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How to replace the old-style gear?
How to replace the old-style gear?
My old integrated amp [an Onkyo] and it's faithful sidekick, a Carver
C-1 seem to have bitten the dust. Looking far and wide for
replacements, I see none. I have no use for a Home Theatre which won't
play my old vinyl nor my older shellac, but I do want to be able to
hook up the four open-reel decks, three cassette decks, array of
external processors, two turntables and their preamp, and a couple of
computers.....in other words, a forty-plus-year assemblage of gear to
play and record mostly old historic stuff and internet audio.
I'm sure I'm not the first music lover left behind by the technical
steamroller, so advice would be appreciated.
My old integrated amp [an Onkyo] and it's faithful sidekick, a Carver
C-1 seem to have bitten the dust. Looking far and wide for
replacements, I see none. I have no use for a Home Theatre which won't
play my old vinyl nor my older shellac, but I do want to be able to
hook up the four open-reel decks, three cassette decks, array of
external processors, two turntables and their preamp, and a couple of
computers.....in other words, a forty-plus-year assemblage of gear to
play and record mostly old historic stuff and internet audio.
I'm sure I'm not the first music lover left behind by the technical
steamroller, so advice would be appreciated.
Re: How to replace the old-style gear?
"speedo" <reque@ix . net com . com > wrote in message
news:fmrba4016g6@news1.newsguy . com ...
> My old integrated amp [an Onkyo] and it's faithful sidekick, a Carver
> C-1 seem to have bitten the dust. Looking far and wide for
> replacements, I see none. I have no use for a Home Theatre which won't
> play my old vinyl nor my older shellac, but I do want to be able to
> hook up the four open-reel decks, three cassette decks, array of
> external processors, two turntables and their preamp, and a couple of
> computers.....in other words, a forty-plus-year assemblage of gear to
> play and record mostly old historic stuff and internet audio.
> I'm sure I'm not the first music lover left behind by the technical
> steamroller, so advice would be appreciated.
You aren't going to find it. My suggestion: find a really mint condition
Citation Eleven preamp... . it will have just about everything you need, and
is fine sounding to boot and should set you back about $175. Has two phono
preamps, two tape inputs/monitors, and IIRC four additional high level
inputs. Then team it up with a good modern power amp ... solid state or
tube, your choice.
"speedo" <reque@ix . net com . com > wrote in message
news:fmrba4016g6@news1.newsguy . com ...
> My old integrated amp [an Onkyo] and it's faithful sidekick, a Carver
> C-1 seem to have bitten the dust. Looking far and wide for
> replacements, I see none. I have no use for a Home Theatre which won't
> play my old vinyl nor my older shellac, but I do want to be able to
> hook up the four open-reel decks, three cassette decks, array of
> external processors, two turntables and their preamp, and a couple of
> computers.....in other words, a forty-plus-year assemblage of gear to
> play and record mostly old historic stuff and internet audio.
> I'm sure I'm not the first music lover left behind by the technical
> steamroller, so advice would be appreciated.
You aren't going to find it. My suggestion: find a really mint condition
Citation Eleven preamp... . it will have just about everything you need, and
is fine sounding to boot and should set you back about $175. Has two phono
preamps, two tape inputs/monitors, and IIRC four additional high level
inputs. Then team it up with a good modern power amp ... solid state or
tube, your choice.
Re: How to replace the old-style gear?
On Sat, 19 Jan 2008 08:29:39 -0800, Harry Lavo wrote
(in article <fmt8hj01k6p@news3.newsguy . com >):
> "speedo" <reque@ix . net com . com > wrote in message
> news:fmrba4016g6@news1.newsguy . com ...
>> My old integrated amp [an Onkyo] and it's faithful sidekick, a Carver
>> C-1 seem to have bitten the dust. Looking far and wide for
>> replacements, I see none. I have no use for a Home Theatre which won't
>> play my old vinyl nor my older shellac, but I do want to be able to
>> hook up the four open-reel decks, three cassette decks, array of
>> external processors, two turntables and their preamp, and a couple of
>> computers.....in other words, a forty-plus-year assemblage of gear to
>> play and record mostly old historic stuff and internet audio.
>> I'm sure I'm not the first music lover left behind by the technical
>> steamroller, so advice would be appreciated.
>
> You aren't going to find it. My suggestion: find a really mint condition
> Citation Eleven preamp... . it will have just about everything you need, and
> is fine sounding to boot and should set you back about $175. Has two phono
> preamps, two tape inputs/monitors, and IIRC four additional high level
> inputs. Then team it up with a good modern power amp ... solid state or
> tube, your choice.
