Audioless Winnipeg Group!

Found my camera backup so I thought I would make some blog postings on some of our previously sold turntable for posterity and because I think they are cool and neat, starting with the Kenwood KP-2022A. The most striking feature is the tone arm, it's neat.  The design was to prevent tone arm resonance, much like more modern tone arms.  Don't know why the design didn't last because Kenwood went back to the more tradition S-shaped arms.  It was also the Trio name plate as well. At the time, I had several Japanese turntables, the EDS and the Keio which I wrote about quite some time ago (or at least I hope).  Oddly enough the Kenwood had some striking similarities with the Keio.  I thought the Keio was designed by CEC but, when examining the Kenwood, there is some real resemblance, so I have no idea who made the Keio or even the Kenwood.  I will just assume they're all working together somehow. In any case, was a nice table, typical well made table of the...

This turntable has been a running joke amongst us, and we have two of them to boot!  I have no idea why no one wants this turntable?  We've had this table for sale for quite some time and even when offered in a package at a lower price people opt for a different turntable.  Is it because it's silver?  Maybe it's not aesthetically pleasing?  I have no clue! It's actually a pretty nice table, I've used it on several occasion to play music during the holidays because it was already hooked up to the system, of course I've used a different headshell to prevent wear on the new stylus. It's very comparable to much of the belt drives of the era.  It's a 2-speed, semi-automatic table that I've completely gone over, lots of tweaking.  Granted it's not as "heavy" as some due to the more plastic interior, lots of empty space and they don't use a heavy bottom damping plate like the Technics (lots of empty space in them too!) but, it's st...

This has had to be one of the cleanest turntable I've ever serviced.  It looked as if it was well cared for and the interior e.g. guts were really clean.  I was very impressed and happy that I didn't need to take out the gloves! Sony made good turntable, excellent turntables and awful turntables.  I would have to say the PS-1700 is your typical, average (which means good) turntable.  Considering the design I will assuming it's from the mid to late 70s.  Aesthetically, it is very appealing, very retro looking.  So, I am sure it will not last long. Overall, it's a well made turntable as are any Sony turntables of that era.  The dust cover is one of the nicer design I've seen and usually Sony puts a nice effort in having some really sleek dustcover designs.  For example, on the PS-1700 the dustcover is curved in the front.  As well, the two tone colour, the wood vinyl plinth with the grey top.  It is a very sharp table as well for those...

Finally finished fixing up this lovely turntable by Sansui (though it's already been sold!).  I thought I would write a post about it for posterity sake as a lot of nice tables have been sold without anyone writing anything about them. Like the SR-525 that I had in during Christmas, they share a lot of similarities, though mostly cosmetics.  However, the design of the tone arm makes you wonder how much trickle down technology they used on the SR-222.  It is a beautiful and sharp looking table, especially that thicker platter over the grey plinth. Though, it didn't rank the highest among the line up, it is a fantastic table.  It's 2-speed, belt drive and pure manual, just the way I like them.  Simple, elegant and easy to fix, well...if you have the right parts.  This is the first generation (MK1) of the SR-222, in case anyone was confused. It's also well built, good size motor, interesting isolation mounts, thick and heavier than your average belt driv...

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...