|
Post by ant on Feb 12, 2021 13:43:38 GMT
I am sat here bored while waiting for the postie to deliver some bits and pieces for a build I'm working on, and in pain after some stupidity on my part which resulted in a mashed finger..... So, I thought, to alleviate said boredom, and take my mind off my bloodied finger, I'd start this thread. My system has stayed relatively static for a number of years, although recently I sold off a load of my collection of things and stuff so that I could get myself a couple of new bits. Some things stayed the same, some changed. Speakers...... 12" driver lash up by anthony cresswell, on Flickr These are about 120l sealed boxes with fane 15-300tc 15" full range drivers in them. I tuned them to how i wanted them with wool fill in the base of the box underneath the internal cross brace. there is a star shaped set of brace running front to back around the driver and a small amount of damping on the rear of the box behind the driver. no crossover at all, these run wide open, in parallel with the 12" doped bass drivers at the bottom. These are wide open too as the rolloff characteristics are well matched to the boxes. They are effectively in free air as the baffle they are on is only slightly bigger than the driver. So no baffle gain. I have no desire to change them. Theres no substitute for cubes.. Power amp....... System photos by anthony cresswell, on Flickr This is a nelson pass F5, in quite possibly the worst photo ever taken. built by Nick Gorham a good few years ago, its a dual mono version. I got it, and immediately binned off my kt77 amp. It will stay until it blows up Pre...... 20201023_104114 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr A nelson pass B1. The original build from shortly after he released the schematic back in 08 I think. I put it in a nice aluminium case, and added a Tocos cosmos pot in place of the linear original from the cct. The inputs are in a separate switch box rather than on the rear of the case so i have easy access to them when i need to test a build for someone. This will also stay until it blows up. Sources....... First source is my wifes turntable, a JVC QL-Y5F. I bought and restored it a couple of years ago in order to sell it, and she immediately claimed it because she could use it as its automatic. Restoration complete by anthony cresswell, on Flickr It has an audio technica vm760slc on it, and runs into a benedict audio hothead mm phono stage. Its had alot of use, and continues to impress Next is my TT, one of my own builds, its a BTE Designs Type 3/b, with an airprodigy linear tracking air bearing arm. type 3 lenco platter mat mod by anthony cresswell, on Flickr The cart is an audio technica at33sa, which runs into a LDA HA1 step up and then into the benedict audio phono stage as my cole lcr one is poorly again. The arm is fantastic. No tracking distortion is a lovely thing to have. you can see the input switching box to the side of it. Next up is the CD player, an ancient but fabulous Arcam Delta 170.3. I had one years ago that eventually died, when this one came up I snapped it up. Arcam delta 170.3 cd transport by anthony cresswell, on Flickr It runs into a Topping E30 dac via a looooong optical cable. This will also stay until it blows up. And lastly, the latest addition, a Sony TC-377 reel to reel. Sony tc377 reel to reel original sony take up reel by anthony cresswell, on Flickr This thing took some work to get it running nicely, but was well worth it as the old bugger sounds brilliant. Im rather glad I took a punt on it. Anyway, the postie has been, so I shall see wether this mangled finger allows me the manual dexterity required to get some more work done......
|
|
|
Post by John on Feb 12, 2021 13:54:04 GMT
Some nice work The arm reminds me of the Terminator is that Vic new wand he made or something else? I heard a few fane drivers mostly the bass drivers in Open Baffle set ups and liked what I heard
|
|
|
Post by ant on Feb 12, 2021 14:06:27 GMT
No its not one of vics, the chap who made it designed it to be made up of 3d printed parts in order to make it light enough to be used on a suspended subchassis turntable. That was the point of it, vics arms were too heavy for ss decks. The only metal parts are the top of the air beam, the top of the carriage, and the vertical bearing pins. And a couple of bolts/setscrews.
The parts are very 'dead' because of the material used, so it has very little signature of its own
|
|
|
Post by julesd68 on Feb 12, 2021 14:57:07 GMT
His n hers turntables - excellent!
