Teac Reference Series

biggzy

biggzy

Enthusiast
Hi all, me again, heres a pic of my modded Teac A-H300 amp, i have added a set of pre-outs to add a Teac AL700P Power amp (used as 2 channel only),
sorry pic is poor quality, will add some better ones once i can grab the partners cam phone, also added a figure 8 mains input socket so i can make some good quality mains cables, main reason was for convenience as i dislike hardwired separates, heres the pic of the pre-out rewire..




Adam.
 

PWH42

Audiophyte
Teac Refrence Series

Hi All,

Stumbled across this form today searching Google for Teac Ref Series equipment. I am the owner of the 500 Series Amp, Tuner and Read/Write CD player. I have always admired the quality and small footprint of this equipment. I purchased this equipment new from a high end audio store in my area approximately 13 years ago and it has always performed without issue. I pair my Teac to a pair of Orb Audio satellites with the 8 inch sub and its produces a clean, crisp, powerful combination that always garners conversation when entertaining here in my home. People are amazed at the quality of the equipment and comment that they have never seen anything in that small of a footprint.

When I get more than 5 posts, I will place pictures of my setup.
 
biggzy

biggzy

Enthusiast
Heres some images of the mods iv done so far.

First is a pic of the pre outs i fitted...



Soz its a bit blurry, seems to have focused on the other sockets instead.

And here you can see the satin black paint job the casing of the Amp and CD player have had...













Adam.
 
biggzy

biggzy

Enthusiast
And another pic i took few days ago of the power inlets i fitted...



Adam.
 
Seth=L

Seth=L

Audioholic Overlord
That's a nice micro setup man.

Looks like you may have lost it on the cables and inlet covers though, probably cost you more than the components themselves...
 
biggzy

biggzy

Enthusiast
That's a nice micro setup man.

Looks like you may have lost it on the cables and inlet covers though, probably cost you more than the components themselves...
Thanks Seth, the cables, caps etc came to a total of around £60, so not too bad, they just look expensive, the speaker cable is QED XT with dressed up ends, also the power cables have now had the same treatment, i thought this little Teac deserved some pampering so got good cables for it etc, im currently working on a power amp to match, building it myself out of a Teac T-H300 tuner.

Heres a photoshop of the idea...



and heres what its like so far...



Still got to tint the plexigass, spray the studs champagne and get the brass strip done with engraving, a Tripath amp will be dropped into the case once done.

Adam.
 
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Seth=L

Seth=L

Audioholic Overlord
That's like something I wanted to do, but couldn't due to a lack of skill.
 
biggzy

biggzy

Enthusiast
That's like something I wanted to do, but couldn't due to a lack of skill.
I have never done anything like this myself till now, i have just got back into hi-fi after a 10 year rest and my first ever mod was the pre-outs, i had help from a kind bloke called Mark from another forum, i think if you put your mind to it (and get a little help) anything is possible.

Once i get round to replacing my Reference 300 with a Ref 500 i will do the same to that also, its all good fun.

Adam.
 
Seth=L

Seth=L

Audioholic Overlord
It would be really fun to convert an A-H500 into a power amplifier and put it inside a slick chassis to match the rest of the series.
 
biggzy

biggzy

Enthusiast
It would be really fun to convert an A-H500 into a power amplifier and put it inside a slick chassis to match the rest of the series.
Yes it would ;) or maybe get 2 and mod them into mono blocks to match :D

I think its possible as from the pics i have seen the A-H500 is a dual mono design.

A quick question please Seth, how much better does the 500 (or 500i) sound over the A-H300?

Thanks very much,
Adam.
 
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L

listen-er

Audiophyte
Hi, is anyone interested in a TEAC A-H500i integrated amp in pristine condition? See Ebay Australia item #260791314236
 
Seth=L

Seth=L

Audioholic Overlord
Yes it would ;) or maybe get 2 and mod them into mono blocks to match :D

I think its possible as from the pics i have seen the A-H500 is a dual mono design.

A quick question please Seth, how much better does the 500 (or 500i) sound over the A-H300?

Thanks very much,
Adam.
It's not so much that is sounds better, it's just a more powerful and load tolerant amplifier. Plus, the gutz look cooler.:D
 
M

Marlow

Enthusiast
I LOVE my TEAC reference stuff. The trouble is trying to complete a system that meets my needs. One of these days I will find the missing piece.

 
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Whitey80

Whitey80

Senior Audioholic
Man, I would love a pair like that, CD and Pre to run to my big mono amps. Keep everything nice and clean, WAF matters.
 
M

Marlow

Enthusiast
Man, I would love a pair like that, CD and Pre to run to my big mono amps. Keep everything nice and clean, WAF matters.
If you are talking about the pair I have, I may be able to work something out for you. I've PM'd Seth. I've been looking for a long time for a black RW-H300 so I could convert some LP's to CD. No luck whatsoever. All the RW-H300's seem to be champagne. I finally broke down and purchased a champagne one, but it looks bad with the black components. I've now taken on the challenge of either finding a champagne AG-H300 and A-H300 to go with the RW I have, or scoring a black RW (fat chance). If I find the champagne ones, I will PM you about the black ones.
 
