Arcam makes some nice equipment, so when a customer asked me to service his Arcam Alpha 9 integrated / power amplifier setup, I was happy to assist. The Arcam Alpha 9 amplifier was a mainstay for Arcam for many years. The amplifier is fairly straightforward in design and neat in internal layout. There is nothing […]
I recently overhauled this lovely old Pioneer PL-530 direct-drive turntable. Let’s take a closer look. This model is not especially common, but it has a great vintage look and some great features that I think make it one to keep an eye out for. Pioneer made some great belt-drive and direct-drive decks and many of
The Dual 1228 idler-drive turntable is a great entry-level deck and a little cooler than many others. You need to be aware of potential issues with this and other Dual turntables from this era, though. A customer recently delivered his newly acquired Dual 1228 idler-drive turntable for service. The deck was not playing at the
My buddy runs several Apple Mac Pro desktop machines for use in his photographic studio. Perth’s notoriously hot weather and the near 12-hour-a-day operation gave these machines a real beating. With Paul closing his studio and relocating, I wanted to repair the gruntiest of these machines for him – a 2007 Mac Pro 2.1. This
The phenomenal Fidelity Research XF-1 moving coil step-up transformer is one of the best ways to get the most out of a good MC cartridge. Fidelity Research is one of the most iconic and revered names in vinyl. No other brand has quite the same status and FR cartridges and step-up transformers have become legendary
My friend recently had a little mishap with his beautiful Yamaha GT-2000 direct drive turntable. Naturally, I helped him sort it out… The mishap occurred when my friend was cleaning his beloved GT-2000. While using a cleaning cloth near the headshell, he must have brought the cloth too near to the stylus and just caught
A customer of mine recently purchased some great new Accuphase gear and brought a couple of pieces over for me to look at. First up, we have an amazing Accuphase C-280 preamplifier. This was Accuphase’s statement preamplifier in the 1980s and it is an amazing piece of engineering. With complete dual-mono construction, including two transformers, the