Thanks for sharing the pics.
|
|
|
Post by ant on Feb 12, 2021 15:09:26 GMT
Thing is that she uses the system as much if not more than me. and years ago after she broke a nuded 103 with a fg stylus on it by being cack handed with the arm, she refused point blank to use any tt again. The 103 cost a bloody fortune at the time. But the jvc is just a button press, so no arm handling at all. even playing a 10" ep which it doesnt have a preset button for can be done by using the arm transport buttons. Keeps her happy so who am i to argue....
|
|
|
Post by MikeMusic on Feb 12, 2021 15:51:54 GMT
Nice looking kit
Dog centre stage I see !
|
|
|
Post by julesd68 on Feb 12, 2021 17:29:09 GMT
Thing is that she uses the system as much if not more than me. and years ago after she broke a nuded 103 with a fg stylus on it by being cack handed with the arm, she refused point blank to use any tt again. The 103 cost a bloody fortune at the time. But the jvc is just a button press, so no arm handling at all. even playing a 10" ep which it doesnt have a preset button for can be done by using the arm transport buttons. Keeps her happy so who am i to argue.... It's good that your wife found a way back to enjoying a deck again. My hifi has always been a solitary pursuit at home - the Mrs still misses the rather lovely Sony mini-system she used to have.
|
|
|
Post by MartinT on Feb 12, 2021 17:45:09 GMT
Nice.
Does the Fane have a separate compression driver in the centre, or is it all done with the one voice coil?
|
|
|
Post by karatestu on Feb 12, 2021 19:06:09 GMT
It's a whizzer or even a double whizzer I think.
|
|
|
Post by ant on Feb 12, 2021 19:18:19 GMT
Its a double whizzer, specs say it will go up to 19k, which it actually does when i measured them. the fr plot is not bad at all. I measured them with a sweep and with pink noise, the plot was done where i sit rather than 1m. Nobody sits at 1m away, and the in room response will vary wherever you happen to measure them from. They have their foibles, they can beam quite alot, and there is abit of a hole in the response around 100hz which is probably cancellation in the room. The lack of crossover means theres no phase shift into the higher mid and treble which is quite noticable when you hear the lack of it. Ill see if i can find the fr plot
|
|
|
Post by steves57 on Feb 12, 2021 19:48:53 GMT
Looks good Anthony, it's a few years since i've been to your place. I've not heard those big fanes yet, but your dads 12" versions sound great to me. One day.. ?
|
|
|
Post by ant on Feb 12, 2021 20:14:38 GMT
Yep its certainly been a while steve, will have to call in one day when things are better
|
|
|
Post by ant on Feb 12, 2021 21:48:14 GMT
found the plots i was looking for, a quick and dirty set of measurements. this is with pink noise and a smartphone app. I have a umik1 on my 'to buy' list. this is also without the bass helpers in place because i didn't have them plugged in at the time. I cant find the plots i did for that, but the dip between 50 and 100hz ish gets filled in by them S/a by anthony cresswell, on Flickr here we can see that there is the gradual rolloff without any particularly nasty holes in the response, the log scale doesn't show the top end in much detail but it does show the bottom to around 6k fairly well. a lin scale shows abit more of the top end S/a by anthony cresswell, on Flickr its easier to interpret the fr using both graphs now a speaker manufacturer would piss themselves laughing at these measurements, but these are in room with all the in room interactions, these plots give the broad strokes not the minutiae in an anechoic chamber They are however useful if looking at where any issues are in the response
|
|
|
Post by MartinT on Feb 12, 2021 23:20:25 GMT
Good smooth responses. I do a lot of live room plots, too, and they're very informative.
|
|
|
Post by ant on Mar 6, 2021 20:07:35 GMT
I got abit bored today and was tidying through a load of my many boxes bits and pieces. I was chucking bits and pieces that have been in one of the boxes for god knows how long. I found a small 5 pin locking connector, which set wheels turning, so I decided to replace the awful old connector on the JBE that connects the control box to the motor. This connector was crap in 1978 and is even more crap now JBE series 3 with airprodigy arm by anthony cresswell, on Flickr I've always had issues with it ever since I bought the deck, so it's now gone. Had to make a bracket for the new socket, and replacing the plug on the end of the flying lead was abit of a pig as the connector is abit small. Got there in the end though. Unfortunately for everyone in the house demanding my attention, things escalated from there as I decided I wanted to try the airprodigy arm on the deck as it has been sat unused for about 12 months, (partly because of the dodgy old plug) and seeing it spinning for the first time in a long time set me off. The arm board needed surgery to fit the new arm as the last arm it had on it was the at1100 i had. So I stuck it in the lathe and machined off the original perspex face, superglued a new bit of perspex on and then machined it round. JBE series 3 with airprodigy arm by anthony cresswell, on Flickr Then measured it up, drilled it for the mounting bolt and tapped a thread into the perspex. Then dragged the Lenco out and pulled the arm off it and fitted it onto the JBE. JBE series 3 with airprodigy arm by anthony cresswell, on Flickr Sounds really good. Took me a few hours to replace the connector, sort the arm board and mount and set up the arm, and tidy up the absolute devastation I'd caused, but it was a nice job to do. Killed a few hours. Never did finish going through all the parts boxes......
