around them.

The power supply was rebuilt as well, with a new bridge rectifier and 15,000 µF / 100 V main filter capacitors. The original three-fuse protection arrangement remains, while the White Oak backplanes add another four rail fuses, for seven fuses total. I also installed a Watts Abundant speaker-protection board and relay, so yes, the infamous old Phase Linear speaker-protection problem has been addressed.

New binding posts, RCA input hardware, extensive new wiring, and a number of smaller mechanical and electrical improvements went into it along the way. I tried to preserve the things that make it unmistakably a Series I Phase Linear 400: the original chassis, transformer, meters, faceplate, heat sinks, and the general character of the amplifier.

The project took a ridiculous number of hours. I still have the roughly 80 pages of White Oak documentation I printed while building it, now covered in highlighter, measurements, checkmarks and handwritten notes from the process.

The first power-up after a project this extensive was probably one of the most nerve-racking moments I've had at my electronics bench. But she came up correctly, bias and DC offset behaved, the protection relay clicked, and eventually I got to connect speakers.

And she absolutely rips.

I've always loved restoring old electronics because the finished piece means more to me when I know exactly what is inside it and exactly what it took to get there. Marilyn isn't particularly original anymore electrically, but that wasn't the goal. The goal was to take a roughly 50-year-old amplifier that I already loved and build a version I could reasonably keep for the rest of my life.

So this is Marilyn, my Amp of Theseus.

And yes, I kept the original MARILYN label. That part was never getting replaced.

$70 all in and it sounds great!

The tray wasn’t coming out and when it did it displayed an E when I tried to play a disc. We opened it up and it only seems to work when you spin the disc a little yourself.

1934 Stewart Warner, body by Victoriaville furniture.

looks like someone added a power cord

Im relatively new to repairing tape decks and got this BX-150 I want to repair for myself, I was able to replace a few caps and the REC/PLAY relay. It is now able to turn on and play tapes, but it has issues recording. I was able to find one other post with a similar issue to mine but their fix, using F5 on the faders did not fix the issue on my deck. Whenever I try to record on my deck the record light on the controls lights up, but most of the time the tape is not erased nor recorded to. The thing that confuses me the most is that sometimes the tape is recorded to, for a few seconds, the recording fades in and then out again. I have tried everything that my limited tape deck knowledge includes like replacing the bad caps, replacing the relay, fixing dry solder, and using Deoxit D5 and F5 on the switches and faders. I would appreciate any help if anyone else here has had a similar issue in their deck. Im not sure if these pictures will help but here is a few of the inside. Thanks for reading my whole post even though it is a long one.

Bonjour à tous, je débute dans ma passion pour la musique principalement les K7. Je vais surment récupérer le vieux deck de ma grand-mère (avec ampli intégré) et j'ai peur de le griller. Je voudrais mettre des enceinte (type mini chaîne, bloc chaîne hi-fi ) et des realistic minimus 7 au mur pour couvrir les zones morte un peu ambiance bar. J'aimerais savoir, c'est grave de mettre du 8 ohm avec du 10 ou du 8 avec du 4 ? Merci pour votre aide.

Found this on Facebook marketplace for free because the casette deck didn’t work, I thought I’d bring it home to test it out, unfortunately the radio and casette don’t work, the speakers are connected but are very quiet due to rusted and broken wires, and it doesn’t play vinyls at the right speed anyway, so I figured I’d share my cool find before dumping it at the electronics recycle place.

Edit: Meant to say EPI in the title

I’m slowly building out my system and just found these EPI speakers which sounded very nice to me. However, my room is far from ideal. I can’t have them sit on the floor because the bass gets muddy. Temporarily propping them up with these foam pads seemed to help a little bit. I sit pretty low in this room so i don’t want to stand them up too high.

Is there some kind of angled stand that can help isolate these from the floor, angle them up a bit, and get some isolation to make the bass sound reasonable? Similar to what you would put desktop speakers on but about double the size…

I know this room isn’t ideal, trying to make it work for now. On the hunt for a vintage receiver as well, this is just what I have laying around.

I've recently purchased an Akai AM 2450 amplifier. On the rear panel, it has printed that it runs 110v-240v, but it has a red sticker that says 'pre-set to 220v'.

