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Beautiful TEAC Koda, perhaps aching for 10.5” reels. Somewhat of a Pandora’s box as NAB hubs and metal reels are getting harder to find and more expensive. Not unlike unmolested quality used Oldsmobiles.
Good idea. Previous owner had NAB adapters and 10s on it. This guy will only play 7.5 and 15 IPS reels. My dad's two decks are still out for repair, so, once I get them back, his 3.75 IPS collection will be available for play on those. I've currently got a 3D cad program (Inventor) on my other screen; I have to figure out how to expand the rack to fit:
3 turntables and a CD-4 box for vinyl.
3 reel to reel decks, 2 8 track decks, 1 cassette deck for tape.
1 stereo CD player, 1 universal disc player for SACD and DVD-A for digital discs
A PC for files off a hard drive, a bluetooth receiver, and a nice DAC to translate that all to analog and the stereo CD player's digital as well
A tuner for more radio.
An LED oscilloscope for visualizing this surround madness.
At least 4 DBX 200 switchboxes for all the sources
1 receiver for the front channels, a preamp and amp for the back channels
And one Quad Adapter Preamp to weld this alliance together.
I could cut a couple things out of that, but the previous rack was designed for a stereo, not a quad unit, so 8 more pieces of gear now have to fit.
I'm picking up a matched Sansui Tu-717 tuner and AU-717 amp this week, both serviced/recapped to move into my living room rack - the Pioneer TX-9500 II tuner / SA-9500 amp combo that's in it now will be moved into the spare bedroom. I keep saying I will try to sell off my excess to make room for the additions but somehow that never happens - instead I just keep finding other rooms to put them in......
Nearing the end of the quest for the ultimate quad rig. One of the frontiers is how to deal with digital sources. One typically has a CD player, a computer, and a bluetooth receiver for your phone to play something, or someone else's phone. Another rabbit hole is DVD-A, DSD, and SACD digital multi-channel decoding, but you need a separate player with surround analog out, and that is not this.
For stereo, there's a bunch of two channel external digital to analog converters, DACs. Most use delta sigma chips and that is perfectly fine. There is a niche audio market of "the most analog sound" and they use something called an R2R resistor ladder of precisely matched resistors to make it work. There are also things called Digital to Digital Converters, also called reclockers, that finesse a digital signal after USB beats on it, and then sends it via a high speed, high bandwidth digital signal called I2S to a DAC.
In the picture, under the Very Best of Meatloaf, is a DDC sitting on a DAC, with a receiver and speaker behind it, and a cd player to the right. The two devices under discussion are Denafrips brand Chinese Hi Fi, or ChiFi, a segment that really offers bang for the buck quality per pricepoint. This is a test rig in my kitchen on the breakfast table to test and burn in the units before they go to the main system, plus I need to expand the rack.
It was a mild pain to get the DDC and DAC talking with digital pairs of conductors, but, it sounds good now, not burned in, and on a mediocre receiver needing restoration and 90s entry level bookshelf speakers. Played 4 CDs now; I'm hearing things in them I did not know were there.
Last edited by Koda; April 15th, 2024 at 09:14 PM.
Great stuff guys. Recently found the lightest CD player (perhaps ever made) for $12, looks cool playing disc vertically. Circa 1986, rebadged Yorx, but Made In Japan, so not bad.
A very far cry (albeit much more cost-effective) than the elusive Technics SL-P10 that I’ve been looking for.
November 24th, 2023, 06:53 PM
