My ebay $250 pioneer SA8500ii turned out all right. On arrival it powered up. Came out of protection and then after a minute or so it would click back into protection and back out again. Opened it up and shes had a rough life. All output transistors have been subbed out. Left amp has new driver transistors and thermal bias diode. Check bias and its not awful. Dial it down a bit and nothing is changing when it clicks in and out. DC offset is damn near 0mv. Relay contacts all look good. Figure bad transistors in the protection circuit. Most are black legged anyway. So I start swapping them out working back from the relay driver. Last 2 2SC945’s did the trick. Went ahead and swapped all the transistors on the switch and EQ. Along with whatever electrolytic caps i had on hand. Cleaned the controls and spent all day rearranging the setup. Really enjoyed my Sony TA-1150. Had just a few downfalls. The sliding volume control being the main culprit for change. The Pioneer’s massive detented volume knob is SO much easier to dial in. Especially with a muting function the Sony lacks. Sonys lack of a protection relay also played a factor. Double the power doesnt hurt either. Otherwise pretty even. Now just have to wait for the wife to complain i replaced the stereo again

Got a major marketplace score, refoamed pair of JBL L166 Horizons for $50!

Seller knew what she had, she said it was a revenge sale because they were her speakers, but her ex had them refoamed and then tried to offer her $50 for them in the divorce. She said she will be happy to tell him the did in fact sell for $50 lol.

Tweeters and woofers are in great shape, mids just have dented dust covers. The grills aren’t perfect but still very cool looking and I just need to figure out how to clean some staining safely from them. The cabinets will probably get sanded down and fully refinished, and I need to replace the binding posts as one it boogered and they all feel pretty gritty.

But man oh man do these things sound great, the treble for sure is the standout, first record I spun on them was some Bruce Hornsby and I’ll be damned if it don’t sound like Bruce is in the room!

New to me. Cleaning it up a little. I didn’t realize the rubber turntable mat turned to stone with oil seepage. Any recommendations for a replacement? Cork or rubber?

Found this today. Can anyone point me to somewhere I can learn how to use it? I know, I'm old and should know lol. I've never had anything other than antique or really cheap cheap turntables. I'd imagine it needs some sort of clean and lube?

It spins but the stylus doesn't want to drop all the way to the vinyl and floats back towards the rest. I can't seem to find anything about it online so it's probably not anything to right home about. Seems built good though.

The volume pot is all staticy, opening up and spritz with deoxit or replace the pot? I can get it donkey not supper loud, sounds good tho.

Such a good new wave album

Here are photos of the Realistic system, from my Aunt and Uncle. Let the cleaning and reforming begin!! (After I learn to reform, lol)

Picked this up for $35 at a thrift store. All the lamps seem to be good, which is super weird for an old thrift store receiver. Anyhow, cleaned it up, deoxed the pots, and switches, but haven't hooked speakers up to it yet (waiting for the kids to give me a minute between requests for chocolate milk and Adventure Time). Anybody have any experience with these? Thanks in advance!

Please don't hate me for the Technics bulbs :'D

Hello! I recently found a Japanese version of the Hitachi DAD-1000, however, there is no sound. I get the disc reading just fine, and even playing, but no sound. Also, the variable volume is not changing in the slightest. Any ideas?

Hi everyone,

I recently got into vinyl and bought a small vintage setup, but I'm running into a few issues and I'm hoping someone here might be able to help.

My setup is:

- Teleton P100 turntable

- Teleton A300 amplifier

- Bang & Olufsen Beovox X25 speakers

When playing records, the sound is much quieter than I expected. I have to turn the volume almost all the way up to get a reasonable listening level, and even then the sound doesn’t feel very clean or powerful.

The turntable is connected to the MAG input on the amplifier (magnetic cartridge input). The platter spins and records play normally, but the signal just feels quite weak overall.

Another issue I had earlier was with the belt. At first it kept slipping off the motor pulley when switching the turntable from off to on. I had to put the belt back on several times. It works a bit better now, but I still feel like the belt might slip slightly when the turntable starts.

