Audioless Winnipeg Group!

As the year is coming to an end, we here at Audioless Winnipeg thanks all the individuals who have supported us, which includes family, friend and all the people we've met!  That means buyers too!  We've been happy to provide the City of Winnipeg with audio equipment and we hope all the young vinyl enthusiast enjoy their stereos and music. As an update of what's to come in the New Year, that is hard to say.  It's been a great year and we've sold plenty of stuff and I for one am enjoying the room, to a degree.  But, I don't know what will be available for the New Year as our stocks are thin, other than projects.  As I look at my project room, all I see are speakers projects waiting for the dreaded repairs.  For turntables I only have one.  Power sources, I have none left.  Of course, we'll never really be out due to our own personal stereo set but, those might be harder to part ways with. So, if you've been hesitating, and if you're waiting, ...

I always enjoy working on Sony turntables because of they always seemed to be not only well made, of course that depends on the table, but the amount of extra stuff Sony puts on their tables.  For a lot of Sony they tend to go beyond most and add extra features or Sony designed products for their turntables and the PS-2700 is no exception! It does have that wood-grain look, granted it's vinyl wrapped.  It also has a rounded front on the dust cover which you don't always see very often.  And, like most Sonys they are well made.  This has a bit of heft on it, and is heavier than the Dual 616Q.  It has a nice sized motor and plenty features like disc size selector and repeat. This is a fully automatic, 2-speed, belt drive turntable.  It also features Sony's moon platter mat and heavy duty turntable feet to absorb vibration.  It's really a nicely engineered turntable.  And, the tonearm is pretty good on it too.  It comes with an Ortofon VMS3E...

Finally doing a write up for a couple of turntables.  So, let's start with the Dual CS-616Q.  Made around the mid 80s when wood-grain design were no longer in fashion and the new sleek grey and black were in.  This Dual is in really nice shape, and I mean real nice shape.  While it's not from the 70s, it doesn't mean it's not quality.  In comparison to other companies of the time that still made entry level turntables, this Dual is really well made.  It has decent heft and it is German made so a lot of precision was still put into it. It is a direct drive, a true semi-automatic and quartz lock turntable.  Why do I mean true semi-automatic?  Well, before some of their earlier turntables had an auto-lift off at the end but the tonearm never returned to the rest post.  So, having it returning is a nice feature to have!  It also features Dual's ULM (ultra low mass) tonearm and their EDS motor.  These tonearms are especially nice f...

These are custom made speakers, which uses Coral drives and all wrapped in a mahogany enclosure.  When I got them the owner said it was made by an audio company when he was living in British Columbia.  He told me he went in and asked for their best sounding pair of speakers and these were it, from what he could remember he said the company was called Sound Labs however he was unsure as it was so many moons ago and I have doubts if it has any relation to the current Sound Labs. Nonetheless, these are very nice sounding pair of speakers and well built.  They use Japanese drivers from Coral.  These are a 3-way speaker in an acoustic sealed box.  Featuring a 1" dome tweeter, 2.5" done mid and 12" woofer.  The tweeters and mids are protected by a metal dome grill and the woofer has a treated paper accordion surround, all wrapped in a nice, well built and heavy mahogany box to give it that dark wood look.  Corners are rounded too! There are two attenuato...

I totally forgot to do a write up about this turntable!  It's a beauty and a beast at the same time.  This here my friends is a quality turntable.  Direct drive and purely manual! This was one of the more expensive Kenwood turntables available.  It featured Kenwood's faux marble to not only add weight but to control vibrations.  It's a pretty weighty table.  And, in my opinion, it's not too shabby to look at either.  The marble gives it that upscale look. It was also called the KD-500 if you didn't want the tone arm.  Why?  It's because people back in the day wanted to hot-rod or modify their turntables.  Generally speaking, in most cases many just swapped out the tone arms for a different one like a SME.  This one, however, is the KD-550 using the Kenwood stock tone arm, which is pretty good too!  It does have VTA for those chunkier cartridges and is a well made arm too! It's also dead simple to work on and reliable....

Finally!  A 100% badged C.E.C. turntable!  What does C.E.C. mean?  It means Chou Denki Company, Denki is the Japanese word for "Electric."  Just a play on words and translations.  Not to mention they still exist today and still make audio equipment!  http://www.cec-web.co.jp/ C.E.C. was also an OEM company for many several different Japanese companies, like Hitachi, Marantz, Radio Shack, Taya, Sanyo, and many others.  The tonearm has a striking resemblance to the tonearm on the Marantz 6300 that many go gaga after! That's right this is a fabulous table and super nice looking too!  I really enjoy the plateau look in the dark wood finish, I'm guessing maybe mahogany as it was dirt cheap back in the 70s.  This table was made between the early 70s to mid 70s as it's a pure manual belt drive turntable. This is simplicity at it's best!  Good size motor (pretty beefy), beautiful looking plinth, pure manual and an excellent tonearm.  ...