>
This is probably not a bad suggestion. However, one should avoid the original
Citation Eleven and get a Mark II. The phono pre-amp on the original had a
tendency to overload easily. Also, this puppy is 30 years old, that means
that coupling capacitors and filter caps in the power supply are possibly
dried-out. If the latter, the unit may hum, if the former, the sound will be
thin and lacking in body. If you decide to replace the coupling caps, use
audio quality capacitors and you won't go wrong. I once rebuilt a Citation 1
preamp using the parts kit from SDS vintage Audio Refurbishing (don't know if
they're still around). And it was a LOT of work. Many weeks of spare time
were taken-up replacing resistors and capacitors with modern stuff (including
a new circuit board with new computer-type power supply caps on it (the
multi-section caps that it came with are no longer available) and replacing
the old tin/ceramic RCA jacks with modern teflon insulated, gold plated
jacks.
The results were simply amazing. I re-tubed with Russian Harmonix tubes
(excellent quality) and the preamp sounded excellent. I bought the amp for
$25 at a flea market, and sold it (after refurbishing it) for $1K. The guy
who bought it built a lovely teak case for it and cherishes it.
Bottom line? There's nothing wrong with older equipment, just understand
that with time, some components will go bad. Capacitors can last a long time
if used regularly, but if the unit sits unused for a number of years, the
caps will tend to dry out and need to be replaced. Modern caps, by
comparison, are probably less likely to do that in the future.
Have fun!
On Sat, 19 Jan 2008 08:29:39 -0800, Harry Lavo wrote
(in article <fmt8hj01k6p@news3.newsguy . com >):
> "speedo" <reque@ix . net com . com > wrote in message
> news:fmrba4016g6@news1.newsguy . com ...
>> My old integrated amp [an Onkyo] and it's faithful sidekick, a Carver
>> C-1 seem to have bitten the dust. Looking far and wide for
>> replacements, I see none. I have no use for a Home Theatre which won't
>> play my old vinyl nor my older shellac, but I do want to be able to
>> hook up the four open-reel decks, three cassette decks, array of
>> external processors, two turntables and their preamp, and a couple of
>> computers.....in other words, a forty-plus-year assemblage of gear to
>> play and record mostly old historic stuff and internet audio.
>> I'm sure I'm not the first music lover left behind by the technical
>> steamroller, so advice would be appreciated.
>
> You aren't going to find it. My suggestion: find a really mint condition
> Citation Eleven preamp... . it will have just about everything you need, and
> is fine sounding to boot and should set you back about $175. Has two phono
> preamps, two tape inputs/monitors, and IIRC four additional high level
> inputs. Then team it up with a good modern power amp ... solid state or
> tube, your choice.
>
This is probably not a bad suggestion. However, one should avoid the original
Citation Eleven and get a Mark II. The phono pre-amp on the original had a
tendency to overload easily. Also, this puppy is 30 years old, that means
that coupling capacitors and filter caps in the power supply are possibly
dried-out. If the latter, the unit may hum, if the former, the sound will be
thin and lacking in body. If you decide to replace the coupling caps, use
audio quality capacitors and you won't go wrong. I once rebuilt a Citation 1
preamp using the parts kit from SDS vintage Audio Refurbishing (don't know if
they're still around). And it was a LOT of work. Many weeks of spare time
were taken-up replacing resistors and capacitors with modern stuff (including
a new circuit board with new computer-type power supply caps on it (the
multi-section caps that it came with are no longer available) and replacing
the old tin/ceramic RCA jacks with modern teflon insulated, gold plated
jacks.
The results were simply amazing. I re-tubed with Russian Harmonix tubes
(excellent quality) and the preamp sounded excellent. I bought the amp for
$25 at a flea market, and sold it (after refurbishing it) for $1K. The guy
who bought it built a lovely teak case for it and cherishes it.
Bottom line? There's nothing wrong with older equipment, just understand
that with time, some components will go bad. Capacitors can last a long time
if used regularly, but if the unit sits unused for a number of years, the
caps will tend to dry out and need to be replaced. Modern caps, by
comparison, are probably less likely to do that in the future.
Have fun!
Re: How to replace the old-style gear?
On Jan 18, 6:04 pm, speedo <re...@ix . net com . com > wrote:
> My old integrated amp [an Onkyo] and it's faithful sidekick, a Carver
> C-1 seem to have bitten the dust. Looking far and wide for
> replacements, I see none. I have no use for a Home Theatre which won't
> play my old vinyl nor my older shellac, but I do want to be able to
> hook up the four open-reel decks, three cassette decks, array of
> external processors, two turntables and their preamp, and a couple of
> computers.....in other words, a forty-plus-year assemblage of gear to
> play and record mostly old historic stuff and internet audio.
> I'm sure I'm not the first music lover left behind by the technical
> steamroller, so advice would be appreciated.
A Dynaco PAT5biFet will almost make all of that, run pretty cheap, and
also has an EPL connection for your processors. Cheap, too.
Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA
On Jan 18, 6:04 pm, speedo <re...@ix . net com . com > wrote:
> My old integrated amp [an Onkyo] and it's faithful sidekick, a Carver
> C-1 seem to have bitten the dust. Looking far and wide for
> replacements, I see none. I have no use for a Home Theatre which won't
> play my old vinyl nor my older shellac, but I do want to be able to
> hook up the four open-reel decks, three cassette decks, array of
> external processors, two turntables and their preamp, and a couple of
> computers.....in other words, a forty-plus-year assemblage of gear to
> play and record mostly old historic stuff and internet audio.