|
|
|
Post by MartinT on Mar 6, 2021 21:12:54 GMT
Always liked those JBE decks. Never seen one with a parallel tracker, though.
|
|
|
Post by MikeMusic on Mar 7, 2021 10:08:16 GMT
I remember seeing one in a shop in the Edgeware Road which I passed frequently back in the 70s Confess to wanting it every single time
|
|
|
Post by ant on Mar 8, 2021 22:34:43 GMT
Always liked those JBE decks. Never seen one with a parallel tracker, though. Well you have now! I was the same with the jbe, ever since i first saw one i wanted one. Eventually got one. Its not standard because it got ruined by a courier, the lid and feet ended up smashed along with the top of the control box. The legs were originally micro seiki microsorbers, but are now some of vics legs that he used on the salvation tt. Just bought some new (to me) cans, a pair of audio technica at706 electrets. Ive got a pair of wireless sennheiser hdr 180s but the one of the rechargable batteries gets hot when charged so i havent used them for ages. I had some ath-7 electret cans which i really liked, so i decided i wanted some more. The 706s are earlier than the ath-7s. Im looking forward to recieving them
|
|
|
Post by Dave on Mar 9, 2021 17:31:41 GMT
I got abit bored today and was tidying through a load of my many boxes bits and pieces. I was chucking bits and pieces that have been in one of the boxes for god knows how long. I found a small 5 pin locking connector, which set wheels turning, so I decided to replace the awful old connector on the JBE that connects the control box to the motor. This connector was crap in 1978 and is even more crap now JBE series 3 with airprodigy arm by anthony cresswell, on Flickr I've always had issues with it ever since I bought the deck, so it's now gone. Had to make a bracket for the new socket, and replacing the plug on the end of the flying lead was abit of a pig as the connector is abit small. Got there in the end though. Unfortunately for everyone in the house demanding my attention, things escalated from there as I decided I wanted to try the airprodigy arm on the deck as it has been sat unused for about 12 months, (partly because of the dodgy old plug) and seeing it spinning for the first time in a long time set me off. The arm board needed surgery to fit the new arm as the last arm it had on it was the at1100 i had. So I stuck it in the lathe and machined off the original perspex face, superglued a new bit of perspex on and then machined it round. JBE series 3 with airprodigy arm by anthony cresswell, on Flickr Then measured it up, drilled it for the mounting bolt and tapped a thread into the perspex. Then dragged the Lenco out and pulled the arm off it and fitted it onto the JBE. JBE series 3 with airprodigy arm by anthony cresswell, on Flickr Sounds really good. Took me a few hours to replace the connector, sort the arm board and mount and set up the arm, and tidy up the absolute devastation I'd caused, but it was a nice job to do. Killed a few hours. Never did finish going through all the parts boxes...... For some weird reason the theme for Gerry Anderson's show UFO was running through my head as I read this post... 🤔 T'is a work of art, Ant... 👍
|
|
|
Post by ant on Mar 11, 2021 20:52:01 GMT
I got the 706s yesterday and have been listening to them on the end of a nasty 80s marantz reciever and a philips cd371 cd player that i have upstairs.
Lovely sounding cans,much fuller and smoother sounding than the ath-7s that came later. The marantz is rubbish and doesnt do them any favours, but the philips is decent, and its enough to show their quality
they are in this shitty cobbled together bedroom system because there is nowhere to sit near the main system in the living room and i couldnt be arsed to start faffing around behind the f5 to plug them in.
I know that the quality of the amp is a major factor in how good this sort of headphones can sound, and it has been nice to bugger off out of the way of the rest of the household, so im looking for a decent second amp to run them with. I have plenty of turntables to hook up if i can find the space too.
I was thinking about a 70s jap amp, but someone suggested an a&r a60. that set me thinking because i didnt really like the a60, but in looking on ebay i came across an arcam delta 60.
Ive always liked the original delta range, years back i heard a delta 110 and delta 120 digital pre and power combo which i was impressed with, and have the delta 170.3 cd transport. Never heard a 60 though.... I wonder.....
|
|