I recently restored this gorgeous Luxman M-4000A power amplifier and matching C-5000A preamplifier. Let’s start with the beautiful M-4000A. Apparently, the legendary Tim De Paravicini designed the original M-4000. The improved and even rarer Luxman M-4000A probably also came from De Paravicini’s hand, but nobody seems to know for sure. UPDATE: Check out my recent […]
I recently modified a Musical Fidelity X-CAN V3 headphone amplifier. My goal was to see what sort of improvements I could make without spending too much cash. The Musical Fidelity X-CAN V3 uses bipolar output devices, with a tube driver stage. The tube driver stage is a JAN (Joint Army/Navy) 6922 mil-spec dual-triode tube, per
Musical Fidelity X-CAN V3 Headphone Amplifier Upgrades Read More »
A lovely customer of mine rang me to tell me that his beloved Pioneer SX-1250 monster receiver had died in a cloud of acrid smoke. Naturally, he was devastated and asked if I could restore the old beast for him. The Pioneer SX-1250 is a monster receiver in the truest sense of the term. There
Pioneer SX-1250 Monster Receiver Repair & Restoration Read More »
Come along as I repair and restore a beautiful Thorens TD-125 Mark 2 turntable that gathered dust and dirt for many years. The Thorens TD-125 clearly hadn’t been operational in a long time and when my friend’s father – Neil, the owner – expressed disappointment that he wasn’t able to play his records anymore, I
After successfully building my LM3886-based gainclone project amplifier, I’ve decided to build a version better suited to driving low-impedance loads. This leads me to the LM4780 chip from TI, which is just two LM3886 dies in one package. It can be used as a stereo amp, or a bridged or paralleled mono amplifier. The datasheet
These Pioneer SX-1250 Replacement Power Supply Capacitors are serious capacitors! These Nippon Chemi-Con parts have just arrived from my supplier and I’m now ready to restore the power supply of the big Pioneer SX-1250 ‘monster receiver’. Read about this complete restoration here. New Capacitors I’ve selected new capacitors that have a greater capacitance than the original
Kenwood’s legendary KD-500/KD-550 direct-drive turntables are classics from an era when things were built to last. Indeed, if decks like the KD-500/KD-550 with this level of custom engineering were manufactured now, they would cost many, many thousands of dollars. The Technics SL-1200 is a classic example – it’s recently been reissued and costs thousands. This
This is a short article and video about my Ortofon MC Jubilee moving coil cartridge. The Ortofon MC Jubilee is an amazingly good cartridge. My understanding is that Ortofon sold quite a few of the, despite the high price. Here in Australia, they retailed for around $2700 AUD. That didn’t deter me and I found
I’ve just had a classic Dual 601 belt-drive turntable in for a major service and it’s almost as good as new! This particular Dual 601 needed recommissioning after an extended period of more than ten years in storage. The automatic tonearm functions were not working correctly and the deck needed a comprehensive grease and lube,