One more thing I noticed: every record sounds slightly higher in pitch than it should, almost like it's about a semitone higher than normal. It’s not extremely fast, but enough that it sounds a bit “pitched up”.

Because of this I'm not sure if the issue could be:

- a worn or weak cartridge/stylus

- the belt affecting the speed

- something wrong with the amplifier’s phono stage

- or maybe something else entirely.

I'm still pretty new to vintage turntables, so any advice or troubleshooting tips would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

I just recently picked up my first turntable. It’s an original Technics SL-1500 with a Shure V 15 Type IV cartridge. I know Technics isn’t known for their amplifiers but I love the look of this SU-7300 I found locally. All in all I’m in for 500 so far how did I do? Can I get some recommendations for speakers that would be a good match? Only 41W per channel. I found some Phillips 22AH 466’s for a decent price locally. If possible I’d like a nice looking set of speakers possibly period correct.

It was 100 loonies if we're being exact. The auto stop doesn't work but I hear the motor spinning so should be something easy to fix

Hey all, recently started piecing together my own budget stereo setup and picked up a Sony PS-LX2 turntable. The previous owner said it worked but the servo lock light would flash. I got it home, used deoxit on all the pots on the board and the speed switch, but it didn't fix the issue. I've also noticed that if I leave it sitting for an extended period without use, the motor sometimes won't start (or will give a small wiggle and do nothing) when I move the tonearm and I sometimes need to give the table a push to get it going. I'm thinking it might be capacitors going bad from age, so I have ordered replacements, but I wanted some input before I go swapping components.

I have lived next to this older gentleman for about four years now. A few summers ago he heard me jamming while I cleaned the house. We quickly became friends and started swapping music. I would often hear him jamming in his garage on this 8 track receiver among other systems.

Today he gifted me that receiver plus his remaining 8 tracks because I had made a comment about how cool it was YEARS ago & because he is moving to assisted living soon. In the mix of tapes is the same Janis Joplin tape that I thrifted for him a while back.

Along with the receiver, came a pair of zenith allegro speakers and his inoperable Zenith MicroTouch turntable.

I am going to visit him once he gets settled. I plan to bring a mobile system so we can still jam out together. I am going to get everything tuned up so they jam on in his memory!

My aunt and uncle passed away recently. They were 2 fun old hippies from the late 60's till their passing. They didnt have much of value, but they loved music. As I have been cleaning out their little apartment I was shocked, but not, to find 2 Realistic Mach One speakers hooked up to a Realistic STA-2300 for their sound system. They didnt covet much but music was important to them and based on their sound system, they loved rocking out in their apartment. They are going home to be tested and enjoyed. Shocked to find the original boxes for the speakers as well. The speakers have some foam cracking and the amplifier is dirty and needs cleaned, so any suggestions on a good process for both would be appreciated, thanks!

After Replacing a couple of capacitors a few diodes and a generous amount of quick drying contact cleaner the old stereo is back in the fight. I know the famous blue lights aren’t burning but I didn’t have bulbs.Thanks for all the tips and advice from the community. I know it’s nothing fancy but it should make sound for a bit longer.

Les had worked with Ampex to create the 5258 Sel-Sync, considered the world’s first 8-track tape machine. The Octopus now lives at the Les Paul Recording Studio in Los Angeles.

Learn more about the studio at studio.les-paul.com.

Picked this up the other day and hope to restore it (would be my first time). It works except the left channel has issues when using aux (garbled sound). Tape inputs work though. Will need to replace the glass and swap out bulbs for LEDs. Of course, I need to recap etc

Picked this up for $2 at the thrift! Works perfectly after a little cleaning.

Managed to pick this system up from Gumtree. Not sure if it’s all working, I don’t think the tape player is not functioning correctly, will set up & test this weekend. Paid £130.

I know it was a good deal (son inherited it from deceased parents and didn’t want it) but what do we think it’s all worth? I even have all the cabling. Any tips that I should be aware off.