stereo gear

sabotalot · 10th May 2008, 23:00

Stereo gear: what's your favorite? My vintage Ampex tube amplifier-speakers, although nearly 50 years old, still sound mighty good, and are far superior, in my opinion, to the Booze Wave Radio.

Elegant · 11th May 2008, 09:49

Got several vintage transistor amps and DIY tube equipment. Also, a Philips reel-to-reel tape recorder, an FM tuner, 2x15ch. graphic EQ, digital reverb, CD and turntable.

Ozzard · 11th May 2008, 12:06

I've never had enough money to get high-end gear - nor the quiet and carefully laid out room to put it in! One day, when I'm rich and famous... actually, I'd settle for not-poor and obscure.

Incidentally, I was very impressed with the Bose Wave radio for one particular use. I play in and run sound for several bands, and turned up to one gig - church hall, about 70 people - to hear some recorded music being played at quite considerable volume and with good clarity and no discernable distortion given that there was a room full of people as background noise. I'd expected there to be a small PA rig in the room, but no... there was this Bose Wave in the corner, turned up to about 90%, easily handling the level. Cue one Very Surprised Sound Engineer :-).

jmc · 12th May 2008, 03:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozzard

. . . One day, when I'm rich and famous... actually, I'd settle for not-poor and obscure.
. . .

Go for "rich". You can buy fame!

Ozzard · 12th May 2008, 10:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmc

Go for "rich". You can buy fame!

Heh. I don't *want* fame - too many cameras, too many begging letters, too many layers of protective flunkies.

sabotalot · 13th May 2008, 22:59

I still hve my Phillips recorder (marketed here as "Norelco"; was always impressed at how good the sound was at 1 7/8 i.p.s.

sabotalot · 13th May 2008, 23:06

I didn't mean to be all that negative about the Bose. It has a remarkably wide range, It's just that it seems to me to be weak in the area of 1 to 3 kHz, and there is no tone control on the units I've seen, and they sometimes have trouble playing cdr's.

Ozzard · 13th May 2008, 23:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by sabotalot

I didn't mean to be all that negative about the Bose. It has a remarkably wide range, It's just that it seems to me to be weak in the area of 1 to 3 kHz, and there is no tone control on the units I've seen, and they sometimes have trouble playing cdr's.

And I wasn't defending them - merely commenting on how one sounded in a relatively noisy environment :-). In general I'm not worried by the lack of a tone control, as it means the phase is going to stay as per the source (give or take CDs, where sampling error means the detail on the high frequencies is gone anyway). Next time I get a chance to listen to one (hopefully in a quieter environment!) I'll listen for the frequency response. Since my usual sound reproduction system is a 1kW PA rig, some of the subtleties are lost on me!

Trinity · 16th May 2008, 14:17

I have a musical fidelity A308 pre and power amp and cd player, which are great, i love great hi fi

sabotalot · 16th May 2008, 14:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trinity

I have a musical fidelity A308 pre and power amp and cd player, which are great, i love great hi fi

It seems strange to endorse any sort of 40-plus year-old technology, but I stand by my apprecition of these Ampex speakers. They use vacuum-tubes (glad I have a supply).