Nothing car related today I'm afraid (well, beyond checking the oil, coolant and hydraulic fluid levels on the Lada before heading out for errands anyway).
Did however have the opportunity this afternoon to do some hifi meddling.
Having decided that the rickety old bookcase that my hi-fi was balanced on needed to go, it was off to Ikea to get some shelves - especially as the Kallax ones are nicely sized for vinyl storage. The previous shelf was starting to bend alarmingly in the middle...
Having put the shelves together, it quickly became apparent that not only does vinyl fit nicely into the size of the shelves - but so do the separate "slices" of my old Sanyo M15 System...
Consists of:
DCA M15 Amp.
RD M15 Cassette deck.
FMT M15 Tuner.
DAD M15 CD Player.
TP M15 Turntable.
Individually they look interesting in that retro very early 80s sort of way, but the effect I reckon when the whole system is stacked up together is quite striking.
...I don't want to know what it cost when new.
I'd already decided that the B&O Beocenter 4600 was going to be moved upstairs to my room (once I find some appropriate speakers), as while it looks and sounds great - it's lacking in the input department which is a bit of a pain down here where a plethora of different formats tend to be used. The B&O only has a single line-level input for recording to tape - and that's only active when the tape deck is. It also lacks a proper cue control for the turntable, and there's no easy way to play 45rpm 12" singles, which I have a few of. Finally, some of the records I have (especially a few singles) are in less than stellar condition...but I'd still like to play them. I'd rather do that on a turntable for which replacement stylii cost £15-20 like the Sanyo rather than £300-400 for the B&O! If you think I'm kidding, go Google B&O MMC20EN, which is the stylus used by the B&O turntable!
I decided not to use the Sanyo amp just now though, mainly because it has issues with a *majorly* scratchy volume slider - which has been on my to-do list for about the last ten years. So I threw the old Pioneer SA-610 back up there...which has the advantage of an additional tape monitor input, which the 8-track (National Panasonic RS-806US) can easily connect to. So this is the setup up and running as of an hour or two back. There's also an aux lead hidden down the back split off the CD player into which I can connect phones, laptops, iPods etc.
Next step? Actually organise the vinyl again as it's currently just randomly thrown in there. Also figure out where on earth the other box of 8-track cartridges has vanished to as it's not where I thought it was.
Definitely interested if anyone is aware of any middle of the road 70s-80s speakers (ideally similar to the Pioneer CS-585 pair in use downstairs) that are available. Sadly I've only got the one pair - so the B&O is set to one side until some turn up.
No more will I see your penning mixture strike at dusk with a lovely warm red glow that changed to gorgeous yellow - the young upstart that's replaced you has none of your character... I can never fall in love with a LED
