Audioless Winnipeg Group!

Just finished prepping the last of my turntables in preparation for Christmas.  We have lots of turntables for sale and other stereo equipment.  They make excellent and functional gifts when it's too cold to go out snowboarding! Finally moving on to some of my speaker projects!  Time to crack out the soldering iron. More shameless advertisement, follow us on Twitter! #Audiolesswpg

Sold a few and I feel awful that I was not able to do a write up on them, Sansui SR-525, Keio PSS-40, Realistic LAB-390 are gone.  The most interesting one of the bunch was the Realistic LAB-390.  It is definitely a Panasonic/Technics re-badged table for Radio Shack, tone arm design, motor/platter design and inner mechanics/electronics is definitely Technics. Technics did make turntables for JC Penny under the MCS name, just like how Baycrest and Sears were most likely CEC re-branded tables. That being said, we have more turntables to come! -EDS 25F, Technics SL-1700mk1, Akai AP-100C and Sanyo TP-1010.  Technics and Sanyo dust covers are back from the polisher and are ready to go! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter: #Audiolesswpg Just need to take pictures or get someone else to do them...

Finally, we're making head ways in servicing some of our project turntables, which includes a really neat looking Kenwood KP-2022a turntable and several others.  I got some belts and styli on their way and made a deal getting some NOS Pfanstiehl  styli and some cartridges and cartridge bodies.  Just need some headshells and I should be pushing through the rest throughout the week. One member has graciously taken the task to do a light polish on the dust covers. Some took a while to service as there was a few that needed some serious work. We are still deciding as to what to do with some of our nicer idler wheel tables. So far we have: Keio PSS-40 Realistic LAB-390 Sansui SR-525 Kenwood KP-2022a Pioneer PL-4 JVC L-A11

I am a tad late to write about this gem here but, better late than never!  We got this through a trade and it was something I couldn't pass up.  It's been a while since I had a nice heavy JVC direct drive turntable and I was itching to take a peak inside another. Not a whole lot of information on the turntable other than the usual sources and typical information, specification wise.  I was more curious on performance and understanding this whole oil damped system this JVC is equipped with. It is your standard Japanese table, it's am extremely nice direct drive motor and it is quartz locked.  It is fully automatic, 2- speed with repeat feature.  It also has all the higher end features that are usually found on more expensive direct drive tables like the adjustable VTA and of course the lovely oil damped tone arm for both vertical and horizontal movement. How does it sound?  Quite superb.  I've had a lot of higher end direct drive tables, from Pion...

Soon another year will be gone.  The weather is getting cooler so it's time to dig deep in to our rooms to finally finish up some of our projects.  I know this winter I have lots of personal projects to finish. Some of the gear I haven't seen for years!  So new belts, foams, stylus and miscellaneous parts will be on order! Happy Thanksgiving day! La Fête de l'Action de Grâces! Manger beaucoup de dinde et la tarte!

This is one of my greatest prize possessions, well for turntables.  The Micro Seiki MR-622 is a fabulous turntable, and definitely has been one of my favourite tables that I had the pleasure of owning. Everything about this turntable screams quality.  Even the 45rpm adapter seemed to be milled aluminum.  It has adjustable feet, a side pocket for accessories , a nice heavy die cast platter and even the top part of the plinth is cast.  All wrapped in a beautiful smoked dustcover and real wood sides. The Micro Seiki MR-622 is a fully manual, 2-speed, direct drive turntable.  This means, it's low maintenance and high reliability as there is less moving parts within the turntable.  It's just a huge motor, speed controls and Micro Seiki MA-202 tone arm, placed in a overly built plinth just like what one would expect from Micro Seiki. The MA-202 tone arm is a S-shaped tone arm with excellent tracking ability.  It has an adjustable counterweight and the...

One of the most elegant looking receivers from the 1970s, well at least from the ones I've come across.  It reminds you from a simpler time, which I know nothing about because...well, you can use your imagination on that. The Sony STR-7055 is just a step down from the TOTL STR-7065, that is has less power outputs, and a few less features like no speaker "C' for a third pair of speakers.  But, everything else is pretty much the same. I quite enjoy this unit.  It has a nice sound signature, albeit, I was a bit shocked as I had generalized thought about the sound signature of 70s.  But,surprisingly, it was very nice.  A bit on the warm side but, very clean and transparent.  Not the most dynamic sound signature but, very smooth.  Sony did make some real nice stuff and well engineered gear. Modestly rated at 35wpc into 8ohms, it can fill a room nicely with music.  Actually, one of my favorite feature of the receiver is the Auxiliary input on the ...

We've haven't had that many Technics receivers or amplifiers before and while this wasn't their biggest receiver during the receiver wars of the 70s, this is a huge beast of a receiver, especially in dimensions i.e. the width, it doesn't even sit properly/flushed on my stereo stand!  Something that I didn't for see when the unit was dropped off to me for it's photo session. I do admit, it has that Technic's sound signature that many love, it's not overly bright and forward and it's not mushy or "warm" as other people may call it.  Actually, it almost reminds me of the big Rotel amplifiers.  It's farily neutral in sound presentation which makes it flexible in speaker choices.  I actually found it matches well with brigher sounding speakers like Sound Dynamic or JBL. It's rated at 85wpc into 8ohms which is a large amount of power to drive even the most inefficient speakers.  Not to mention, it does have a very clean look to it. ...

We've had lots of Harman Kardon products and each one of them are excellent pieces.  However, this little guy has a few tricks up its sleeves.  There's quite a bit of features packed into this tiny compact turntable.  For one, it offers pitch control that many Japanese belt drive turntables don't have and second, there is a tiny set screw at the back of the base of the tone arm that offers a bit of height adjustment for the tone arm.  That means, it has VTA but, it is fairly limited.  But, nonetheless functional. It has nice clean look with an angled dustcover and the tone arm looks as if it is a stipped down version of the T65, Japanese made of course.  Not to mention, they both use the same headshell.  It is a well made table with a low mass tone arm, which is nice for the Shure Me95ED cartridge mounted on it. Internally, it is well designed and well layed out.  Unlike the upper end HK turntables, this is not suspended.  But, originally...

It's been awhile since we updated the blog.  But, winter is finally gone and looks like everyone is getting back into gear to do a bit of spring cleaning! I've only come across a couple of Micro Seiki turntables and only been inside of one.  So, I was quite curious about this one.  Clearly, it's probably from the late 70s to the early 80s and this one seems to be the first generation or so as the DD-24S is equipped with a low mass straight tone arm over the standard S-shaped arm.  Regardless of the different tone arms both are probably the same, internally. However, the S-shaped tonearm does offer a bit more flexibility with cartridges, well at least these days.  The counter weight is also adjustable which is an excellent feature. Inside, everything was neatly laid out, I can see a nice big direct drive motor, which is a good sign.  Simplistic, auto return mechanism, which is another huge plus and a feature I haven't seen much on Japanese made turntab...