First, let me thank 8W for donating a set of Sony speakers that went into an earlier system. Also thanks to pbj and non-prophet for donations that will find their way into future systems. All that said, this is the first of my "give away systems" that was built from the ground up as a group endeavor.
OBG donated the Kenwood KR-77 receiver which is at the heart of the system. It is a decent sounding unit which Pepe said he did some recapping on. I did nothing except a shot of DeOxit due to one noisy pot and a little elbow grease to make the face shine.
schwarcw offered up the Scott PS-67A turntable. When he gave it to me, it had a Technics 440Ml cart on it. I love that cart and had use for it. So with Carl's blessing I kept it back for myself and provided our young recipient a slightly lesser cart. A Shure 91ED with an original HiTrack stylus which I bought for $.25 at the Goodwill outlet. Some people (including the table's donor, I suspect) would say that I gave the kid an upgrade, but of course they would be wrong. I strongly suspect that this table is a CEC build and it is also better than one would think on first glance. The pressboard plinth is far less resonant than many of similar construction. The arm is quiet and authoritative (like many CEC tables to my experience). The speed is dead on to my ear. There were three issues when the table was given to me, and I was able to resolve one and lessen a second. The issue which was over my head is that the strobe works at 45 but not at 33. It lights up still at 33, but the frequency of the strobe doesn't seem to change. I was hoping for a switch/DeOxit issue, but opening it up leads me to believe that it is a problem with an IC somewhere. The problem that I was able to resolve was the semi-auto return wasn't working. There is a screw
inside the deck to adjust for this. Basically I had to give it a couple turns, button it back up and see how close the adjustment was. Convenient, huh? I got it right in just a few minutes. Lastly, the cuing arm drops like a rock instead of setting down lightly. I was able to aid that some, but couldn't resolve it to my complete satisfaction. I suggested to the recipient that he se the lever only for lifting and that he drop the needle manually.
I found the Technics SB-CR33 speakers at the thrift, $3 for the pair (still not sure if I over paid). They are better than they look, but then again they would almost have to be. When I found decent $3 speakers with no grills, I knew they would have to find a home with a college student. Not having to concern one's self with ascetics is one of the benefits (or is it a draw back?) of bachelorhood. If you look closely, you will see that Jerome also had fun redecorating one of the dust caps. gdv gave me replacements, but I ran out of time to glue them on, and when he got to my house the recipient said not to bother.
I spent more than a week using it before I gave the rig away. It was a fun listen. QC is a laborsome task but someone has got to do it.
The system went to a young undergrad named Matt. He seemed very pleased. Up until now his system was a Crosley suitcase, so he was already on the vinyl bandwagon, but even this modest system was a major upgrade for him. He asked me to thank all of the donors. I thank them as well and I also thank our host and the entire community for establishing an environment where something like this can happen. It is a great thing you all do.
