Speakerholic Sale

I need to slim down the collection of vintage gear. Local sale in Vancouver.

Sherwood S-7200

Mint condition 32 WPC of old school goodness.

Asking $150.00: Sold

Visonik Euro 7

German made from the same lineage as Braun and A/D/S. Some of the best sounding speakers you will ever come across.

Asking $200.00 SOLD

Rotel RA-840BX

Dual power supply conservatively rated at 40WPC, English design made in Taiwan, been a powerhouse staple since I bought it new. MM and MC phono stage. Straight line design.

Asking $200.00 Sold

Merak Mk1

Canadian knock offs of the original Mission 770's. All Seas drivers, wonderful sounding loudspeaker. Very non fatiguing with an open and deep sound stage, a joy to listen too.

Asking $150.00 Sold

 Celestion Ditton 110

A wonderful sounding British loudspeaker that has been fully recapped. Incredible detail.

Asking $100.00 Sold

Sony SS-G5 Speakers

The SS-G series was Sony's King Daddy offering in the mid 70's. Absolute fantastic speaker with a build quality that is very rare to find. Very rare to find these speakers on this side of the Pacific.

Sony pulled out all the stops when building these monsters.

Asking $400.00  Sold

Myryad T-40 Integrated Amp

British designed and built integrated amplifier that does everything perfectly. Spot on mid range, deep bass control and sparkling highs. Under rated 50WPC with loads of headroom to handle 2 ohm loads.

Asking $300.00 Sold

NAD Model 30 Speakers

Similar to Braun's L1030 speakers, NAD's Model 30 uses the same high end German woofer, mid range and tweeter.

As with all German made speakers they are like having the best headphones on your ears, that is how precise the sound is. Along with the Visonik's these are a must have in any audiophiles rotation.

Asking $300.00  : Sold

If interested contact me at bankofdave@gmail.com.

Selling on Craigslist, the dark side.....

So I got a response to one of my ads on Craigslist today for my Sherwood S-7200 Receiver and the conversation went like this..

The crap you go through on Craigslist.
So I am selling a Sherwood S-7200 in this ad and here is the first response/conversation, it is a must share.
1st the ad
http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/ele/5286079521.html

FZ: Omg my offer is 20 dollars it's 52 years old u clown it's worthless it can't do anything

Me: If it is worthless then why are you offering anything

FZ: I offered 20 bucks that's it

Me: Why are you so angry to call people a clown?
Terrible way to go through life condescending others.

FZ: Because u think it's worth 400 bucks hahahahaha are on crack u know what kind of recover now I can get for 1000 bucks one that would kick the shit out yours that recover new in 1975 wasn't worth 400 bucks u really are on glue hahahahaha

Me:That made no sense at all.
Me: Stop texting and driving

FZ: Fuck u I do it all the time and I drink and drive to every week

FZ: Reciver

Me: Well that was fun... I am sure you have $1000 receivers that trounce a Sherwood amp.
I have a tube amp that I picked for $50 and at 5 watts per channel makes all my solid state stuff sound dull and now I am hooked on tube amps
Good luck on your journey down the 2 channel stereo highway

FZ: Listen son I have a lindor amp thAts 100 watts a channel by 7 that would shit kick yours my friend your amp is shit it's ww2 worth 20 bucks that's why it hasn't sold yet

Me: Hey Dad,
I tried to google Lindor and all that came up was chocolate.
Lindor amp did not get me any results either

Me: I just posted it like at 10 am this morning.
Any who.... I don't do 7 channel stuff
So you win.
By the way this convo has been fun. I am going to repost it on my blog
I am usually pretty creative but I could not make this conversation up

FZ: Sorry I meant to say luxman the iPhone spel did lindor I was driving and didn't notice it

Sony SS-G5 Speakers

Super rare to wash up on the shores of North America is a pair of Sony SS-G5 speakers. These were Sony's audiophile speaker line just below the SS-G7 at the time.

Definitely the larger brother of the wonderful Sony SS-E70 that graced this blog a few years back. Sony pulled out no stops in the build of these speakers including large Alnico 12 inch woofers and titanium tweeters.

