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Old 12-31-2020, 11:01pm   #15
bill_daniels
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Originally Posted by Wathen1955 View Post
After retiring at the end of May 2020, I decided to resurrect my old stereo/quad system. It has been in storage for a few decades. So after 4 months of work and buying parts etc., I finally got my old system up and running when I was in my late teens and early 20’s. Here is the breakdown:

1. My Pioneer SX-525 Receiver. I bought this after seeing one of my buddies has the same receiver at his parents’ house. I think I was 18 at the time. I still have the original receipt of purchase from Pacific Stereo. I had to fix a few issues with the unit: I replaced 2 capacitors that were causing a "thumping" sound when adjusting the bass. I had to replace 2 lights in the system. I could not find replacement bulbs, so I bought a "needs repair SX-525" from fleebay so I can salvage the original lights that were used. Got all the pots cleaned, and cleaned the outside. Looks like new.

2. My Pioneer QL-600 4 Channel Decoder/Amplifier: I purchased this from an old friend when I lived in Mira Mesa (San Diego) in the mid 70's. He was going to join the Army and did not want to continuing making payments on it, so I took over the loan. I pulled it out of storage and I only needed to clean up the exterior. Everything else on the unit still works. I did have to purchase another QL-600 from fleebay for parts, since I had lost 2 of the little silver knobs on the front. This unit gives me 2 additional channels for the rear, and connects to my Pioneer SX-525 receiver.

3. I bought a used Teac A-4300SX reel to reel local here in Woodland from Facebook Marketplace. I always wanted one of these, but at the time they were too expensive for me with all the other hobbies I had going on at the time. The guy I bought it from his father passed away and did not want to deal with this 50lbs monster. I bought it for $350. After getting it home, it needed to be cleaned inside and out. I also sent it to a person that fixes old decks like this. He showed me what he did to repair it, including replacing a dozen caps, cleaning and lubing, and calibrating. The sound coming out from this analog deck is excellent. These units can fetch $1000 or more on fleebay if they have been reconditioned. I also replaced the fake wood side panels with real Mahogany wood since my father-in-law has a wood shop in our garage.

4. I added a Nakamichi MR-2 cassette deck. I got this from work back in the mid 90's. They were going to throw it away in the trash. I grabbed it and used it in my garage for years. Finally took it out of the garage and did some minor cleaning of the heads, and some external cleaning. The pitch control on the front of the deck that allows you to adjust the tape speed quit working, and when play was pressed, it sounded like the chipmunks. I took the bottom off and searching the net, the quick fix was to disconnect the connector from the pitch control board, and add a ground wire to pin #4 on the circuit board. This allowed the unit to play at normal speed. The pitch control is no longer available.

5. I got my old Denon DCD-610 CD deck cleaned and checked to make sure it still was working since I haven't used it in a while. Still works.

6. The little silver unit sitting on top next to the Rega 1 turntable is the JVC 4DD-5 Demodulator for 4 channel sound from my quad vinyl LP's. I had to purchase unit this because I have no idea what happened to my original one back in the 70's. It was nowhere to be found probably due to all my moves. I found this one, brand new if you can believe it, still in its original packing from fleebay. This set me back $300, but it was nice because it was brand new, and included the adjustment LP disk for tweaking the 4 channels.

7. Rega 1 turntable. I had to buy a new turntable because the one I had is a "p-mount" and it was a linear drive. I could not mount my Audio Technica AT-12s cartridge and stylus on it which I still kept from the 70's. This cartridge is needed in order to play discrete quadraphonic LP’s at the 45kHz range. The Rega 1 turntable is made in England. Cost: $350. It's a very simple design with only one switch to turn it on. It's completely a manual deck. If I want to change speeds from 33 to 45, I have to remove the platter and move the drive belt to the other grove. Takes about 1 minute.

As you can see from the pic, I'm still using the speakers that my buddy and I put together when we were living in Mira Mesa apartments in San Diego. We used particle board with a very thin Birch cover. They include 2 Pioneer car speakers, a horn from Radio Shack, and a piezo electric tweeter. Inside is the crossover. Bought the components from a place in Texas that I can’t remember the name, and is probably no longer around. I also had to purchase 2 more new Sony speakers that I use for the rear. Not a matched set, but it still sounds good.

So now I’ve been collecting reel to reel tapes and cassette tapes. Bummer that I got rid of most of my cassettes back in the 90’s. At least I kept most of my equipment. Cassette decks from the late 70's, 80's and early 90's are making a come back. Do a search for Nakamichi Dragon which can go for $2,000!
Don't car speakers have different Ohms than home speakers? How does this work in practice, mixing and matching?
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