Vintage HI Fi. Anyone else in to it?

[Grant Fondo]

At the risk of sending @raleighnut apoplectic again, there's a Thorens TD280 (presumably a Mk 1?) for auction next Saturday.
Not particularly hi-fi, but a decent enough piece of kit, probably £40 to £60 worth, and certainly vintage.
https://www.arthurjohnson.co.uk/cat...aturday-auctions-19th-november-2022-lot-2221/

My Mission would be to give it a Cyrusly good clean

 

[Profpointy]

Goldring Lenco GL78 in local machinery & general auction next Saturday. Could be a bargain for somebody.
https://www.arthurjohnson.co.uk/cat...2e6c45f87171c/the-saturday-auctions-lot-2288/

Edit: went for a hammer price of £100 - definitely a bargain!

My parents had the fairly similar GL75 and it was OK but nothing special. Not a patch on a Rega, never mind a Linn, though the latter would be 5 to 10 times the cost to be fair.

 

[bitsandbobs]

I’m touring the Netherlands at the moment.
Spotted a shop in Delft with all sorts of goodies in the window, lots of Thorens tt.s, of various vintage from TD124s (€4,500!) upward.
What caught my eye was a fully refurbished Quad 33/303 with a 3yr guarantee for €850 and a rare Philips GA212 tt (I had one of these in the 1970s) for €200.
I was seriously tempted to ask if they’d ship to the UK.
I’m still tempted to return.
They say you always regret the things you never did…

I bought a pair of IMF speakers from that store. The TD124 is still in the window!

 

[Grant Fondo]

I bought a pair of IMF speakers from that store. The TD124 is still in the window!

sounds like you can get some edam good deals over there

 

[Fab Foodie]

sounds like you can get some edam good deals over there

Yeah, really gouda!

 

[Fab Foodie]

I bought a pair of IMF speakers from that store. The TD124 is still in the window!

Loved IMF speakers (which became TDL). Wilmslow audio do a TDF transmission line kit I've often toyed with. @Salty seadog has a pair of TDL's...I hate him too....

 

[Salty seadog]

Loved IMF speakers (which became TDL). Wilmslow audio do a TDF transmission line kit I've often toyed with. @Salty seadog has a pair of TDL's...I hate him too....

🎶🎶🎵❤️😎, you love me you slag. 👅

 

[Gunk]

I was really in to it 35 years ago, my set up was a Thornens TD166 with a Moth arm, Ion Obelisk 1 amp and Royd Coniston speakers, all up in the loft these days gathering dust.

 

[Grant Fondo]

I was really in to it 35 years ago, my set up was a Thornens TD166 with a Moth arm, Ion Obelisk 1 amp and Royd Coniston speakers, all up in the loft these days gathering dust.

Noooooo

 

[Gunk]

Noooooo

My 20 year old Daughter is really in to vinyl, once she finishes university she can have it

 

[Gunk]

We use a Beoplay A8 with an Alexa plug these days

 

[Gunk]

And a couple Apple Homepods dotted around the house

 

[Grant Fondo]

We use a Beoplay A8 with an Alexa plug these days

View attachment 668550

Thats groovy!
Mine's a bit old hat and went 'mini' as not much space below Rega P3

 

[Salty seadog]

Thats groovy!
Mine's a bit old hat and went 'mini' as not much space below Rega P3
View attachment 668551

I have a good old fashioned Nait 2. The shop I bought it from still offer me 80% of what I paid for it 28 years ago. Part exchange I assume.

Linked up to the TDL's with some Linn speaker cable you could hang an elephant with.

 

[Profpointy]

Loved IMF speakers (which became TDL). Wilmslow audio do a TDF transmission line kit I've often toyed with. @Salty seadog has a pair of TDL's...I hate him too....

My old speakers were home made transmission lines based on Kef b110 bass (maybe 6-7" diameter) and Isophon tweeters, the latter replaced with Kef T27 after one of the Isophons blew and they'd ceased making them (maybe ceased trading even) I'd wanted to build the Doctor Bailey (inventor of TL) design in wireless word using the bigger Kef B139 as base drivers but couldn't afford them 40+ years ago, but could in more modern and prosperous times, so found the Wireless World article on the interweb and got a pair of the big Kef woofers off fleabay intending to re-use my drivers from the smaller units I'd built

Here's a picture of Bailey's design

Before going ahead I realised I could buy a pair of secondhand Kef reference speakers for not that much more than the drive units were worth so got these for £550 or whatever and they are truly awsome. Apparently £3k+ new and stated by some pundits as "the best speakers Kef have ever made" though I dare say now surpassed by their £12k modern models

Sold off all the bits and it wasn't all that far off the price I paid for the fully built Kefs, particularly since I'd have needed to buy wood and other materials too.

Here is one of my kef 105. The middle mid-range has a concentric tweeter built in, and Inside the big hole at the bottom are two big bass units joined by a rod - I think it's the same idea as the Linn Isobarik, though can't quite remember the theory - but something to do with dissipating the rearward sound from the driver which would otherwise cancel out the sound from the front.