Going back to analog days with this question

lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Its the only way I can get some music off of some vinyl I own as I have some albums that simply are not available in the digital domain or are prohibitively expensive. Besides, I will be really cool again ;)




Better ways to go but whatever floats the boat..... :)
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
A better way is definitely a computer, then he can get his LPs in any format he wants. Very easy to handle the WAV files. Also there will be no degradation in audio quality.

The other issue is that it is best not to use vintage recorders for recording as they age. I only put mine in record if I have to and I have spare Revox heads tucked away. Wire as it gets old ages. The power in the small record head is amazingly high. Not only is there the signal, and it takes a lot to generate the flux to line up the oxide particle, but there is high frequency bias flood on top to prevent hysteresis distortion. A recording with no, or insufficient bias, sounds awful. In addition the erase head takes the bias signal at even higher power to erase the tape.

Old heads can, and certainly are prone, to burn out. With a three head machine though it will always play back, as the voltage generated by the tape passing the heads is very low.

Old coils certainly do burn out. I just had to remove a 34 year old Dynaudio D21 AF tweeter from one of my rear backs yesterday, that is open circuit. There are no parts available. So I have two Eton tweeters on the way, which are close replacements. I expect to have to make some alteration to the crossovers.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
So far I have only needed the tape counter belt for the A700. I got that from an old Studer/Revox engineer in Nashville, who has lots of parts.

All my reel to reel machines are direct drive servo controlled units, except the Brenell which is idler drive to the capstan. Apparently they were made by Durex and don't fail like on other brands! All are three motor.

The cassette units are dual capstan three motor. So the only belts are to the dual capstans from the capstan motor. So far so good.

Cassette machines I think are my least favored contraptions. In fact I have little good to say about the cassette medium and I have very few cassette tapes actually. They are way, way inferior to reel to reel machines, though I admit more convenient. At only 1/32 track width and running at 1/7/8 ips is just not Hi-Fi which ever way you look at it. 1/8 inch track width and 15 ips and you have a chance at quality.
I never bought into cassette as a HiFi medium and that's the reason only I bought one piece, used, in the early-'80s. I could never see spending $1000 on a Nak as a good value. Nagra, maybe. It was a model I was considering when I started working at the stereo store and when someone brought it in as trade bait, I told him the allowance I could give (based on the Orion Blue Book) and gave him a decent price with trade, asked if he'd sell it to me for the same price. I still have it and it has been sitting for a long time but it's a decent sounding piece. I only made tapes for the car and when a car was stolen with most of my cassette tapes, I gave up on it and I doubt I made more than a few tapes after. I recently found some Sony Ferri-Chrome tapes that have never been unwrapped. I liked those- highs similar to Chrome tapes, but better low end.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
A better way is definitely a computer, then he can get his LPs in any format he wants. Very easy to handle the WAV files. Also there will be no degradation in audio quality.

The other issue is that it is best not to use vintage recorders for recording as they age. I only put mine in record if I have to and I have spare Revox heads tucked away. Wire as it gets old ages. The power in the small record head is amazingly high. Not only is there the signal, and it takes a lot to generate the flux to line up the oxide particle, but there is high frequency bias flood on top to prevent hysteresis distortion. A recording with no, or insufficient bias, sounds awful. In addition the erase head takes the bias signal at even higher power to erase the tape.

Old heads can, and certainly are prone, to burn out. With a three head machine though it will always play back, as the voltage generated by the tape passing the heads is very low.

Old coils certainly do burn out. I just had to remove a 34 year old Dynaudio D21 AF tweeter from one of my rear backs yesterday, that is open circuit. There are no parts available. So I have two Eton tweeters on the way, which are close replacements. I expect to have to make some alteration to the crossovers.
Don't want to bother with ebay or some other source for the tweeters?

I'm trading texts with the Midwest Regional for Dynaudio- I'll let you know what he finds.

I need the 5 digit number from the back of the drivers.
 
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3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
I never bought into cassette as a HiFi medium and that's the reason only I bought one piece, used, in the early-'80s. I could never see spending $1000 on a Nak as a good value. Nagra, maybe. It was a model I was considering when I started working at the stereo store and when someone brought it in as trade bait, I told him the allowance I could give (based on the Orion Blue Book) and gave him a decent price with trade, asked if he'd sell it to me for the same price. I still have it and it has been sitting for a long time but it's a decent sounding piece. I only made tapes for the car and when a car was stolen with most of my cassette tapes, I gave up on it and I doubt I made more than a few tapes after. I recently found some Sony Ferri-Chrome tapes that have never been unwrapped. I liked those- highs similar to Chrome tapes, but better low end.
I paid $40 for mine
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I paid $40 for mine
I paid $65- it's a JVC CD-1770 with ANRS and Super ANRS. I think this was in '82 and it was only about 5 years old. I had seen them at the store before I started working there but they stopped carrying JVC by that time.

My first day working there was Feb 17, 1978 and we had a Pioneer Truckload Sale that weekend- talk about baptism by fire!
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Don't want to bother with ebay or some other source for the tweeters?

