Here a few images of my Kenwood KD-600 direct-drive turntable, spinning records from my collection. The Kenwood KD-600 direct-drive turntable is an absolute classic, highly sought after and well worth keeping an eye out for. Much has been written about the fabulous KD-600, like this and this for example. I got my KD-600 from her original […]
The Legendary Kenwood KD-600 Playing Vintage Vinyl Read More »
I’ve purchased some great new vinyl of late and recently took delivery of some new polypropylene record sleeves. I get asked lots of questions about how I sleeve and house my records, so I figured I’d write an article about re-sleeving your record collection! There are two main types of record outer sleeves: polyethylene and
I’ve just offered a beautiful vintage Pioneer hi-fi system for sale, in original, like-new condition. The turntable has been fully serviced and has a new belt, great retro goodness, ready to go! $500 and she is yours! UPDATE! – SOLD, in just a day or two, to a lovely couple, for a 30th birthday present.
I recently finished another round of modifications to my Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 21 Class A Tube DAC. In this post, I go into details about the changes and the MIL-spec vintage parts I’ve used! Actually, I will do some more power supply modifications in 2018, more on that when it happens. This is part three,
Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 21 Tube DAC Modifications, Part 3 Read More »
I am often asked why vinyl sounds so darn good and why compact disc (CD) was created if vinyl was/is a ‘better’ medium. So, let’s answer the question: “Vinyl vs CD – is vinyl higher resolution?” Vinyl vs CD – what’s better? This isn’t a simple question to answer. What makes a ‘better’ medium in
The classic Dual 601 turntable isn’t as well-known as contemporaries from Thorens and Rega, but it is a great turntable. Features The Dual 601 is a lovely belt-drive deck and offers quite a bit that other contemporaries don’t in terms of deck automation, vernier speed adjustment and noise isolation. I should note that these decks
I was recently asked by a customer to repair and service his Marantz CD-63 KI Signature CD player. The player was misbehaving, not reading the table of contents (TOC) with some discs and was also skipping occasionally. I was actually really pleased to work on one of these classic disc spinners again. The Marantz players
Marantz CD-63 KI Signature CD Player Service & Repair Read More »
In this article, I discuss the history of the LM3886/chip-amp/gaincard and run through building my own dual-mono LM3886 gainclone amplifier. The LM3886 is one of Texas Instrument’s single-chip monolithic amplifier integrated circuits. It’s almost an entire amplifier-on-a-chip, with only a few extra parts required to build a fully functional, high-performance amplifier. The LM3886 features low
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 »
