Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

Thanks for the advice/insight all,
Picked the speakers up this evening - or more correctly, the seller kindly drove them over to mine, after seeing it wasn’t that practical to get onto a Big Dummy. V thankful - and did basic setup straight away.
Huge step up from my previous speakers, so I’m not sure how subjective this review is, but here we go; Very impressed, sound is super clear, crisp and full. Have a (crappy) sub-bass, but prob don’t need it anymore, these just fill the room on every level, even without tinkering. Previous issue was vocals weren’t that sharp on music or tv, but these are great. Styling is slightly incongruous with 1970’s flat (and Danish teak speakers they’re replacing), but more than happy to overlook because of the sound :)

Got a question for the hive mind.

I'm building a TV/audio bench type thing for our living room. I'm a streaming convert, though my partner in particular still likes to stick a cd on and has a dvd collection they refuse to part with. Actual usage of both mediums is rare. We currently have a dvd player which plays through the tv and cd player that plays through an amp/speakers.

Question - would a dvd player like the cambridge audio DVD86 pitcutred below allow me to do both with one device? Plug a scart or hdmi into the telly for dvds and run some audio cables into the amp for cds?

DVDs will play through telly speakers as long as amp turned off. CDs will play though amp when thats turned on?

Had a little play with the Sanyo Slim 5G.

Initial clean of the capstan didn't stop the tape chewing.

Had a look inside and quickly decided it was beyond me right now, but gave it a blow with a kids hand balloon pump we had lying around.

The went back and did even more cleaning. Must have used 10 cotton buds. It looked like the tape wasn't moving at the right speed, so I gave it a good fwd and rew, another clean and hey presto! It works*. Also gave the "glass" a quick polish a electric toothbrush.

There's a real charm to using something like this.

Pic of mine vs that YouTube video of a later model. Neither as clean or tidy.

*it can't actually FFW or REW a cassette though and the record button doesn't seem to depress.

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Going to go into the loft later and see if I can dig out my old hip hop mix.

Maybe the cassette is protected - there's a gap in the casing for a lever to go in and if that's blocked up - then the record button want actuate.

Excellent, thank you. Also weighing looks vs sound but like you think i'll be happier with an improvement on the latter.

Did you remember you need to press play and record together?

I did.

I wasn't actually trying to record over this tape, just press both down.

Maybe there needs to be a tape in there? Not going to chance it until I find one.

Maybe there needs to be a tape in there?

Yes, there needs to be a cassette body to push the record protect plunger

Maybe there needs to be a tape in there? Not going to chance it until I find one.

A pre-recorded tape won't allow you to accidentally record. It will be missing the tabs which press the plunger that tester mentions.

Sellotape over the gap where the tab will fix that

Question - would a dvd player like the cambridge audio DVD86 pitcutred below allow me to do both with one device? Plug a scart or hdmi into the telly for dvds and run some audio cables into the amp for cds?

DVDs will play through telly speakers as long as amp turned off. CDs will play though amp when thats turned on?

Short answer is yes. I’ve got the DVD89 and use it to do exactly that.

However, my pal used to work for whoever it was who made those and I seem to remember one of the earlier ones (which might have been the DVD85, 86 or 87) was a bit glitchy. I’ll find out which one it was 👍

One great thing about these players is they’re all practically the same inside. Mine started to struggle to track certain discs properly and then the tray mechanism failed. I picked up an earlier (glitchy) player cheap and simply swapped the drive unit into mine.

Confirmation from my pal:

DVD 86 was shit. DVD 89 [and on] was good. The older generation of 540D, dvd53, 57 and 59 all had a short lifespan so are highly unlikely to still be working.

The 650BD was the first Blu Ray player, that and the other Blu Ray players were all very good indeed

And apparently the Blu Ray players also have all the audio outs on the back, but probably won’t have SCART 👍

Cheers. That makes sense.

Ironically in the time I've done this my OH has agreed to suggesting a yoto as a gift for my eldest to family. So this all feels a bit redundant.

I guess I could get blank tapes and let them use it to record themselves.

Anyone clued up on amp pairings for old speakers in here? I have some lovely Sony E70s that were being run on a Denon amp I inherited. This has now packed in, and it feels time to get a replacement. Would 'anything' do? Or is it worth getting something decent? Mostly used for streaming through a bluetooth receiver, so not in the market for major audiophilia. Cheers!

@Stevethecoffee what happened to the Amp ?

Brill thanks! More space for other stuff in the big box of entertainment storage.

Went quiet then started smoking. Like me in my teens.

I guess that transformer shorted out, hopefully in isolation and not because of a fault upstream. I do feel confident that it was nothing I did wrong but that doesn’t make me feel much better when it’s someone else’s very expensive kit.

Help please!

I bought this as the seat for video game driving rig (using with a Logitech wheel, on pc). I want to make use of the speakers.

First assumption, is that they work and they’re not toast. Second assumption, is that the wiring underseat is complete, and bare straight to the drivers. Third, that it’s 2.1 not 4.1.

Request:

What’s a good cheap (ideally cheap as chips) amp I can get to wire them up?

I’d like to plug it straight into the 3.5mm on the pc (doubt there’s phono) and only need minimum spec.

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Id try something like a nobsound amp just to see if it works as presume you want to spend as little as possible?

Buy him a topping E30 and tell him it measures better

Yea ideally. I was thinking they’ll be pretty high impedance because arcades are loud, and I may have to replace then with something suitably domestic which is a lot more effort than it’s worth.

How much would it cost to conduct a Need for Speed career on a coin-op machine I wonder. And what would that look like? Do they give you some tickets when you retire?

No idea. NFS wasn’t my first choice, but a seat from an Outrun cab (or Initial D) would cost a lot more than this one did… and I’m just exploiting potential with its speakers being present.

My experience is that a credit in an arcade machine lasts 2-3 minutes, and most games like this went to a minimum of £1 a credit. You could probably buy the entire cab before you completed the games.

Mine started to struggle to track certain discs properly and then the tray mechanism failed. I picked up an earlier (glitchy) player cheap and simply swapped the drive unit into mine.

It's fairly common for the laser transport to get drag especially when they're only used intermittently, can be fairly easily sorted by cleaning the rails and lubricating with some thin silicone oil. The reproduction should improve too.