I'm trading texts with the Midwest Regional for Dynaudio- I'll let you know what he finds.
Thanks. See what he says. But those older Dynaudio units are no longer supported with parts or being rebuilt. If he does have a line on a Dynaudio D21 AF I would be interested to keep it the original design. I did look on eBay and they had one blown one parts or repair for $20. However I think it is actually worthless.

I have just received an Email, that my new Eton tweeters have shipped out of Madison.

One of the advantages of DIY speakers is that you can rework them for events like this. Although if the midrange W75 or the midrange D54 AF failed that would be a lot of reworking. Altogether I had 16 working Dynaudio drivers from the 80s, now I have 15, but one is now no good as its partner is a bin job.

If a D76 failed downstairs, I could rework those speakers for the ATC or Volt midrange domes.
 
3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
I paid $65- it's a JVC CD-1770 with ANRS and Super ANRS. I think this was in '82 and it was only about 5 years old. I had seen them at the store before I started working there but they stopped carrying JVC by that time.

My first day working there was Feb 17, 1978 and we had a Pioneer Truckload Sale that weekend- talk about baptism by fire!
The KX-800U model was sold between 1988 and 1990 with a MSRP of $569. back then
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Thanks. See what he says. But those older Dynaudio units are no longer supported with parts or being rebuilt. If he does have a line on a Dynaudio D21 AF I would be interested to keep it the original design. I did look on eBay and they had one blown one parts or repair for $20. However I think it is actually worthless.

I have just received an Email, that my new Eton tweeters have shipped out of Madison.

One of the advantages of DIY speakers is that you can rework them for events like this. Although if the midrange W75 or the midrange D54 AF failed that would be a lot of reworking. Altogether I had 16 working Dynaudio drivers from the 80s, now I have 15, but one is now no good as its partner is a bin job.

If a D76 failed downstairs, I could rework those speakers for the ATC or Volt midrange domes.
I don't know if you missed it, but the person I'm asking is the Midwest Regional Manager for Dynaudio.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
The KX-800U model was sold between 1988 and 1990 with a MSRP of $569. back then
We were a big Sony dealer and on occasion, the designer of any cassette deck with TC-K in the model would tour their dealers and do a 'clinic' to clean & demag the heads, test the response, talk to people and provide a printout of the specs. One guy brought in one of these models and it didn't come close to meeting what was on the spec sheets. He asked for a multi-meter and a screwdriver, then proceeded to make a $350 deck do 20-22KHz@-20dB in about two minutes. The guy was amazed and the others who were there were very impressed. He wasn't a plant, either.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
I don't know if you missed it, but the person I'm asking is the Midwest Regional Manager for Dynaudio.
No, I did not miss it, and posted about it above. I will be very interested to hear what he has to say.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
No, I did not miss it, and posted about it above. I will be very interested to hear what he has to say.
He still needs the 5 digit number from the drivers.

Have you done anything with their Vario-Vents?
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
You want to do this as a pair, right?
If he has one of those, I actually only need one, as the other D21 AF is working fine. If he has two, though it would be handy to have a spare.
 
3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
I never bought into cassette as a HiFi medium and that's the reason only I bought one piece, used, in the early-'80s. I could never see spending $1000 on a Nak as a good value. Nagra, maybe. It was a model I was considering when I started working at the stereo store and when someone brought it in as trade bait, I told him the allowance I could give (based on the Orion Blue Book) and gave him a decent price with trade, asked if he'd sell it to me for the same price. I still have it and it has been sitting for a long time but it's a decent sounding piece. I only made tapes for the car and when a car was stolen with most of my cassette tapes, I gave up on it and I doubt I made more than a few tapes after. I recently found some Sony Ferri-Chrome tapes that have never been unwrapped. I liked those- highs similar to Chrome tapes, but better low end.
The tape I used that gave me the best results were FUJI Metals. OMG they were good but as a student at the time, I could only afford 3 of them. Everything I recorded on those 3 tapes sounded sooo good.

 
Last edited:
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
If he has one of those, I actually only need one, as the other D21 AF is working fine. If he has two, though it would be handy to have a spare.
Safe to assume these have ferrofluid? If not, have you checked the voice coil to see if it has any obvious damage?
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
If he has one of those, I actually only need one, as the other D21 AF is working fine. If he has two, though it would be handy to have a spare.
Are yours also known as the D21/2 or D21-2?

He says they have one pair of D21/2. If you have a photo showing the face and profile, I'll compare with what he sends.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Are yours also known as the D21/2 or D21-2?

He says they have one pair of D21/2. If you have a photo showing the face and profile, I'll compare with what he sends.
Mine are the D21 AF. I have neber heard of the D 21/2

They are the top driver in this speaker.

 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
I have found the D21/2 it was the last version of the D 21/AF Its spec seems to be identical.

I would be very interested in purchasing that pair. What is the price?

Thanks for all your help.
 
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