> I'm sure I'm not the first music lover left behind by the technical
> steamroller, so advice would be appreciated.
A Dynaco PAT5biFet will almost make all of that, run pretty cheap, and
also has an EPL connection for your processors. Cheap, too.
Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA
Re: How to replace the old-style gear?
speedo wrote:
> My old integrated amp [an Onkyo] and it's faithful sidekick, a Carver
> C-1 seem to have bitten the dust. Looking far and wide for
> replacements, I see none. I have no use for a Home Theatre which won't
> play my old vinyl nor my older shellac, but I do want to be able to
> hook up the four open-reel decks, three cassette decks, array of
> external processors, two turntables and their preamp, and a couple of
> computers.....in other words, a forty-plus-year assemblage of gear to
> play and record mostly old historic stuff and internet audio.
> I'm sure I'm not the first music lover left behind by the technical
> steamroller, so advice would be appreciated.
Sounds to me like you just need a stereo receiver with lots of inputs.
They still make them, but they're not the dominant product in the market
anymore.
So, something like the Denon DRA-397 : six line level inputs, plus an
integral phono preamp, two distinct output busses. Yeah, it has some
features you're not interested in (e.g. it'll route video along with the
audio source) but you can just ignore that if you want to.
Need more inputs? Do what I did and buy another receiver and chain the
two together. Or buy a passive swicthbox. Or hook up a patchbay.
//Walt
speedo wrote:
> My old integrated amp [an Onkyo] and it's faithful sidekick, a Carver
> C-1 seem to have bitten the dust. Looking far and wide for
> replacements, I see none. I have no use for a Home Theatre which won't
> play my old vinyl nor my older shellac, but I do want to be able to
> hook up the four open-reel decks, three cassette decks, array of
> external processors, two turntables and their preamp, and a couple of
> computers.....in other words, a forty-plus-year assemblage of gear to
> play and record mostly old historic stuff and internet audio.
> I'm sure I'm not the first music lover left behind by the technical
> steamroller, so advice would be appreciated.
Sounds to me like you just need a stereo receiver with lots of inputs.
They still make them, but they're not the dominant product in the market
anymore.
So, something like the Denon DRA-397 : six line level inputs, plus an
integral phono preamp, two distinct output busses. Yeah, it has some
features you're not interested in (e.g. it'll route video along with the
audio source) but you can just ignore that if you want to.
Need more inputs? Do what I did and buy another receiver and chain the
two together. Or buy a passive swicthbox. Or hook up a patchbay.
//Walt
Re: How to replace the old-style gear?
The Outlaw Audio RR2150 is an integrated amp (with FM section) that has
a Phono input (MM/MC), 2 line level inputs plus tape in/out, plus an
external processsing loop.
Stereophile liked it:
* w w w .stereophile . com /integratedamps/306outlaw/
Here's their official site:
* w w w .outlawaudio . com /products/rr2150 about.html
You could add an external switch box (I use a $25 Philips unit designed
to switch TV signals). The old Nakamichi 610 preamp was a miniature
control center. I think it had 3 tape loops and 2 phono inputs.
Jim L'Hommedieu
speedo wrote:
> My old integrated amp [an Onkyo] and it's faithful sidekick, a Carver
> C-1 seem to have bitten the dust. Looking far and wide for
> replacements, I see none. I have no use for a Home Theatre which won't
> play my old vinyl nor my older shellac, but I do want to be able to
> hook up the four open-reel decks, three cassette decks, array of
> external processors, two turntables and their preamp, and a couple of
> computers.....in other words, a forty-plus-year assemblage of gear to
> play and record mostly old historic stuff and internet audio.
The Outlaw Audio RR2150 is an integrated amp (with FM section) that has
a Phono input (MM/MC), 2 line level inputs plus tape in/out, plus an
external processsing loop.
Stereophile liked it:
* w w w .stereophile . com /integratedamps/306outlaw/
Here's their official site:
* w w w .outlawaudio . com /products/rr2150 about.html
You could add an external switch box (I use a $25 Philips unit designed
to switch TV signals). The old Nakamichi 610 preamp was a miniature
control center. I think it had 3 tape loops and 2 phono inputs.
Jim L'Hommedieu
speedo wrote:
> My old integrated amp [an Onkyo] and it's faithful sidekick, a Carver
> C-1 seem to have bitten the dust. Looking far and wide for
> replacements, I see none. I have no use for a Home Theatre which won't
> play my old vinyl nor my older shellac, but I do want to be able to
> hook up the four open-reel decks, three cassette decks, array of
> external processors, two turntables and their preamp, and a couple of
> computers.....in other words, a forty-plus-year assemblage of gear to
> play and record mostly old historic stuff and internet audio.
