Recent content by Old Dex

I'm in the same boat with the same gear. There is no back-up official service available without paying a lot for a diagnosis. I've found a highlty qualified tech in the NW who's happy to have a look without a high pre-charge for doing so. My brother also has a friend who's an amp builder who's...

Sony made some great cassette decks. my TC-KE400S is still as good as new. I don't use it much but it's still ready whenever.

Once - though strangely at the time I bought it I should have been aware that I owned the whole catalogue for the band in question.

Depends....... .... is your turntable isolated totally, maybe on a wall shelf specifically placed for it. Prior to a house move mine used to be, now it's sat on top of my amp. Which brings up another question, what do you use that's looks OK for levelling your turntable? My turntable has 3...

I still have the Sony TC-KE400S which was a WHF winner of some description iirc. Highly praised partly due to it's ceramic tape holder. It is a very good all rounder, I have possibly a dozen pre-recorded tapes around, though the nature of the beast is that the medium doesn't last well.

Fellow Castle Severn 2 user here (in medium oak *biggrin* ) A friend of mine has a mostly Linn system, he rated the sound from my system as being on par with his - though due to household (read "wife") restrictions his speakers aren't ideally placed.

The Marantz is a very old machine so you may just buy something that hasn't got much life left. Marantz after-sales care in the UK is poor for old kit, it may be better in Europe. The KI Sig deck is supposedly a huge improvement on the SE but you can't avoid its age. I'd agree with saving for...

My Castle floorstanders are lighter under the baffle! Maybe it's all the beeswax polish I've put into them over the years? :-)

A400X user here from new in around 1995 iirc. It was supposed to be the updated A400 which stunned the hi-fi world in punching way above it's weight. I've been told many times that the "X" doesn't sound as good as it's ancestor. Upsides are that it has slighter higher output and is capable of...

Richer Sounds did Eltax about 10 years+ ago. Bought my son some but they didn't last long; though I don't think that was entirely down to the speakers.

I am - on the grounds that I spent a lot of time and cash (to my mind) on the system and had it just how I wanted it. I don't want to start back down the "that's good with that but...." routine again and music is a huge part of my life. Thanks for your suggestion, if all is not yet lost then...

No little red light/glow :-( Looks like I'll be paying the £20 to have it confirmed it's past it.

Yeah, I get that but as is often spoken of on most music forums it's the pairing of the kit you have and right now I'd prefer to keep it stat rather than the hunt of "what goes with this & this?" etc. It took me about 8 years of chopping and changing to get this, the last "kit" I bought was a...

Cool - thanks, I'm happy to give that a try. I'd much prefer to keep it working as it should if at all possible. There's a reason they're regarded as a "classic", as you'll know from being an owner yourself.

Sorry, I was too vague; What I meant was that Marantz' gave me one address only to ship it to for assessment, no nearer agents or approved service centres, whereas Pioneer and Sony do (though I was told by their own agents that Pioneer's parts ordering system is poor).