Listening test are ongoing.....

More on this speaker over here at audio-heritage. 

Merak Mk1speaker update

So I have been listening to the Merak's on a pretty constant basis the past week and when hooked to the Creek 4040s2 amp the Merak's sound incredibly deep and full.

As with some speakers I get fatigued listening to them after an hour or so but the Merak's are as smooth as silk. They give a very deep image in where the instruments are laid out in front of you in a very 3 dimensional way and that is what I mean by depth.

The mid range is very smooth and the highs are just perfect without the brashness.

These speakers really do remind me of my Mission 770 Freedom IV's, they are just not as forward in the mid range as the Missions.

Matched with the Creek Merak Mk1's are a great find and a real pleasure to listen to and almost rival my tube amp/Tannoy combo in openness and clarity, and that is very high praise.

Merak Mk1 Speakers

Another pair of speakers showed today, the Merak Mk1 Speakers. These are a Canadian version of a Mission 770 speaker that uses Seas drivers. The 8 inch woofer looks to have been re foamed already and the cabinets are in pretty good shape.

I have only had a small audition of these speakers and so far I am impressed with what I hear. I will run these through the solid state amplifiers including the Creek 4040s2, Yamaha CR-400 and the Sherwood S-7200.

JBL L16 Decade finished

It was a bit of work but well worth the effort for this beautiful pair of JBL L16 Decade speakers.

I first hooked them up to a solid state amplifier and thought they sound good but not great, then I connected them to the tube amp and Oh My Goodness..... completely different speaker. These little speakers were meant for tube gear, not as good with the imaging as the Tannoy Oxford Gold.

The 8" JBL 116A woofer is from the same pedigree as the L26 and L100's that use a cast basket and Alnico magnet.

I could not source the proper surrounds locally so I turned to my good friend Audio Dogs Vintage Stereo in Comox for my hard to get parts, Thank you guys for the prompt and expert service.

The woofers where re foamed using a 50 hertz sine wave from my iPhone.

This is a really simple way of re foaming your drivers without cutting to dust cap off and shimming the voice coil, so far I have had a 100% success rate with this method.

The cabinets which were in excellent condition just got a light 220 grit sanding and a coat of Circa 1850 wood oil to bring out the grain richness. the small dimples in the tweeter were pulled out with a pin and re sealed with a dab of glue.

I have been really enjoying this set of JBL L16's through the tube amp, the bass is nice and deep for an8" woofer, the mid range is spot on without the fatigue I got from the JBL L26's that I have had in the past. It is a shame as the the bigger brother L26 gets more press than these speakers do.

I really like these speakers and I have a feeling they will be in the rotation for quite some time, absolutely amazing through the tube amp.....

ReVox Piccolo sub woofer & Beovox MCX-35 satellites

I spotted a ReVox Piccolo sub recently and figured it would be worth the purchase even to hook up to a pair of Realistic Minimus 7's that I have on hand. ReVox subs were made in Germany and they have the distinctive Braun, A/D/S, Canton, etc look.

Later I came across this entry level B&O Beovox offering, the Beovox MCX-35 for a price I could not refuse. These Beovox speakers are very entry level but use a Vifa D19td tweeter and a 5.25" German made woofer that you would find in most Braun A/D/S/ compact speaker systems, I figured I got a winning combination on my hands.

As a stand alone system the Beovox MCX-35's small woofer strives to hit the low notes only to break up the bass and become muddy. The ReVox sub crossover the Beovox at 150Hz which is perfect for the diminutive woofer to focus on the music above that cut off, which it does very well. Once the Beovox does not have to focus on the lower registries, these speakers can shine in the mid range and highs.

One of the speakers needed an extensive tweeter and crossover fix, my trusty solder iron did the trick along with a hot glue gun. Since I had the crossovers out I replaced the tweeter cap with a Solen metalized polyester cap (3.3uf).

This pairing of satellites and sub along with the Creek 4040s2 sounds pretty amazing. The ReVox sub needed to be off the floor by about 18" to clean up the bass. I found the bass a little boomy and muddled when on the floor. This system really works well and I am enjoying how open and clear the music is.