Tweeked the VTA today.
How I spent my time at home
I’m in New York and do not work in an industry defined as essential so I’m working from home. This sound system of mine is seriously interfering with my ability to get work done at home. Too distracting. In any event, I’m listening a lot now, which isn’t a bad thing.
Taken the time as well to fiddle with things-
1- made sure my equipment racks were level, particularly the one that has my turntable on it
2- rearranged gear/ pretty much just because
3- surprised- I found almost all the locking nuts on the spiked feet of my stands were loose so all got tightened
4- checked VTF (no gremlins came in over time to mess up my VTF)
5- fiddled with usb output Settings on my MacBook Pro
6- tried to straighten out the mess of wiring behind my gear. No success- still a mess, just a different mess
7- discovered a dial bulb is out on an old Marantz tuner so I need to find a bulb- GE #55; do I go original style, LED, do I replace the burned out one or as long as I’m in there, all of them? Decisions! Turns out I have a bunch of GE #47’s at home, but no spare #55’s.
I am open to suggestions for more stuff to tinker with
Taken the time as well to fiddle with things-
1- made sure my equipment racks were level, particularly the one that has my turntable on it
2- rearranged gear/ pretty much just because
3- surprised- I found almost all the locking nuts on the spiked feet of my stands were loose so all got tightened
4- checked VTF (no gremlins came in over time to mess up my VTF)
5- fiddled with usb output Settings on my MacBook Pro
6- tried to straighten out the mess of wiring behind my gear. No success- still a mess, just a different mess
7- discovered a dial bulb is out on an old Marantz tuner so I need to find a bulb- GE #55; do I go original style, LED, do I replace the burned out one or as long as I’m in there, all of them? Decisions! Turns out I have a bunch of GE #47’s at home, but no spare #55’s.
I am open to suggestions for more stuff to tinker with
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What I did today- 1- tried a few different settings on my phono preamp for cartridge loading- wound up going from 166 to 250 ohms 3- increased speaker toe-in- can just barely see the inner side panels now when in my listening chair 4- ordered some LPs 5- got a cd in the mail 6- cleaned some records exciting stuff going on in my home! |
To prepare our house for listing, all my equipment was boxed up and moved to a climate controlled storage unit (thanks to my son and his strong friend), my bass traps were un-installed and donated, etc. While those showings were happening, we drove 500 miles down to our daughter/granddaughter's house. Our new house won't be ready until February or March, so I'm enjoying my son-in-law's modest system (at very low volumes), until we move! |
I checked the level on my TT's then dusted and cleaned the covers. While dusting, I snapped the cantilever off my AT-33PTG/II, yeah that hurt! The replacement 33 arrived Tuesday and I'm about 20 Lp's into the break-in process. LP Gear is not immune the craziness of the Pandemic. I ordered a new AT-33PTG/II and received at tracking number, the day before the scheduled delivery the shipment was canceled. LP Gear replied to my WTF email by telling me they were out of stock and were arranging a "Drop Shipment" from Japan. I asked why I was not told they were out of stock before I paid. They said sorry and I said Cancel The Order. Lack of communications cost them a sale. Funny, I had communications issues with LP Gear maybe 10 years ago and stopped using them. The Needle Dr retired and I started to use the again. |
Nonoise, I drove past an auto parts store today coming home from the supermarket. Turns out a #55 bulb is commonly stocked in auto parts stores. Bought a 2 pack. The tuner has 4 dial bulbs. 2 are easy to get to and 2 not so easy. The stereo indicator light is a bitch as that’s in a tight spot and it’s soldered in place. I had to replace that once, So, I took out the bad bulb and the other one that had easy access, replaced those 2, put the one good bulb I took out and put it with my spares, closed up the tuna and we are back in business. Still- I’ll check out the link |
You might want to check out these LED replacement bulbs for your Marantz:http://www.vintage-electronics.net/marantzledlampkits.aspx They're cheap and it'd give you some more reason to get down and dirty in your spare time. 👍 All the best, Nonoise |
I have been enjoying my new LUMIN T2. Cruising thru Tidal looking for new artists - at least new to me. working on my stock portfolio - lots of bargains out there. trying to learn my new Apple TV remote! Not easy for a 66 year old but making progress! Tired of TV news - watching a movie each night with my wife! Oh / and drinking wine! Happy Listening- stay safe and healthy! |
@boxer12, I was thinking the exact same thing: “Hello my dear . . Stereo? What stereo? I am retired and apparently much less ambitious than your average Audiogonian. I am fairly satisfied with a bit of music, my favorite beverage and checking out old emails and assorted forums. Here in Ohio, the Governor didn’t implement the stay-at-home order until midnight early Tuesday. Monday, I picked up a Fisher fm-660 tuner that the guy gave to me for free because the stereo light wasn’t coming on — stayed in mono. Lacking contact cleaner spray, I did the best I could to clean the switch with a Q-tip and isopropyl alcohol. That helped but it is still not working each time. I will try again when I get spray contact cleaner. I don’t listen to radio much except in the car, so I didn’t want to put much money into this. Wednesday is grocery shopping day, in search of toilet paper, water, a few food items and medication. The thrill of my day. |
Thank you @zavato You just reminded exactly why I am trying to keep from working at home! 😕 Our Gov. in MI basically put the kibosh on most work Monday, even though neighboring IN and OH have much less restrictive Executive Orders. I feel for you folks in NY and send best wishes that you get over the worst sooner rather than later. |
zavato, If the mess of wire looks like this you're okay. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 If not, make it so. Improvement in sound quality guaranteed- and free! Check out the system pics. Do not "play around" with speaker position, but do try a few very fine and precise adjustments. If you have never done this you may be surprised how much imaging performance is lost in even the tiniest asymmetry. The very effective approach no one takes because its so time consuming. Which is your goal. To consume time. So no excuses! Use a tape measure just like in my System pics. Measure 3 corners of each speaker. If your room is symmetrical then measure from the side and front walls. If not then use the tape to create a line between them and adjust to make it perpendicular to your listening spot. Then measure and finally eyeball to make them perfectly equidistant and with exactly the same toe in. Notice in my System description Mike heard pinpoint imaging in a wide fat stage? This is how its done. Well, one part anyway. But a big one. VTF- you checked. Great. All that means is you're within spec. Which is a range. Within that range VTF is set by ear. If you're at the low end of the range try a little more. If nothing else you will gain new appreciation for turntable tunability. You want more? I got more. I got a million of em! More than you have time for I bet! But this will get you started. |