22 replies to this topic

[miniman24]

As some of you may know, my other hobby besides Minis is home audio, had a few systems now all by my favourite maker, Technics. This is my current system, which is up for sale at the minute to fund this new one



Im downsizing in a way, as I never use the CD deck, everything I listen to is either vinal, tape or digital. I also reckon this new system sounds better than my current one, it just sounds warmer. I shouldnt really say "new system", its around 15 years older than my current one Its going to consist of an ST-7300 Tuner, SU-7100 Amp and 615 Tape Deck. Ill also get a digital graphical equalizer but itll be seperate from the main system as it wont fit in looks wise - and looks are very important with this system, it looks awesome!

Ive made a project page as all 3 of the seperates need work doing - the tuner needs new dial bulbs, the tape deck needs a few joints re-soldering and the amps controls are all crackly through the speakers. Got the tuner today, by far the best looking tuner Ive ever seen!









Popped the top off and cleaned it inside:





Bulbs are ordered, had to search a while to find a place that stocks them!

Also managed to find a picture of the amp and tape deck Im waiting for:



Ill update when the next piece arrives :)

[MGBailey007]

looks like a nice system

[miniman24]

Cheers Bailey, I just reckon this classic stuff looks so effortlessly cool against most modern plastic rubbish :)

We have light! Picked up a couple of bulbs today from a motorbike spares shop - the bulbs I needed were 6V which most bikes seem to run on, £2 a piece and thankfully the circuit works :)





The pics dont do it justice, it uses a sort of baffle system to reduce the light to a warm orange glow, works perfectly with the brushed stainless front!

Edited by miniman24, 26 May 2012 - 06:50 PM.

[miniman24]

Cancelled the order for the 7100 amp as I came across an SU-7700 for £5 at a carboot today! Seeing as they go for around £160 on ebay, Im pretty happy Here it is:



Ill post a couple more pics when Ive played with it abit and cleaned it :)

[MrBounce]

Oooh I love this! I've got some early-to-mid 90s Technics gear that I bought when i got my first job. Still lovely now. Always wanted my Uncle's old 1970s Marantz music centre, but I never found out where that went...

[miniman24]

Haha thanks! The system in the first post is all 1991 gear, sounds great but I love the late 70's stuff for looks - the Marantz stuff from that era looks great too, way out of my budget though

Just had a little play around on the computer and designed a couple of posters to go up on canvas print on the wall behind the system when its done:





Im a big fan of that kind of tatty/shabby artwork! Theyre both a play on the logos found on the front of all the units, one Technics and one National Panasonic, who they were merged with at the time:

[miniman24]

A few more pics of the amp, just hooked it up to the equalizer and speakers - its really not overstating when I say its the best sounding amp Ive ever heard, every sound band sounds incredible through it, clean and crisp but warm and punchy. Still has a few faults that need fixing, a few of the switches are temperamental and the stereo - mono switch does nothing at all, but its stuck in stereo so thats fine











Just the tape deck to arrive now!

[danie garry]

i'l be honest here, i'v no interest in this kind of stuff at all! but my dad brought home some similar stuff made by sharp, i'l post up a pic later and see what you think!

[miniman24]

Lol it takes all sorts I suppose! Until a few months ago, neither did I but I had to have a decent system for uni, so bought a cheap new amp and speakers, which didnt sound nearly as good as the older systems that some of the guys had, so I bought the system at the top of this page cheap, then heard the system that Im building now, and the quailty of the sound was just immense! Heard stuff in my favourite songs that you just cant hear on cheap systems, its like seeing HD telly for the first time And I think they look fantastic

Managed to get time to play with the amp abit today, cleaned the problem switches and replaced the VU meter bulb in this too, the filament disintegrated when I touched the bulb!

Cover off:







The volume pot - gave it a douse of cleaner as it was scratchy:



The switches that were cleaned, this one didnt work at all!



The bulb I replaced:



Where it goes:



All lit up:



And the Halfrauds cleaner, bargain at £3.99



The amps working nicely now, and Im listening to all my music again because it just sounds worlds better through this compared to the newer system at the top of the page

Tape deck next!

Edited by miniman24, 02 June 2012 - 10:19 PM.

[miniman24]

Got home from uni yesterday and, much to my mums annoyance, hooked the system up in my room







Cant play it too loud though because Im right above the living room

Hopefully the tape deck will arrive tomorrow, most interesting piece of the system IMO

[danie garry]

wired up the radio on it for the first time, didnt realize the volume was up full whack, bit of a hop to say the least!!
tel me what you think?!

[Alex_B]

Oh i am in love, i have a soft spot for vintage analogue equipment of all kinds, and those 70's switches, dials ect look fantastic! ima have to get myself some of this stuff when I have some spare change but I imagine its all quite expensive!

[cradley-heathen]

when i was about 11 myself and my brother got into this kinda thing. but then it was all in charity shops and was utterly worthless (nearly 20 years ago!)

it wasnt new enough to be cool, and not old enough to be retro (that word hadnt started being reused then either lol)

[miniman24]

That looks like some cool kit Danie, the top tape player looks interesting, is that an lcd in the middle?

Yeah the stuff on ebay is very expensive, was watching an amp the same as mine a few days ago that went for £160! For just the amp! Got mine for a fiver But the stuff is still out there, abit like barn find Minis, just hiding away in someones loft

Wish I could see the stuff for sale in charity shops back then, now all the cheap stuff is the late 90's era, when they were made entirely out of plastic and the amps weighed about a kilo... dont do any song justice!

Got the tape player through yesterday, and good news, the bad sound that I throught was due to dodgy soldering turned out just to be a dirty playing head - cleaned it and it sounds like new!

Cover off:







In the stack:









Also picked the bottom two speakers up from a fellow tmf'er today - Celestion Ditton 200's, sound great!





The next thing on the list is a stand to put them all in! I really want one the same as the one in this video, looks fantastic:



Theres 2 on ebay but theyre both a few hundred miles away and neither seller will post

[danie garry]

yea, its an lcd, i probably should plug it in and see what it does!!
took the model numbers and googled em, cant seem to find a whole pile about em
the amp- SM-1122
stereo tuner- ST-1122
tape deck- RT-1122

then the tape deck with the lcd is RT-3151
then theres the other amp, an akai GXC-710D

do them numbers mean anything in the stereo world cause they mean squat to me!!

edit*
http://www.tapeheads...read.php?t=5280

http://theartofsound...read.php?t=2390 the late 70's?? really??

Edited by danie garry, 09 June 2012 - 12:04 AM.