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Showing posts from May, 2019

Energy Encore 2 Speakers

My family were the original owners of these speakers. We actually had the entire Energy Encore 5.1 surround set, minus the integrated stands. Slowly, the rear speakers were sold. I kept the subwoofer to use with my sound bar, and the center channel broke. All that remained were these little guys sitting on the same shelving unit for the past 15ish years. I used them for a bit for my computer setup but, opted to use my Mirage Omni 350 instead. While these are considered "big box store" speakers, they are still great little speakers. These were made in Canada. Used their hyperdome aluminum tweeter that made Energy famous from the Pro22 days (thank you Burhoe!). A super nice black piano finish and sealed box, with a 4" long throw woofer. Some Specifications that I took from the web: System Type: Magnetically shielded acoustic suspension satellite Tweeter: 1" (28mm) Aluminum dome with cloth suspension Woofers: 4" (112mm) Multi-laminated aluminum polycarbonate c

Sony PS-2250 Turntable with SME 3009 S2 Tonearm

Primarily for posterity as this lovely turntable found it's new home in California, what a packing job that was! This was my main table and my baby ever since I got it on trade. I had the tone arm re-wired with cardas and primarily used a Shure M91ED with an original needle. However, since I now use my Technics SL-1600nkii (I like the fully automatic functions) this has been sitting in the spare room for quite some time, hence why it had to go. Nonetheless, this was and still is an excellent. Let's talk about the Sony PS-2250. Such a good motor. These early Sony turntables were one of the best. Extremely well made and bulletproof. Cast aluminum (I think) housing, really nice piano key switches for the 33/45. The platter was almost a 2-piece, similar to a Thoren. The overall plinth is good, real wood veneer. The arm, now that was special. A low mass tone arm, which is why I paired with the Shure. Fixed headshell, good or bad, depending on how often you enjoy swapping cartr

Aiwa AP-2200 Turntable

I've had a lot of turntables that passed through my hands and even though some were excellent turntables without a recognizable brand name, I do not think I've ever called one a "sleeper" turntable. But, if I did, I take back my previous statement. This Aiwa turntable sat on my local listings for about a week, when I initially looked at it, I didn't think too much. Aiwa is a brand I rarely came across but, the metal tone arm gimbal kept intriguing me. The black colour scheme didn't help it's appeal as it could easily be mistaken as a "cheap" turntable. But, upon initial research, the specifications are really interesting. Furthermore, the more you researched the more you realized the Aiwa is actually a competent turntable and quite well made. Apparently, in Australia it had an MSRP of $269AUD in 1979. It was an decent mid-level turntable of the time. Let's begin with some basic specifications, it is a direct drive with semi-automatic re