Home Audio - We Have the "Old" Technology

[pdub]

I've had a hankering to hear what's on some of those old blues albums. Yes, ALBUMS, 33RPM. And the old CDs too. Anybody remember CDs? Our 40-year old stereo amplifier finally fried off a couple years ago and this house has been silent, but for TVs and video game soundtracks coming from the computers.

I'm thinking, an amplifier and some snazzy stereo speakers, you can spend a hundred bucks or 5000 bucks on whatever level of audiophile stuff you think you want. And I got to thinking....we have it all already. We use the smaller PA a time or two per year at GHI, playing CDs for filler noise and it does just fine through the 12-inch mains.

This is the groundbreaking, just laying it out to see if it will fit , and it does. There's lot more heavy stuff to move around before we're happy with it, but this is gonna work. The only piece I'm missing, I just ordered it, the pre-amplifier module for the magnetic cartridge turntable. Mag cartridges put out a miniscule signal compared to the CD player or anything modern. Modern stuff puts out 250mv, that's what the new stuff is expecting to get.

This is gonna be fine, it's just all layed out to see if it will fit in the room. Yep, we're gonna have sound and music. Again. Finally. Whenever we want it, which won't be all the time, we're not teenagers anymore. But this is really gonna work.

[studemax]

Should work fine - seen it done lots of time. Rock on, P.

[tardis454]

Looks like Ken thinks it's a good idea.

[silver_bullet]

Hell, I think it is a GREAT idea!!

[pdub]

Should work fine - seen it done lots of time. Rock on, P.

It'll take a couple days to get it all situated. Who do I put on the turntable first, that record player? Lighnin' Hopkins or Elmore James?

Yeah, this is gonna be good. We've got the old record ALBUMS. Not a million of them, but a decent pile of them. Enough to enjoy. Finally.....what was I thinking, not playing them all the time? And we had the stuff right in front of us, in the house already. Just hook it up.

[Deaf Bob]

No sub woofer on your puter?

[JamesMayberryIII]

Problem with the pro stuff is you have to open up the pre amp stage to get the full db rise, and that requires ear splitting loud.. in a house small room..
and why pro gear isn't normally used as home audio..
You will most likely harm the drivers(speakers) playing them at such a low volume..

[studemax]

You will most likely harm the drivers(speakers) playing them at such a low volume..

How so? I've been involved in the music and audio biz for over 35 years and I've never heard anything like that from those who would know. Distorted signal - maybe, fluctuating power - maybe. Low volume? Prove it.

[JamesMayberryIII]

How so? I've been involved in the music and audio biz for over 35 years and I've never heard anything like that from those who would know. Distorted signal - maybe, fluctuating power - maybe. Low volume? Prove it.

go ask the engineers that designed the drivers why they label them with min.. 25-30 or more watts... power.. to (pick the max)
the lack of movement and low volume kill the coil, and voice coil motor assembly...
Then you have the pre stage not opened up. limiting the threshold ..
So you are claiming to have never have had to rebuild a driver from burn out, from lack of power sent to it??
low power(watts) sent to a driver is as bad if not worse than over powering it..

[studemax]

So.... no proof. Just more yak.

[RockJustRock]

Sometimes you need to assume people have a LITTLE bit of a clue about what is going on. *I* am assuming PW means PA SYSTEM, not just cabs. The lil' board and lil' amp that came with the cabinets all matched up like Peavey or whoever else made them likes. The pre-amp is just to get things up to line level.

Anyone desiring to do something similar in a non-Weeville fashion could just buy a USB turntable. Then you could make MP3s and burn CDs of strange forgotten blues stuff with all the pops and crackles you DO remember.

The USB table will have line out or headphone out which is close enough to go to a board too, for when PDub starts searching for a new stylus for that old Shure cartridge on hos Garrard turntable.

If he's not using the board there are a lot of amazingly cheap little amplifiers out there.

[JamesMayberryIII]

So.... no proof. Just more yak.

prove I'm wrong?? or just more yak!!!
Sorry I haven't saved the old driver parts to show off to others like a melted piston a racer might..

[pdub]

I got a Yamaha EMX68S powered mixer when by buddy and I were playing acoustic duo stuff in SC. We'd drag my 16-channel whopper board and equally whopper 15-inch mains in and out of there to use only 4 inputs. One night at the restaurant/bar we went in there and there was an example of the Yamaha EMX68S sitting there from an Open Mic thing the night before. Man we NEED one of these, said wee.

There's that and a pair of Peavy PR12's, that's what I'm hooking up.

[pdub]

No sub woofer on your puter?

Yep, got one, but you can't track just any old album from YouTube or whatever, not all of the stuff posted on the web goes that deep in content.

[JamesMayberryIII]

Yep, got one, but you can't track just any old album from YouTube or whatever, not all of the stuff posted on the web goes that deep in content.

most recordings didn't have much low end anyways.. before digital,
I've noticed that the same album.. on vinyl and c/d are Eq'd differently. where the vinyl has the low end with a lower db than the c/d..
my quess is to limit the hum/rumble on record players.. as not everyone played on 1000.oo+ turntables..
8 tracks and cassettes players low end ended at 50 hrz.. until you got into the nac. dragon 1500.oo players..
I'm not a fan of horns in a home.. very harsh unless you have a lot of soft content to remove some of that harshness.. tile or hardwood,, and lite drapes and it's harsh.. heavy draps and some area rug and soft seating help.. but very peaky .. great for a hall to push the highs but in a home..
And why horn loaded drivers fell out of style after the 70's put rugs/carpet everywhere died..