A.K.A the Realistic LAB-300.  See the 1977 Radio Shack Catalog for more information at: http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com, gotta love that website!  Not to mention was apparently the second most expensive turntable from that catalog! Why the designation of R-8000?  My guess would be it's probably the Canadian version of it.  There have been numerous accounts where Radio Shack has re-badged a turntable for the Canadian market.  But, other than that I don't know why it's called the R-8000. Regardless of it's name, it is a C.E.C. made turntable and made in Japan!  It's your typical 2-speed, semi-automatic, belt drive, suspended plinth turntable and performs flawlessly. It's been completely serviced with a new belt and a brand new Audio-Technica AT-3600 cartridge.  New lubrication and the cue arm has been re-dampened so it drops nice and slowly.  Also features a Realistic headshell! Overall, it sounds quite nice and plays perfectly.  Plus...

It seems we have hit our 1GB limit on photos via google picasa!  High resolution photos take up too much space!  Need to start downsizing some of our photos.  Or maybe start using a 3rd party image host.

Here is a great turntable.  Now I know Toshiba doesn't raise much attention, but sometimes it has it's advantages.  While some may snub their nose at the name, there is a lot of beauty on this turntable.  First, it weights ~26lbs, and that's pretty heavy.  Second, it has a beefy direct drive motor.  Third, it has heavy platter.  Fourth, the plinth is uses a metal/steel top for added vibration control.  And finally, if you can't seem to find any information about this turntable, instead of using Toshiba SR-355, look under Aurex SR-355. What's Aurex?  That was Toshiba's namesake for their higher end gear, like how Acura is for Honda.  This was named Aurex SR-355 in Japan as they thought it would compete with some of the bigger name.  And, in a way I can see why. It is truly a well built turntable.  It's a direct drive, 2-speed and fully manual turntable.  Comes with a new Pickering V15 cartridge as it seems to be a better mat...

Now this is a rare gem!  Before you snub your nose at the Realistic name, the question you have to ask yourself is who made it for Radio Shack?  Well, the answer is simple, very simple.  This is a Mosfet amplifier and there was only one company to use mosfet technology back in the late 70s and early 80s, that was Hitachi!  This is a Hitachi made receiver for Radio Shack, and is one sweet sounding amplifier! Many may recognize it as the receiver sitting on top of my component stand.  It sat there for more than a half of year and I don't think I've really used it except on a couple occasions.  And, if I haven't used it in the past 6 months, it's time to part ways with it.   So what's so special about mosfet?  It has a strong resemblance to the good old tube sound without the added harmonics and distortions.  Which means, its softer in presentation in comparison to their bi-polar transistors with a lovely mid range frequency.  Bas...

Here is a turntable that I miss, the Mitsubishi DP-EC8.  It's one of those odd turntable that you don't see very often, and this one is the second one to ever come into my hands.  I really like these turntables, as they're well built, they sound great and the foot print is smaller than most turntables.  It's a tad more slimline than most, which is a plus for some. Last blog posting for this turntable, I did not provide a description.  This time I will! This is a fully automatic, direct drive, quartz lock, 2-speed turntable with repeat feature.  It features a straight tone arm with a carbon fiber headshell.  Everything on the tone arm design from the aluminum base, the arm design itself and headshell was designed to minimize resonance. It also features an automatic disc selector via that crystal at the rear left hand corner of the plinth.  So, really, all you need to do is press some buttons.  It's a very trouble free turntable as you don't r...

One of most elegant looking turntable I've ever owned.  Wide stance, heavy and flat platter, beautiful chrome/metal accents in a beautiful looking rosewood vinyl wrapped plinth with a clear dust cover! One of my favorite looking turntables so far, and it's beautifully built as well!  Freshly serviced and ready to go!  The original took care of it, and so have I! 2-speed, direct drive, quartz lock, semi-automatic turntable.  Feature's Hitachi's uni-torque motor, oil-dampened cue arm and a quality tone arm!  As well, a two-way counter-weight system, the main weight and sub-weight for those who want more cartridge flexibility.  Also features the original aluminum headshell with an Empire 5000 III cartridge and a brand new Jico stylus from Japan! The Empire 5000 III is a very, very, very nice cartridge and sounds exceptional!  The Empire 5000 may have been one of Empire's higher end cartridge for this particular series and with the new stylus it soun...

Here is a rare treat!  A nice pair of IMF Super Compact, 1st generation or the original.  British made and British designed!  It has one of the nicest 8" woofers in it's class and an excellent tweeter! http://www.imf-electronics.com/Home/imf/speaker-range/compacts/super-compact While they are not a true transmission line design, they are still well engineered and one of the better sounding "small" speaker out there that has an 8" woofer, hence the name Super Compact!  But, it's a bit wide.  They make great speakers for someone who wants a nice sounding pair of speakers in a small den or bedroom. It has a KEF woofer, Audax or Polydax tweeter and either a Peerless or ELAC mid driver.  All wrapped in the classic real walnut veneer.  It has that typical British cabinet design, think Celestion, Celef, etc...If there was not an IMF badge up front, it'd be hard to tell who made this speaker. Overall, it has a nice presentation in sound, ...