My "Mid Century Modernist" 1972/1976 Audio Gear

[Doghouse Riley]

I'm a "Mid Century Modernist,"

Leak 2000 tuner/amp, (I've also a spare) with 1973 Rock-Ola 507 Tri-Vue wallboxes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyQMF04Amcc&t=27s

With a Sharp 442 cassette player. I've changed the belts)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyjSDNEsF34

With a Philips 308 turntable. 1970s Shure M75ED cartridge (I've changed the belt)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJaV58i-X40

The speakers are Goodman's Havant.

The wall unit we bought early in the same decade.

[Edward Huggins]

A great line up - just stick with it. Not every one wants or needs Class "D".....
Those "floating" Philips turntables were often over-looked for their neutral delivery, but were actually very good.

[Nickthedentist]

Yes, I love those Philips turntables too; lovely styling and amazing performance for their price, i.e. I think they sound better than many very expensive setups.

I note that yours is one the tiny ones with a 10” platter, short arm and dustcover that needs to be lifted off and set aside when playing a record, but still excellent performers. I have a 308 somewhere as well.

Years ago, I had the GF808, the same thing but with an inbuilt amplifier, and two extremely compact 2-way sealed speaker systems.

I also have the very common 212 and 312 (the same thing in most ways but with LEDs rather than incandescent lamps, and auto lift at the end of side as opposed to just switching off the motor).

Finally, I have a slightly older version with two belts and an intermediate pulley, though I’ve never quite finished completing repairing the arm which was badly damaged in transit.

[Nickthedentist]

There was an article in the “Style” section of the Sunday Times at the weekend, with a couple who’d furnished their flat in the so-called mid-century style. They had some Wharfedale speakers from the mid-70s, but the amp was an early-80s NAD and the turntable looked like an SL1210 or one of the lookalikes. What didn’t impress me was how they’d set it up on their shelves to look pretty, but with some obvious howlers such the record deck being right up against the speakers, and the speakers too close together for decent stereo separation. But still nice that there are people appreciating this old stuff which can still be picked up for next-to-nothing.

[Doghouse Riley]

Thanks for the kind words.

Yes, you had to take the cover off to play an LP. I think it's been up in the loft somewhere for decades.
What still impresses me is there's no detectable "wow" with the turntable, despite its age and how infrequently it is used.

I posted this video on YouTube eight years ago, to show someone on another board the mechanism as they had a problem with their's, I doubt it was they who've looked at it nearly three and a half thousand times!
I keep a spare belt under the turntable, as I bought two a decade or more ago when I thought the original could do with changing, just a bit of "preventative maintenance."

It's a pretty basic machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUm33BUqFkM

[Doghouse Riley]

Originally Posted by Nickthedentist

There was an article in the “Style” section of the Sunday Times at the weekend, with a couple who’d furnished their flat in the so-called mid-century style. They had some Wharfedale speakers from the mid-70s, but the amp was an early-80s NAD and the turntable looked like an SL1210 or one of the lookalikes. What didn’t impress me was how they’d set it up on their shelves to look pretty, but with some obvious howlers such the record deck being right up against the speakers, and the speakers too close together for decent stereo separation. But still nice that there are people appreciating this old stuff which can still be picked up for next-to-nothing.

To be honest, my speakers are where they are because I could get them on brackets on the wall either side of the wall unit and were unlikely there, to get damaged. The ideal listening position would be midway betweeen them, but I've a Yamaha Tyros 5 electric piano there, against the opposite wall, so i'm not that bothered.

Vintage audio was as "cheap as chips" before the vinyl revival, few people were interested.

The Leak I bought fifteen years ago for about £60 on eBay. It replaced a Philips RH790 I bought in 1972, that gave up the ghost. The "deal breaker" was that the Leak used the same din plugs and had four imput sockets.

Our wall unit I guess, has been in and out of fashion over the decades, but that never bothered us.

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by Doghouse Riley

Vintage audio was as "cheap as chips" before the vinyl revival, few people were interested.

I'd barely looked at the market for a few years, so hadn't known it had changed: but, yes, I'm using a Teac AS-100 from 1972, bought about 30 years ago, and its stock seems to have risen considerably lately. It's had some long periods of rest, not least while my Pioneer SPEC-1/SPEC-4 system was up and running: those were already the bargain of a lifetime at £25 with matching tuner at the local flea market. Not sure if I'll ever get around to having them overhauled, they're better than my ears deserve.

A fine system you have there, and it's my favourite period too - my current setup only departs from it with the CD player, which can't really be helped, and speakers, which are older (the original Leak Sandwich).

Paul

[Doghouse Riley]

I do have a vintage Sony 6 head VHS machine, that must be well over twenty years old.
I keep it as I've still got a lot of film noir on tape recorded from the TV that I haven't been able to record on digital as they've never been repeated, or I've missed them when they have. I did have a DVD/CD player of similar vintage, but that gave up the ghost.
The recent replacement Sony was £34. I'm quite impressed

I've two Humax recorders, a Virgin Tivo box, the VHS and CD/player under my Sony android TV.
I can pump the audio from any through my Hi-fi system if I choose.