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Whitey80

Whitey80

Senior Audioholic
If you are talking about the pair I have, I may be able to work something out for you. I've PM'd Seth. I've been looking for a long time for a black RW-H300 so I could convert some LP's to CD. No luck whatsoever. All the RW-H300's seem to be champagne. I finally broke down and purchased a champagne one, but it looks bad with the black components. I've now taken on the challenge of either finding a champagne AG-H300 and A-H300 to go with the RW I have, or scoring a black RW (fat chance). If I find the champagne ones, I will PM you about the black ones.
Would be quite fine with me, considering my Denon POA4400 class A amps are black.
 
Seth=L

Seth=L

Audioholic Overlord
Would be quite fine with me, considering my Denon POA4400 class A amps are black.
Consider this, the AG-H300 does not have preouts and the headphone output S/N is to high to use with your amps.
 
zildjian

zildjian

Audioholic Chief
I lifted the following from the CES blog at:
Teac America | AudioStream




Teac America announced their Reference 01 Series at CES 2012 which includes the UD-H01 Universal DAC ($549.99), A-H01 Stereo amplifier and the DS-H01 Docking station for your iOS devices. Each of the products in the Reference 01 line have their own DAC (even the amp) so you don't need to have them all even though you know you might want to.

The UD-H01 DAC sports 32-bit/192kHz Dual D/A Converters (BurrBrown 1795) and accepts inputs up to 32-bit/92kHz through any of its three inputs (Asynchronous USB, S/PDIF Coax/Toslink). The A-H01 amp also has its own 32-bit/192kHz capable DAC and five inputs (Asynchronous USB, S/PDIF (Coax and Toslink), and 2 line level). The DS-H01 docking station's DAC maxes out at 24-bit/192kHz but its worth noting it takes the digital data from your iOS device bypassing Apple's rotten Core (audio).

I hope to be hearing more from the Reference 01 Series in-house and will post the rest of the pricing information as soon as I get it but I can say that each of these devices is well under $1,000.
 
Paradaz

Paradaz

Audiophyte
Its great to see the activity regarding the older TEAC units given their age these days.

I owned some Reference 300 units as an 18 year old.......far too young to appreciate how good they are/were and look after them properly and have now just ordered some Reference 500 units off eBay:

DV-H500
AV-H500D
T-H500

A few questions if anyone has the time and patience to answer them......

What does the 'D's represent on the Amp? Dolby?

I am knowingly buying the DVD unit with intermittent playback with intent to fix it......is this a common problem and can anyone offer some advice on troubleshooting. My guess and hope without seeing it first is that it could simply be a dirty lens....if its intermittent then its showing signs of working but probably a bit naive? What would you recommend for a clean and/or what else is worth checking?

Speaker impedence......I've never understood it even after reading some detailed articles. I've also seen various specs of for the AV-H500D amp but still am not sure what it supports and whether 4 Ω speakers will get damaged or play havoc with the amp. I've some spec sheets stating 4- 16Ω speakers are OK but getting more confused every day.

I have some old existing speakers which I am planning to test the system with....these are bi-wired JVC MX-70BK speakers with the labyrinth Aero woofer rated at 6 Ω......and also some other satellite speakers to test the surround at 8 Ω. Not sure about a dedicated woofer but I have a non descript PC sub rated at 4 Ω. Is mixing going to be a problem and what will potentially be damaged first?

Remote connect ports. I don't remember these when I had the 300 amp but noticed there is an A and B port (on the amp at least). I presume I simply connect a phonograph cable from A and B into the DVD and tuner remote ports? Is it as straight forward as that or are they daisy chained and what happens when I go for additional 500 units to add to the system?

Fortunately I live in the uk and the units are going for peanuts on ebay, but the units I'm buying don't come with remotes and think they may be difficult to track down........I believe the dedicated remote I need is the RC-767 but are there any others which will cover the units I am buying? Will 300 remotes have limited functionality on the 500 series?

Apologies for all the questions especially on my first post but I am struggling to find answers and I'm like a kid in a sweetshop as I excitedly await the hardware to arrive. Any help,info or advice is appreciated. Daz
 
D

DS-21

Full Audioholic
I'm thinking about moving my turntable (Bang & Olufsen RX2) to my office. I can't remember the last time I listened to vinyl at home, and I think a TT and some choice records in my office might be a nice icebreaker for some clients.

However, that would require new electronics. The only suitable things I have on hand are a Pioneer Elite VSX-C50 AVR from their old EX-500 set, and a Meridian 551 integrated. The Pio looks too cheap for my office (silver plastic), is too wide (full rack-width), and requires a separate phono pre anyway. The 551...well, there's a partner who's into audio gear, and I don't want to upstage him with such a "high end" brand on display my office.

I would use it for two sources: the TT and my Mac. The Mac can output digital or analog, and for background listening whilst working I'm indifferent as to which output is used. So I need at least two inputs.

Preouts are also necessary. While my subs (two Gallo MPS-150's, unstacked and hidden under each side of my desk) do have line-level inputs, I'm not going to run speaker wires down and back up. However, a crossover isn't that necessary. Plugging the ports and running the mains full-range seems to work just fine for this use.

A tuner would be nice, as sometimes I listen to NPR. But right now I stream it from my Mac, and have no problem doing that going forward. It works just fine.

For reference, the other gear will be the aforementioned B&O RX2:





And a pair of Tannoy Arena sats in dark grey:


It's a pity there aren't more choices in the compact executive audio system market in the US. Did Teac make anything in their higher-build-quality line that might fit my functional needs (phono preamp, at least one other input, preout) and not look out of place with the aesthetics of my other visible audio gear? Don't care about amplification class, etc. I mostly just care about having something that looks good with what I have that has the I/O I need.
 

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