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Showing posts from January, 2013

Fun Post - Random Turntables

Random pictures of turntables, teaser post.

Toshiba SR-F430 Turntable

This is a beast of a turntable, well engineered and again a mechanical beast.  When I got it, nothing was working right, arm dropped to quickly and none of the automation worked!  Sometimes fully automatic turntables can be a pain to work on, especially later on when the automation gets taken over by electrical components i.e. more I.C. than mechanical.  Luckly, this was mechanical. Once opened, I was immediately stunned by the mechanics.  It was extremely well made, good sized motor, really beefy, very nice tonearm and a nice sized transformer.  The manufacturer put some effort into this turntable.  However, it reminded me of idler wheels, and I dislike working on idler wheels as they are mechanical nightmares.  Gladly, this wasn't as bad. After a couple hours of servicing the beast was alive and running! The cartridge is a rebadged Audio Technica AT-11E and at one point was one of my favorite cartridges as you could buy a high quality stylus, an ATN-12S, for a reasonable am

Creative Audio Speakers (Custom)

Here is an interesting piece of Winnipeg audio history.  These were made right here in Winnipeg for Creative Audio.  The same exact store on Osborne Street.  Creative Audio used to make their own speakers for sales, and let me tell you they did a fine job in doing so.  These are beautifully made with bull nosed or rounded edges which are solid oak, and veneer with real oak.  Not to mentioned well braced and uses quality components. It uses high quality wires with Solen capacitors and most likely Solen crossover PCB, too much stuffing to dig through.  Good sized inductors and also these speakers are bi-wireable or better yet bi-ampable. As well, floor spikes capable. They are 2-way tower speakers.  Featuring a SEAS tweeter and Vifa 8" woofer with rubber surrounds.  The rubber surrounds have been cleaned and reconditioned.  It also comes with grills. They are in excellent condition! Drivers compliments are: SEAS 25-TAC/D H-535: Closed back, aluminum dome tweeter Vifa P21WO

ADS L690 Tower Speakers

Yep, tower speakers or rather they have their own "built in" speaker stands.  They are essentially the tower speakers of the ever popular ADS L570 bookshelf speakers.  They are a two way featuring an 8" woofer with rubber surrounds and 0.75" soft dome (sticky) tweeter.  All wrapped in real oak veneer cabinet.  They also had a metal grill which looks awful in the picture but a lot better in person.  Maybe it's time to get a better lens to take better pictures of "black grills!" I don't know the ADS and Braun connection but these are all Braun drivers.  Braun is a German company which still exist, for those who have Braun electric shavers.  However, these were built in the USA.  These are great drivers.  If you're not familiar with German made speakers or how they sound they're quite distinctive.  I've had heard several German speakers like Canton, Braun, Magnat, Isophon, RFT, etc. and they all have similar characteristics in their pr

Custom Speaker Revisted!

Better pictures and more information! http://audiolesswpg.blogspot.ca/2012/12/custom-speakers.html So, I've finally taken the time to take them apart to get more information about what drivers are in these beautiful cabinets. Tweeter: HD-60, http://audio-heritage.jp/CORAL/unit/hd-60.html Midrange: MD-60, http://audio-heritage.jp/CORAL/unit/md-60.html Woofer: no markings other than SJA Industries Inc.  But, it weights between 3-4lbs with a nice heafty ceramic magnet, 2" voice coil and made in the USA.  Still in existence today! Also have two attenuators for the midrange and treble.  It's a well braced cabinets with real mahogany veneer and solid mahogany trims.  It's still in great shape, with a few nicks and scratches but, on one midrange driver the metal grill has a ding.  Doesn't affect the sound but it is cosmetics.  Here are some nicer pictures.  I've also taken some pictures of the drivers.