well, maybe a few...
First, you know you're getting old, when you're standing out in the ex-wife's garage, going through albums when the neighbor kids curiously come up and the thirteen year old girl asks..."What are those?" The ex worked in the industry in the 70's, so I found a fine bunch of vinyl in mint condition, including Beck, Bogart and Appice, Climax Blues Band, Sealevel, Elvin Bishop, Stephen Stills and Manassas, Brand X and a curious mix of everything from Bebop Deluxe to the Thompson Twins and The Babies. So I'm happy, because I listen to a really wide range of music, from Four Play and Audio Alchemy to house music.
Now the bummer, the phono section in the big Sansui has no output in the left channel. This is after taking apart the corroded RCA connectors on the Sansui linear TT (a very disco looking and rare silver P-L51). The repair was ugly, but now it works on the spare vintage Technics "new Class A" (whatever that is!) and sounds nice. But with vinyl, you must expect the noise, crackle, pop and the occasional hiss, rumble, burp, even with careful cleaning. Which brings me to the question I'll pose, 'just how good are those SAE or DBX noise-reducers?' Anybody with info, it'd be greatly appreciated.
Next, I don't know if it's a seasonal thing, but I've noticed a lowering of prices across the board for everything vintage, from Nikko recievers to Sansui stuff. Not sure if it applies to JBL or not, but any comments welcome. Finally, a nice score Saturday. Got a Sony 620ES CD player for $31! It sold for $961 in the day and from what I understand, all the Sony ES CD players had the killer transports. It even comes with the original box! This goes to my little brother, who's L-150A's I've modified ala' Regis style. It replaces his late 90's Fisher POS carousel. I'm running an ancient JVC XL series through the digital out to a Audio Alchemy jitter reducer and a Denon DAC. The sound is surprisingly good, but I still have to get my hands on one of these Sony ES's, even if they're old. The Ebay linkee to the Sony http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ME:B:EOAB:US:6