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What stereo(s) do you listen to? What do you want?

Rumpelstiltskin

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Looking for some advice. Sold an amp on US Audiomart last week. The previous owner of the amp had it serviced by the manufacturer (Pass Labs). I thought the amp sounded great and performed just fine, but I recently chose to use Magnepan speakers that require more power than than amp can provide (25W), hence my decision to sell.

Right away I could tell the buyer was going to be a PITA. Got the amp and immediately is sending me e-mails about how it doesn't sound quite right. He contacts Pass Labs and asks them to take a look at it. He wants me to pay to have the amp shipped to Pass Labs. My initial reaction, is GFY. I'm also of the the mindset that if you give a mouse a cookie...he's gonna ask for a glass of milk.

OTOH, the buyer could file a complaint with PayPal and I could end up having to refund all the money.

What would you do?

With every communication make sure that you that state the amp was in excellent physical condition condition and was operating well within if not above factory specs at the time of sale. Then note that speaker pairing, room size/shape, sound treament (or lack thereof) as well as speakers out of phase, poor grounding, electrical spikes, user error etc. can all be contributing factors to what he might deem to be unsasfactory sound. If the new owner feels it is necessary to have a professional inspect it, that is his perrogative. You are neither accountable for that assessment nor liable for any costs incurred. Or something like that.
 

Rumpelstiltskin

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Maybe it's my old ears, but I think tapes recorded off of good sources, using decent decks and decent cassettes, sound excellent. No difference from digital if it's not back to back. I think it's especially good when listened in a vintage car with period-correct audio equipment. Road, wind, and engine noise drown out what would normally bother audiophiles.

img_3867-jpeg.1834357

A couple years ago Blaupunkt released an updated deck that mimics the look of this deck. Instead of a cassette it has a hidden sd card slot, a usb port, and an aux in. The deck also has bluetooth for handsfree calling


Blaupunkt-Bremen-SQR-46-DAB-einbaubild.jpg
517AZ2iWFGL._AC_SL1200_.jpg
 

Rumpelstiltskin

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On today's episode of Faking It Until Your Make It, Rumpelstiltskin posted a picture of his non-operational Akai GX-4000D reel to reel next to the little Pioneer SX-525 receiver that serves as his computer amp on Instagram.

HbjcsWF.jpg



Because he is a lazy SOB, Rumpels has yet to tear into the aforementioned reel to reel in order to make it operational but has no qualms plugging it to show off the purdy lights and even mounted tape reels to aid in the deception. This is his first time ever "Doing It For The Gram"

Rumpels used the excuse "Practicing low light photography using manual settings" as an excuse for the picture and reportedly said, "No shame to my game!"

Ugh. Back to you Bob...
 
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Rumpelstiltskin

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The other night I was up late trying to find the end of Al Gore's internet and stumbled across some good looking HiFi setups

tumblr_p1u8kjIGl11req0feo1_1280.jpg


0121_devore3.jpg


Both of these setups feature DeVore Orangutan speakers. Notice that they have a more than passing resemblance to Snell Type E and Audio Note AN-E, no big surprise considering John DeVore was/is a big fan of Snell speakers, especially Type E ii & E iii. So I started thinking and said to myself "Self? You never use your grills so why don't you shave off the lip redo your speakers with some type of bold and/or exotic veneer not just on the sides but on the face as well so that you too can show off your wide baffle speakers in all their glory on the interwebz?"

So I answered myself and said, "Well Self, you have a bunch of projects that you have yet to begin: restring the tuner on that Sui receiver, finish fixing those 3 reel to reels, re-veneer ANOTHER pair of speakers, design and build an aesthetically pleasing vinyl storage solution. And let's not foget that cassette deck they you were supposed to order belts for 2 years ago"

And I responded to myself in the only manner that I could: "Why are you always bringing up old sh!t?"
 
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Oswald Cornelius

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Those are Devore O/96s, I've got O/93s and would love to upgrade to the 96s. People do and they say it's quite a step up. I've never done a real head-to-head, but it's hard to believe there's a huge difference. That said, the folks who have done it know what they're doing.

And that's John Devore in the bottom picture in the studio that's part of his factory. He's got a nice little YouTube channel where he does record reviews and talks hifi.
 

Rumpelstiltskin

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Those are Devore O/96s, I've got O/93s and would love to upgrade to the 96s. People do and they say it's quite a step up. I've never done a real head-to-head, but it's hard to believe there's a huge difference. That said, the folks who have done it know what they're doing.

And that's John Devore in the bottom picture in the studio that's part of his factory. He's got a nice little YouTube channel where he does record reviews and talks hifi.

What's your opinion on the O/Reference?

DeVore-Fidelity-O-Reference-Loudspeakers.jpg
 

Oswald Cornelius

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What's your opinion on the O/Reference?

I've not heard them but have heard from people familiar with the DeVore range who have. If they're as good as they say, I'm very impressed! I followed along as JD was developing them and I know they're very well thought out and beautifully made. Overkill for my purposes unless my ship comes in. In fact, I don't see the need to upgrade from the 93s to the 96s, and a number of people whose opinions I respect have done that. And I understand the O Ref takes it up a few notches from the the 96s.
 

scb

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is that a royal tenenbaums quote?
 

Rumpelstiltskin

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@Rumpelstiltskin what's wrong with your Akai? I have 2 of these

It was rescued from a basement of a hoarder. It powers on but that is the extent of my "diagnosis" as I have yet to crack the case. I assume that I will have to clean, lube, & change belt(s) is the minimum that it needs. I have already downloaded the user and service manuals from hifiengine
 

chobochobo

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Finally dug out one of my old GX4000D's to make a little 'analogue corner' in the living room after digging out my stored vinyl and tapes and putting them in some Kallaxes.
 

chobochobo

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The final piece of my vintage hifi arrived today - a Marantz 7 preamp, driving my Marantz 8 poweramp. I'm done now (except for that Garrard 301 with dual arms - one being a 12" LOL). Slightly underwhelming because I had a Luxman CL-36U in place whilst waiting for a restored 7 at a decent ish (low yen helps) price - I think the output levels are slightly lower.

In other news, I have been getting Ikea shelving to finally put my vinyl/ tapes etc out, instead of being put away in storage boxes. Hopefully I'll wean myself off the convenience of Spotify.
 

Rumpelstiltskin

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The final piece of my vintage hifi arrived today - a Marantz 7 preamp, driving my Marantz 8 poweramp. I'm done now (except for that Garrard 301 with dual arms - one being a 12" LOL). Slightly underwhelming because I had a Luxman CL-36U in place whilst waiting for a restored 7 at a decent ish (low yen helps) price - I think the output levels are slightly lower.

In other news, I have been getting Ikea shelving to finally put my vinyl/ tapes etc out, instead of being put away in storage boxes. Hopefully I'll wean myself off the convenience of Spotify.

I've been trying my damndest to not buy Kallax shelves because I loathe Ikea but they are so friggin useful
 

chobochobo

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Kallaxes are super useful for vinyl. Helmer cabinets are good for cassettes. I haven't found anything for 7" reels, the closest/most useful is the 'Billy book case' - 11" deep shelves so some 'wastage'. I found an old 'medicine drawer' with lots of small drawers that may be good for 5" reels, it's arriving tomorrow. It's nice to potentially have all my stuff visible/ within reach instead of put away in storage boxes. When unpacking those boxes, I found that I'd accumulated several copies of certain stuff, due to losing track of what I already had.

When I move, I'll probably get something 'bespoke' made, maybe with sliding drawers. The weight of the stuff is a bit of a worry though.
 

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