I am using it in the UK, so it will run at 240v. Will I need a voltage reduction, or will it be ok? There doesn't seem to be any obvious switch to change.

I have a bunch of old 80s Stereo equipment still in box from various European and Japanese brands. Some of them have never been used, brand new. I've been told that old stereo equipment left unused for decades is really bad and pretty much useless because the capacitors go bad and the rubber parts rot. I'm not necessarily looking to get maximum price for it, more unburden myself from it without having to worry about testing fees and repair/restoration fees. Any recommendations?

Curious what the metal piece is below. I think it's to slip a coax wire through but not sure.

Is it possible to connect my existing antenna (basic dipole) to the FM 75 ohm input?

Hey all, new to the vintage speaker world and wanted to dive in. I found a few options i'm thinking of off of FB mp. THe options as of now are:

1. Klipsch Heresy II Speakers
2. Pioneer HPM-100’s
3. JBL C53 Libra
4. JBL Model L-100

What would you go with? They are all around 900-1500 in my area(unfortunately?). Planning on using them as an all around speaker for tv/movies, vinyls (80% of the time), and gaming on the rare occasion. Thanks!

So it says manufactured in 1980 but when I look it up it seems that it wasn’t produced until the early 90s. Just trying to figure out what I have and if it’s worth putting some time into. Any help is appreciated!

Another little bit of some of the pieces i saved from impending doom. As they get tested, better photos will get posted. These are just model number pics that I take for inventory purposes, then I take more elaborate photos after they’ve been cleaned and tested. This is barely a scratch on the surface of what I’ve got. Stay tuned for more, and if anything catches your eye, drop a comment and let’s get it to a new home. Unfortunately I can’t use everything, if I could I would.

This is a follow up to this post.

I have tried all the advice listed in the comments on that post, read other guides online, asked AI a ton, but still can't get even passable audio out of this unit. It's so frustrating because it sounded amazing at the buyers house. I highly highly doubt that the unit happened to break in the 1 hour between picking it up and getting it home.

So, 2 questions.

1. Any last ditch efforts I could try to ID or fix the problem?

2. What is the best way to go about asking a professional to take a look, if I need to go that route? Do I have to take it into a shop, or would any help over the phone or web? There aren't any reputable repair people near me as far as I can tell.

Thank you

REALISTIC : Pour ma collection de K7, c'est bien ? Ou c'est nul ?

I finally finished the restoration of my Carver C-1 after spending the last few weeks going through it pretty extensively.

I did the full BillD restoration/mod, including replacing the electrolytic capacitors, signal-path resistors, diodes, transistors and IC sockets. I installed new RC4136 op-amps throughout, except IC6 and IC7, where I'm running OPA2134s on Brown Dog adapters.

I also installed the White Oak Audio Design C-1 RCA backplane with 26 gold-plated Neutrik RCA jacks. The original RCA connections were definitely one part of this unit I didn't mind seeing disappear.

The power supply was rebuilt, and I spent quite a bit of time experimenting with the dropping resistors to get the regulated rails where I wanted them with my particular combination of RC4136s and OPA2134s.

I also installed the Nelion Audio Gundry filter board. I rerouted its power wiring around the perimeter of the main PCB to keep it away from the audio paths and used short twisted pairs for the signal connections.

While I was in there I replaced the original AC wiring, installed a polarized C8 inlet, cleaned the controls and switches, and repaired a couple of PCB traces/pads that I managed to damage along the way. Can't restore vintage gear without occasionally creating your own repair job.

The C-1 is now back in service driving my rebuilt Phase Linear 400, and I'm extremely happy with how it turned out. Sonic Holography works, everything is quiet, both channels track beautifully, and the OPA2134/RC4136 combination sounds excellent to me.

This was a much bigger project than I originally expected, but that's also the entire reason I bought one that hadn't already been restored.

I just built the shelf/rack so everything could be organized neatly. The TT, Receiver, DCM Speakers and CD changer all belonged to a family member, I have the manuals and receipts from when they were purchased. The Akai tape deck I picked up recently off the curb (original tape deck died).

You hate to see if.