Unfashionable Hi-Fi............

[admin_exported]

Under the guise of altruism I am over-hauling my girlfriends stereo (something that I have mentioned before - for those with a keen eye and a low threshold for repetitiveness). This is not altruistic, of course, it is a way of me indulging my hi-fi/Ebay passion and getting rid of her 10+ year old Pro-ject/Technics entry level system and getting something a bit more palpable.....

I have already blown her away by swapping her light weight amp for a heavier, better (but still no where near good enough) Sherwood AVR unit a friend bestowed upon me. I swapped out her horrible JVC interconnectors (as she cutely calls them) for some proper ones (thus making the biggest difference) and gave her some okay-ish speaker cable going into some floor Tannoy stand-mounts (on some stands)... finally I took her stack system off of the bookshelf/side board and put it on a Target hi-fi shelf.

All this has made a BIG difference (for all you doubting Thomas's).... but now for the bigger plunge.... to change and buy some hardware...

... and here we reach a problem. Because she is skint and so am I. Not a little bit skint... but totally credit crunched...

I have to say that I do not mind that. My favourite hi-fi equipment is not the Naim that cost thousands upon thousands, it is the thing that sounds almost as good as a Naim but cost a very small percentage of the price - just a personal thing.

So I have drawn up a list...

Turntable.

no ability to skimp here... it will (after much thinking) be a Rega Planar 2 or 3 with a RB300 tone-arm.

CD player.

The NAD C521BEE or the C542 seem to go for a good price... after that it is the Marantz's; CD63se K.I. (if I am lucky)... more likely a CD67se MK II. If I am lucky the 5000 series or 6000 series goes cheap....... Maybe an Arcam Alpha 8 if I am really lucky.

Finally.... Amp.

Now I have been casting about. The ideal for the bargain hunter is a good quality brand that time has forgotten and taking inspiration from what she already has I began thinking about a Technics again. The SU-A600 Mk II through to the SU-A900 Mk II (i.e. 600/700/800/900) seem to go for peanuts on Fleabay and fit the bill. I seem to remember back in the day Technics were THE brand (mid-ninties). They were audiophile, built like the brick out-house and reliable. The audiophile equivalent of a Lexus... not as romantic or stylish as a European brand but too good to ignore.

So why am I here?

Well tartan hooded tops, dread-locks and The Levellers were also a good idea in the mid-nineties... perhaps the Technics thing (which I was not really into hi-fi back then) was my imagination, hear-say (the main-stream labelling mediocre as brilliant) or they were not that good after all. After all it is not as if Technics are not on the map now?!? Looking at the WHF reviews section Technics Amps are not represented at all (and I am guessing that is not WHF staffers fault!)... so... what do you guys think?

I would also like to hear other suggestions... I am not sure of Pioneer, Dual and other brands that time has forgotten but any help would be appreciated.

Take it easy.

 

[nads]

if you can get the C542 at a good price get it.

it is good.

 

[John Duncan]

Just to save me trawling through eBay to find the going rate for all those things - how much money do you actually want to spend on amp and CD (not going to argue with your Rega choice)?

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:Just to save me trawling through eBay to find the going rate for all those things - how much money do you actually want to spend on amp and CD (not going to argue with your Rega choice)?

Well I am still working out the going rates myself... it is a laborious task in which you never really have an answer until the proverbial fat lady sings.... also I do good at searching out the bargains (the trick is to wait - because it always comes up at your price - and to look for the stuff that is mis-labelled).

The following figures are less going market rate (I can tell you more in a day or two) but more my own personal targets.

I think that it should be possible to get an SU-A700/900 Mk II for sub-£75

I am aiming for the NAD CD player to come in at less than £150. This is very possible for the C521BEE and more of a challenge (though not impossible) for the NAD C542.

The record deck it is a matter of waiting but the Rega decks came in re-branded Goldring and NAD versions and so I will just sit on it. The Rega badged version is £250 or there abouts... anything under £200 for a like for like product is good.

She can take care of her own cable and speaker upgrades.....

After this basic list is completed - if the strain of me costantly yabbering on about secondhand hi-fi has not ended our relationship - I shall begin the task of factoring in the computer side of the equation......

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:Just to save me trawling through eBay to find the going rate for all those things - how much money do you actually want to spend on amp and CD (not going to argue with your Rega choice)?

I should say by the way that the CD-67se Mk II represents a bargain and I am fairly confident that one of these can be gotten for £30 or less (done a few times for friends) and the only thing that puts me off is the age (I had two CD63 K.I. Sigs that developed similar problems - intermittant 'bopp-ing' after skipping, stopping and playing tracks).

 

[Andrew Everard]

As an aside, I remember being invited down to the listening room of one of Technics' staff for the launch of the A-series amps, and asking if they had any particular brands as a target for the new models.

"Not really, we just want to make something audiophile everyone can afford", said the man sitting on a chair underneath which the then class-leading Arcam Alpha budget amp was clearly visible.

The disappearance of the Technics brand shouldn't be of any worry - the company decided to rebrand all its consumer electronics as Panasonic some years back, just as Matsushita (the then parent company) also rebranded itself as Panasonic last year.

The Technics brand lives on in some pro and musical instrument fields, such as the DJ-use direct drive turntables.

I reckon one of the A-series amps would be a good buy for the kind of money at which you can now pick one up, but bear in mind they're getting on a bit now, and may have been through several owners. I'd be listening for noisy switches and volume controls, and inputs not working as they should.

 

[Anonymous]

Andrew Everard:
As an aside, I remember being invited down to the listening room of one of Technics' staff for the launch of the A-series amps, and asking if they had any particular brands as a target for the new models.

