Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

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G. Keenan
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Re: Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

Post by G. Keenan »

LOL, you mean she doesn't like seeing huge heavy old stereo furniture accumulating in every room?

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Jocephus
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Re: Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

Post by Jocephus »

looking back at this thread i suppose more of the discussion was about refurbishing old equipment etc but maybe this has some overlap for some of you folks
This Is Your Brain On Vinyl, and Other Tales From Obsessive Collecting in the Pandemic
People who collect vinyl often describe their hobby as an "addiction." Here's what its vice-like grip looks like from the inside
https://jezebel.com/this-is-your-brain- ... 1847254970

i also just skimmed it so it could be complete trash

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pioneer98
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Re: Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

Post by pioneer98 »

The console I'm working on now is a 1960 Motorola VK70 that I bought from the ORIGINAL OWNERS for $60 a couple weeks ago. They were an elderly couple who said they bought it new in 1961! They are finally moving to a smaller residence.

This thing is very very good, and it's not even their top-of-the-line. The top voltage in the amp is 290 volts! It only has a single woofer in the center, but it has left/right channels for mid and high range. The amp uses vacuum tubes instead of transistors. It's extremely loud. It also barely needs any work. It only has a record player and no radio, but it has inputs for a radio. So the only on/off switch on the unit is in the record player. I already hooked up an aux cable to the radio input, and it works. But you have to have the record player spinning when listening to that aux input, because that's how the entire unit turns on. The most work I'll have to do is to wire in a switch to separate the record player from the rest of the unit.

The difference between this VK70 and a top-of-the-line model is Motorola had something called a "reverb input". This one doesn't have that. But it does split off the bass very early in the circuit and sends it to its' own amp for the woofer. The others I've worked on don't filter the signal to the woofer until the very end, right at the speakers.

To appease my wife I've sold off a some of these. I don't make much money from these, I just like fixing them up. My limit is 1 upstairs and 2 in the basement. I'm working on this Motorola and a 1968 Magnavox Astro Sonic that I got for $40. That one is not as high end the Motorola but it's still solid and is also in great shape. The one I kept for myself upstairs is that 1965 Zenith I already posted about. It's a tick below this Motorola in terms of sound quality and loudness, but still quite good.

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