Audioless Winnipeg Group!

One of the more interesting preamplifiers I've had in my main system. I had it for years and kept it around, even hauling it to another province. I've only had a handful of active preamplifiers and I've always liked the Belles DMM that I had. I only stopped using it when in my current step up there was not enough steps in the volume potentiometer. It goes from soft to too loud in a single step. Had to use the "mute" function which was a 20dB attenuation to make it work. It was a nice basic preamplifier with all the basic features one needed. It has a phono input, tone controls, bypass switch, 2x tape input and 2x auxiliary input (thought one is "tuner"). It also came with a moving coil phono input in their DMC model. This one is unique because it is labeled as a DMC but, does not have the internal switch for a moving coil. It is a DMM that has a DMC faceplate. Why? Absolutely no idea. But, it was a very nice sounding unit. Class A, if that means somethin...

Ever since I've started into the audio hobby, I've always wanted a Technics SL-1600mkii. I've had two of them before and every single time I sell one, I always want to get another one. Why? They are such nice tables. I know there are better tables out there, such as those with electronic damping arms (JVC, Denon, Sony) or even pure manual transcription base tables (like the SP-10/15/20/25 and their lovely EPA-250 arms and such). But, I've always liked Technics as a brand. They've always made solid turntable, especially their direct drives.  The SL-1600mkii seems to be an amalgamation of different school of thought. While weighty at 10kgs, it employs a suspended platter and arm (albeit, unlike a Thorens), fully automatic with a well damped platter. There are other suspended direct drive turntables (Pioneer) but, the overall reliability of them isn't as high as the Technics.  Built quality is always good on them, though they have a weakness with the nylon-type gea...