Vintage Hi-Fi

[Jem]

[Jem]

Managed to score this bad boy. It's a 1982 Kenwood KR1000 Galaxy Commander. Totally bonkers!! Nearly 2 foot wide and 18 inches deep. This was made when all the manufacturers were trying to outdo each other in the switches 'n' knobs war. There's over 80 of them on this one. Not exactly audiophile but a ton of fun playing with all the functions!

[Jem]

Just realised my current set-up is out of date since I last posted. These are the front speakers. Koss CM1030. Pecan wood cabinets. Only sold in the States but purchased by an opera singer who imported them over here. Weigh a ton!

[Jem]

Also a Kenwood Eleven III

[Jem]

And a Kenwood KR-8340 quadraphonic.

[Cannonball]

super stuff Jem,,

are you still doing any funky restoration stuff ???

[Jem]

Not anymore Dunc. I couldn't make it work financially enough to make a living out of it. Will deffo get back to it when I retire though.

[Dave999]

just got myself one of these after about 2 years of looking



Philips GP-390 Super P.

its a ceramic cartridge. (or electret cartridge), Ceramic cartridges are usually mocked for being totally crap BUT this one is super...has electronics in it so that it works with modern amp phono inputs.

this cost about £300 in 1968 true top of the range stuff from the chaps in holland (15 quid now) internals based on the research they did into ceramics that is now used extensively in high end microphones.

basically 2 bits of ceramic with the stylus support wedged between. when it moves it vibrates the ceramic and it produces a voltage. any movement quick or slow causes a voltage. that's good

your average magnetic cartridge produces voltage levels based on speed of movement this produces a voltage based on....movement >.

nifty technology that became maligned due to the use of cartridges based on this idea in very cheep box record players
but the technology is very handy for modern microphones
can't use a magnetic mic if it has a wireless transmitter in it . duppa duppa dup every 3 minutes is no good

best purchase i have made in a long time

bit bass light but boy is it fast, spend my time checking the pitch control on the deck, even lack lustre songs go at a million miles per hour ...drums and vocals sound as real as you can get.

has a spherical stylus so i sent it off to Expert stylus Company to have it cut off and a new paratrace modern profile bonded on.

£80

so for 95 quid i have a kick ass setup. considering the stylus alone for my goldring 1006 was £125 Bargain

Nice

Dave

[MrNorm]

1982 Kenwood KR1000 Galaxy Commander.

I love the name!! Just imagine the Marketing meeting "shall we call this the KR1000??"....""no...let's call it the KR1000 GALAXY COMMANDER!!!" "great idea!! that should sell a few".
Listen to some music while you RULE the WORLD!!!

[Jem]

Walked the entire length of Tottenham Court Road today to buy a simple 3 amp fuse for a receiver and came away empty handed. Can't believe how much it's changed. Even Lovecraft has gone!

[Dave999]

ebay

2 amp x1 slow blow fuse
3 amp slow blow glass fuse get 2
get a 5 amp as well
if it ain't been run for a long time the capacitors will all be a bit funny and it will suck a lot of current on first start up.

2 map in. try it probably blow it
3 amp in, try it
if it blows try the 5 amp one
if its good leave it for a few hours
swap to the 3 amp

if it blows the 5 amp its probably busted

Dave

[Blue]

Virtually nothing hi fi related in Tottenham court road these days, laskeys et al are long since gone.

[Kev]

Proops was my fave shop! All sorts of interesting stuff.

[Blue]

Me too! hard to believe now that the top end of TCR even up to the early '80's was pretty much derelict, rents must have been very cheap.

[Cannonball]

Walked the entire length of Tottenham Court Road today to buy a simple 3 amp fuse for a receiver and came away empty handed. Can't believe how much it's changed. Even Lovecraft has gone!

Now thats a supe cool pic Jem geezer in his big mac hidin a shotgun,, getting in that super cool TR6 nostalgia fkn awesome,,