"Not really, we just want to make something audiophile everyone can afford", said the man sitting on a chair underneath which the then class-leading Arcam Alpha budget amp was clearly visible.

The disappearance of the Technics brand shouldn't be of any worry - the company decided to rebrand all its consumer electronics as Panasonic some years back, just as Matsushita (the then parent company) also rebranded itself as Panasonic last year.

The Technics brand lives on in some pro and musical instrument fields, such as the DJ-use direct drive turntables.

I reckon one of the A-series amps would be a good buy for the kind of money at which you can now pick one up, but bear in mind they're getting on a bit now, and may have been through several owners. I'd be listening for noisy switches and volume controls, and inputs not working as they should.

Thanks Mr. Everard... it is as I thought but you never know....

 

[Anonymous]

Well worth keeping an eye open for a good Rega Planar P3 on fleabay as I got mine with an RB300 arm and AT110 cart for £170 about four months ago and it sounds superb.

 

[the record spot]

Andrew Everard:
As an aside, I remember being invited down to the listening room of one of Technics' staff for the launch of the A-series amps, and asking if they had any particular brands as a target for the new models.

"Not really, we just want to make something audiophile everyone can afford", said the man sitting on a chair underneath which the then class-leading Arcam Alpha budget amp was clearly visible.

The disappearance of the Technics brand shouldn't be of any worry - the company decided to rebrand all its consumer electronics as Panasonic some years back, just as Matsushita (the then parent company) also rebranded itself as Panasonic last year.

The Technics brand lives on in some pro and musical instrument fields, such as the DJ-use direct drive turntables.

I reckon one of the A-series amps would be a good buy for the kind of money at which you can now pick one up, but bear in mind they're getting on a bit now, and may have been through several owners. I'd be listening for noisy switches and volume controls, and inputs not working as they should.

Also worth watching out for one seller on a ceetain well known auction site who is flogging off old Technics stock for stupid (and I mean stupid) money. The series 900 pre-power combo was being offered at about £800 the other month. That was somewhere over and above it's original RRP. Apparently, the company selling it was pitching it as "rare" and "classic" from memory. Hmmmm...!

 

[chebby]

the record spot:

Also worth watching out for one seller on a ceetain well known auction site who is flogging off old Technics stock for stupid (and I mean stupid) money. The series 900 pre-power combo was being offered at about £800 the other month. That was somewhere over and above it's original RRP. Apparently, the company selling it was pitching it as "rare" and "classic" from memory. Hmmmm...!

Possibly the seller you refer to is Panasonic UK's own old stock clearance operation. (Or purports to be.) Stuff is usually 'ex display' but the prices are steep. (Feedback looks good though and they offer guarantees on the ex display stuff.)

They give their full name and postal address and phone number and VAT registration number on the bottom of every item page so I don't think it looks shady.

I guess if you want an as-new Technics item from someone giving full 12 month parts and labour guarantees, who can actually source parts and do the servicing themselves, then maybe the premium is worth it.

 

[the record spot]

Maybe, just depends if 12 year old NOS is worth that premium.

 

[chebby]

It is entirely possible that 12 year old NOS Technics will last longer than anything comparable made today due to being too old to suffer from the industry compliance to ROHS directives on eliminating lead free solder in recent years. (No whiskers on old hifi.)

 

[robg1976]

hi mate i have a nad c542 and its a great player for the money, iv tryed my friend other gear like c.a and marantz they all have there ltes say in house sound the cambridge being very transparend and lots of detail. and the marants has great treble. but the nad does not stand out in any particular area other than to say its very musical great soundstage and just sound great no mastter what you play.

 

[SteveR750]

I sold a mint condition 542 for £113 about 3 weeks ago - boxed, with all manuals, original packaging including the placcy bags for the leads and remote. It was in prefcte operational and visual order, so your budget for one of these is more than enough. They really are very good machines, much better IMO than the cambridge 640 azur of the same vintage.

 

[the record spot]

chebby:
It is entirely possible that 12 year old NOS Technics will last longer than anything comparable made today due to being too old to suffer from the industry compliance to ROHS directives on eliminating lead free solder in recent years. (No whiskers on old hifi.)

You're preaching to the converted about the benefits of older kit here Chebby, but the pricing is optimistics at best. An SLPG4 for £199 and apparently this is at a "significantly reduced price"?

Some mistake surely, not least, if memory serves, that that same player sold for less than half that on its' original release...in any case, a lot of this stuff is being sold as Ex-Display, so a price cut would be in order. Depends on the buyer I guess, but some of that blurb is a tad misleading I think.

 

[Anonymous]

If monies tight I'd look at a little creek 4040, it should be about 20odd, it's a little sweetie sonically, it's not powerful, not a looker, but it's one sweet sounding little amp.

 

[Dougal1331]

Save some dough and stick an Ortofon 2M Red cartridge on the ProJect!

 

[Dougal1331]

Check out Rotel amps too, notably RA971mk2, These can be upgraded later with additional RB971 power amps...

Very nice sounding units!

 

[Anonymous]

Dougal1331:
Check out Rotel amps too, notably RA971mk2, These can be upgraded later with additional RB971 power amps...

Very nice sounding units!

Cheers dude... for all the advice but the Rotel advice as well.... my slow mind only just began thinking about Rotel today, I am not knowledgable on them at all but I know that people speak highly of them.... off to search ebay.

 

[the record spot]

Yes, good call on the Rotel kit - very underrated IMO. You'll land one of those RB971's for less than £100 - excellent power amp for very sensible cash.