Vintage HI Fi. Anyone else in to it?

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raleighnut

Legendary Member
Has a more limited set--up for modern cartridge choice though....

I dunno, depends which version you have, my mate Geoff (the guy who got me into QUAD also) had a 3009 S2 fixed and that had all kinds of adjustments for VTA included whereas with the Rega you are limited to fitting 'shims' under the mounting to correct it. The Rega might have slightly lower mass especially compared to the removable headshell 3009 but Geoff's arm would track the same Cartridge as I had (Ortofon VMS 30e mk2) about 0.3 gm lighter than my Thorens with standard arm would and had an almost ethereal quality to the sound but still with plenty of bass 'slam' and control. We diverged after a while with me going to a Nagaoka MP 11 Boron cartridge and Geoff changing to an Acoustic Research legend turntable (the inspiration/forerunner of the Thorens and the Linn LP12)
In short I don't really think you would hear much of a difference between the arms although resonance may be lower with the Rega as the SME is known to be quite 'sibilant' with the wrong Cartridge especially on Violin and high Female vocals (using a QUAD pre with their superb muti-adjustable filter system can mask this)
 

Poacher

Gravitationally challenged member
Location
Nottingham
Thread resurrection! If anyone wants a Garrard 301, there's one up for auction in Nottingham this coming Saturday.
"A Garrard model 301 turntable, Schedule No. 51400/2 with Decca 3-arm, mounted on wooden board"
https://www.arthurjohnson.co.uk/cat...aturday-auctions-16th-december-2023-lot-2197/
G301.jpg


Update: just sold to a telephone bidder at hammer price of £1400.
Add at least 25% commission to that price, so minimum £1750.
 
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Drago

Legendary Member
My old Leak stuff re-emerged during the house move. I boxed it up during the last move 14 years ago and never unpacked it, preferring the ease and convenience of the very reliable - and surprisingly decent performing despite its many detractors - but utterly unexciting 80s Trio and Kenwood gear.

The Leak amp and tuner seem to work OK, as does the Garrard 301 turntable, but I'll get them checked over. They're as old as zip am, give or take a year, so would probably benefit from some proper attention. There's a shop in MK that repairs and modifies guitar amps and keyboards and he's said he'd be happy to have a look, give the internals and electonics a clean and replace any suspect components. I'll drop it off next time I head that way in the car.
 

Rezillo

TwoSheds
Location
Suffolk
In the past few months, I've brought back to life my old turntable and cassette deck that have languished in a cupboard for over 30 years. Not that I've great affection for either medium but I have a number of LPs and cassettes not available as cds or online that I want to record in a decent quality digital format.

The turntable needed complete dismantling and cleaning of dried oil and grease from all bearings, including the motor, but a Youtube vid showed how. A new drive belt cost a couple of quid.

The cassette deck, a three-header, was more of a challenge. The deck worked after a fashion but some tapes sounded really weird, others randomly stopped and the rest were fine. The deck being direct drive, there were no drive belts to replace but clearly something was wrong. It turned out to be the rubber pinch roller, which had set solid with age and was losing its grip on the tape.

Another Youtube vid, another dismantling exercise. A new pinch roller (eight quid) fixed everything bar a channel imbalance. Inspired by Retro Electro Workshop, I had a hunt round the main circuit board that was now exposed amid a heap of bits on the kitchen table. This revealed two pairs of tiny, tiny potentiometers, one labelled, in faded tiny print, PBK L R and the other REC L R. A spray of contact cleaner and a small tweak of one of the PBK ones with a watchmaker's screwdriver and all was ok.

I can now record from both units to my soundcard's line-in via the amp's zone 2 analog output using Audacity.
 
Location
Cheshire
New releases are starting to appear on cassette these days and my local record shop is selling old ones for a fiver :eek:
Got piles of the things, mostly bought for 50p in the far east, my Yamaha deck bit the dust years ago though.
Wonder how many they are selling at this price?
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Location
Cheshire
Update: just sold to a telephone bidder at hammer price of £1400.

Gulp! Another 301 on fleabay, gulp again!
I'll be sticking with my 10 year old RP3 thanks.
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