The Great Vintage Gathering continues...
building on what has gone before and captured electronically for eternity, or until these forums no longer exist, allow me to take you just a little further along this journey - the Great Gathering of Vintage Bits and Bobs.
Of course my effort will never approach the greatest gathering of all ? Family Dog's Collection.
We all (I assume the reader read my introduction a few months back) know about the Pioneer SA-9800 and its initial impact on my audio life and of course most recently the saga of ?the 'flat' R30k integrated amp.? Or maybe you haven't read that post as it's contained within a post related to musicians.
In between all of this, the decision was made to investigate turntable, or as some would call them - record player, options. I have no predilection for just considering vintage equipment, so was open to any decent spinner that would suit our ears. Yes, our ears as my wife is part of this journey.
I also remember a vintage record player sitting in the corner of oom Schalk's loft and what he told me about it.
Reach out to our trusty purveyor of second-hand audio equipment out Roodepoort way and confirm an appointment for a Saturday morning listening session.
First on the list, a ProJect deck, cannot remember the model. This was connected to Francois' labyrinth of cables and equipment. A bit of fiddling and all was good to go...
We listen to an old favourite LP, a 1970 French pressing containing South American folk music, a record I hadn't listened to in decades for the simple reason that I could never find a quality digital recording and to my knowledge, no CD was ever produced, the digital world is a poorer place because of that. I digress...
What I heard sounded ok, looking over at my wife who was seated in the sweet-spot gave me no indication of whether she was appropriately moved. Additional listening to other frisbees ensued and I was ok with what my ears were telling me, but something was lacking a little.
Cue a Francois epiphany...
a consignment of equipment had arrived that Friday night, amongst this arrival was a Linn Axis of unknown age, other than the fact that is was the first generation as identified by the speed selector switch being on the plinth, though the actual birth-date of the deck in question is lost in the sands of time.
Not much music is played before my better half states that this deck sounds better than the previous one. Francois thinks for a moment, I think he had a head-scratching moment, and agrees.
Wife approved - consider the Linn as sold. :2thumbs:
Francois does some adjusting, not sure what he is doing as I have no experience in the arcane sciences of tweaking these ladies.
We get invited into his showroom and listen to what must surely be one of the most pleasant sounding speakers I have ever heard...
connected to a MingDa valve amp is a set of Quad ESL 57s, for the first time my wife is really moved ? she edges closer to the edge of her seat, the midrange is sublime...
and surprisingly these produce a decent amount of decent bass, contrary to a lot of reports I had read over the years.
Simply superb! :drool:
Need to investigate further.
Come Monday morning and the Linn Axis is booked into Croak Audio to ensure that all is well before I actually drop the stylus into one of my grooves. Guillaume being the fundi on all things frisbee-related convinces me to change the stylus as there is no real way of knowing the age of the attached K9 and provides a historical accord of Linn-related record players...most fascinating!
Sadly the news comes back a day later that the speed selector switch wouldn't select 45RPM, we didn't test it during our session at Francois.
On hearing this, Francois is most apologetic, it is as if he was personally to blame for the problem...and promises to fix it. I am well aware that these grand old dames come with challenges and it is most definitely not Francois' fault.
Needless to say, the Linn is repaired and I am asked to come fetch.
Much thanks to Francois for his passion and exemplary services to our community! :2thumbs:
The Great Gathering to be continued in this thread...
building on what has gone before and captured electronically for eternity, or until these forums no longer exist, allow me to take you just a little further along this journey - the Great Gathering of Vintage Bits and Bobs.
Of course my effort will never approach the greatest gathering of all ? Family Dog's Collection.
We all (I assume the reader read my introduction a few months back) know about the Pioneer SA-9800 and its initial impact on my audio life and of course most recently the saga of ?the 'flat' R30k integrated amp.? Or maybe you haven't read that post as it's contained within a post related to musicians.
In between all of this, the decision was made to investigate turntable, or as some would call them - record player, options. I have no predilection for just considering vintage equipment, so was open to any decent spinner that would suit our ears. Yes, our ears as my wife is part of this journey.
I also remember a vintage record player sitting in the corner of oom Schalk's loft and what he told me about it.
Reach out to our trusty purveyor of second-hand audio equipment out Roodepoort way and confirm an appointment for a Saturday morning listening session.
First on the list, a ProJect deck, cannot remember the model. This was connected to Francois' labyrinth of cables and equipment. A bit of fiddling and all was good to go...
We listen to an old favourite LP, a 1970 French pressing containing South American folk music, a record I hadn't listened to in decades for the simple reason that I could never find a quality digital recording and to my knowledge, no CD was ever produced, the digital world is a poorer place because of that. I digress...
What I heard sounded ok, looking over at my wife who was seated in the sweet-spot gave me no indication of whether she was appropriately moved. Additional listening to other frisbees ensued and I was ok with what my ears were telling me, but something was lacking a little.
Cue a Francois epiphany...
a consignment of equipment had arrived that Friday night, amongst this arrival was a Linn Axis of unknown age, other than the fact that is was the first generation as identified by the speed selector switch being on the plinth, though the actual birth-date of the deck in question is lost in the sands of time.
Not much music is played before my better half states that this deck sounds better than the previous one. Francois thinks for a moment, I think he had a head-scratching moment, and agrees.
Wife approved - consider the Linn as sold. :2thumbs:
Francois does some adjusting, not sure what he is doing as I have no experience in the arcane sciences of tweaking these ladies.
We get invited into his showroom and listen to what must surely be one of the most pleasant sounding speakers I have ever heard...
connected to a MingDa valve amp is a set of Quad ESL 57s, for the first time my wife is really moved ? she edges closer to the edge of her seat, the midrange is sublime...
and surprisingly these produce a decent amount of decent bass, contrary to a lot of reports I had read over the years.
Simply superb! :drool:
Need to investigate further.
Come Monday morning and the Linn Axis is booked into Croak Audio to ensure that all is well before I actually drop the stylus into one of my grooves. Guillaume being the fundi on all things frisbee-related convinces me to change the stylus as there is no real way of knowing the age of the attached K9 and provides a historical accord of Linn-related record players...most fascinating!
Sadly the news comes back a day later that the speed selector switch wouldn't select 45RPM, we didn't test it during our session at Francois.
On hearing this, Francois is most apologetic, it is as if he was personally to blame for the problem...and promises to fix it. I am well aware that these grand old dames come with challenges and it is most definitely not Francois' fault.
Needless to say, the Linn is repaired and I am asked to come fetch.
Much thanks to Francois for his passion and exemplary services to our community! :2thumbs:
The Great Gathering to be continued in this thread...
