Lockdown Vintage Audio Activities...

[mickthemaverick]

I'll install it in Daffodil once the weather warms up a bit... Garage is currently like a deep-freeze

Beware the wrath of the lady scorned. You may find Daffodil finds an E for her model name and wields it toward your numb digits!!

[CitroJim]

I'll install it in Daffodil once the weather warms up a bit... Garage is currently like a deep-freeze

Beware the wrath of the lady scorned. You may find Daffodil finds an E for her model name and wields it toward your numb digits!!

I will give her lots of warning an TLC before I do Mick, and soften her up a bit

[mickthemaverick]

I believe there may be some interest in this item !!

Also towards the end of page 4 of this catalogue there are a number of audio equipment lots which may be of interest.

[Peter.N.]

I've not gone back to vinyl yet and probably won't but I'm sure someone will want them. I remember the first 45 rpm record I saw, it was when I worked in London in 1954.

The Avo and other meter have gone apparently, they used to cost fortune but very few people want them now, you can slip a digital meter in your pocket but not so an Avo - unless you are a poacher. I only use mine for the car as the Fluke meter doesn't have an amps range.

Peter

[CitroJim]

The Avo and other meter have gone apparently, they used to cost fortune but very few people want them now,

Give me an AVO any day! I've finally reassembled mine and it's back in service now

[Hell Razor5543]

Just done an ebay search for AVO meter, and found a nice selection;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from ... r&_sacat=0

[Peter.N.]

I have a couple of them Jim but space and weight are a penalty compared with digital. My old Fluke 11, bought for a lot of money about 40 years ago is almost indestructible, although the display is loosing some of its surface but not obliterating anything yet.

I had a dreadful time trying to adapt to a digi meter when I first had one - but I'm used to it now.

Peter

[CitroJim]

A bit of amp. work today One of my Leak Stereo 30s died on its right channel...

It's rarely used as it lives in my bedroom and partners a Leak stereo Troughline tuner... It only sees any use if I'm ill and confined to bed and that's (thankfully) very rare indeed nowadays

I do like to run both it and the tuner up on occasion to keep it in good condition. Something I do with all my vintage kit...

The fault was very quickly traced to a 'tin whisker' in T5R, an AF118. The AF11x transistor family are notorious for growing 'tin whiskers' and the quick and dirty bodge is to lift the screen wire. The whiskers grow and short either emitter, base or collector - or indeed all three - to the can which is grounded via the screen wire...

In this case I was able to successfully 'blow' the whisker using my AVO on high ohms range This is only a stop-gap until I source a replacement... The AF118 is a bit of a rare beast and has no direct equivalent. It's an RF transistor was an odd choice for Leak to use it as a pre-driver in the power amplifier section... Nobody can shed any light on why they did... Maybe Harold Leak got hold of a job lot that fell off the back of a lorry...

For a while I'd noted a bit 'crunch' noise when it was first turned on from cold... This problem was traced to leaky coupling electrolytics putting a bit of DC on the volume control tracks... A couple of new capacitors and all is now good...

[Peter.N.]

Well done Jim - didn't used to get that problem with valves.

Peter

[CitroJim]

A bit of radio work yesterday

A Bush VHF80 with a bad case of modulation hum and rough audio on VHF...

A couple of capacitors sorted it

And a bit of extra HF decoupling on the VHF tuner HT supply went a bit further to reduce the modulation hum to nothing...

It is now preforms well and sounds very nice indeed

Even if it looks a bit rough!

[white exec]

Cetainly untidy, Jim!
Remember working with several of Sony's first Umatic VCRs back in the '70s. The pcb's in their 1810 recorders looked as if a troop of boy scouts had marched across them - stand-up/loop-down discrete components all leaning at crazy angles - a real eyesore. One day, we had a Panasonic equivalent on the bench, and the difference was striking: everything tidy and vertical.
Not knocking the Sonys through: terrific and acclaimed machines. We eventually ran three 1810 (and later Type 5) recorders and almost a dozen Type 5 playback units in the school, all still operating when I moved on in '88. 27" Trinitrons on Unicol stands were our choice for classrooms. Oh for the compactness and cheapness of later DVDs!!

[Peter.N.]

I recognise that Jim, we used to sell those when they were new - I was much newer too.

Peter

[CitroJim]

Cetainly untidy, Jim!
Remember working with several of Sony's first Umatic VCRs back in the '70s. The pcb's in their 1810 recorders looked as if a troop of boy scouts had marched across them - stand-up/loop-down discrete components all leaning at crazy angles - a real eyesore.

I know exactly what you mean Chris, I found very little to please the eye in most Japanese domestic stuff of the era... Looked great on the outside and horrid internally! The Japs really knew how to make things look elegant, stylish and classy on the outside...

Sony were bloody good and despite the internal rats nests not too difficult to repair on the rare occasions their stuff failed... Unlike some other Japanese stuff!

You can see why the Jap stuff completely eclipsed the British stuff - on looks alone... The British stuff worked well but did not have the sharp looks...

I recognise that Jim, we used to sell those when they were new - I was much newer too.

They were always good sets Peter. I would think they must have sold well, both the VHF80 and it's wooden cased sister, the VHF81... I have three VHF81s in my collection

I've been fixing a product of a famous (and classy) old British radio maker today... A Hacker portable with a very noisy tuning capacitor leading to very unstable tuning...

It was necessary to open up the metal screening box around the tuner module to fix it...

And to do so I needed to unlace the tuning drive cord... Not a job I relish...

I took a load of photos so that I could re-lace it at the end

The repair was a complete success

[white exec]

This pic (Guardian, today) caught my eye...

...the caption underneath crediting the photo as shot at the specialist Audio Gold shop (Muswell Hill).

A splendid wall of speakers, not least the KEF Concerto (on the right) with its B139, B110 and T27, and its SP... crossover oddly mounted out front!

But there the fun started.
Go to Audio Gold's website https://audiogold.co.uk/, and click on Hi-Fi for a feast of classic stuff.
Jim will need to be sitting down for this one, not least the asking prices. Even a Leak!
Interesting that a good few items are now being re-manufactured - eg a pair of LS3/5a BBC-Rogers, a snip at £2,899!

[CitroJim]

Lovely

The speakers are nice too

Go to Audio Gold's website https://audiogold.co.uk/, and click on Hi-Fi for a feast of classic stuff.
Jim will need to be sitting down for this one, not least the asking prices. Even a Leak!

Gosh, those prices Good job I'd taken my vital signs readings before looking at that site!

Otherwise my blood pressure would have been through the roof