markoneswift Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 Hello everyone, I'm Justin - a UK expat living in sunny New Zealand. I got bitten by the retro audio bug recently and through a series of lucky connections I have acquired some nice vintage kit. I'm a total noob in terms of my ability with electronics (although I'm a senior IT engineer) so I'm enjoying learning lots about all this lovely stuff. Here's a few pics of my key components to get things started, firstly Acoustic Research AR90 with refoam pending :- Teledyne Acoustic Research AR90L, pair. by Justin Robert Bailey, on Flickr Some 'SEAS Soundkit Professional 302' speakers, apparently built from the same components as the Dynaco A40XL (??) SEAS Professional Sound by Justin Robert Bailey, on Flickr Pioneer SX-880 amp, in need of a little work to stop it getting stuck in protection when cold :- Pioneer SX-880 after quick clean up. by Justin Robert Bailey, on Flickr Technics SL-10, rescued from a pile of garbage :- Technics SL10 closed. by Justin Robert Bailey, on Flickr Akai AS-960 'quad monster' in need of some work - aux / phono work great but FM is WAY too loud ! Akai AS-960 relamp. by Justin Robert Bailey, on Flickr Pioneer amp with JVC-KD55 cassette deck on top of AR90s Growing the retro stack by Justin Robert Bailey, on Flickr AR90 refoam progress - caps cut back and shims fitted, waiting on glue and foam :- Dr Shims woofer workshop. by Justin Robert Bailey, on Flickr Most recent acquisition - JVC SK-1000ii in good overall condition, need foam though. JVC SK-1000 ii, pair. by Justin Robert Bailey, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 Welcome Justin! This is a friendly, increasingly international forum. Great kit (or in American, "gear"). You've got the bug bad! Welcome to the club of vintage hi-fi nuts! -Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 What do ya know, a noob with 90's! What a great starting point. Welcome to CSP Justin. I would think your IT backgrounD should blend well into this and maybe even help some on here with modern day digital sourcing. All nice gear. You appear to be well under way on the surrounds. The Pioneer is good looking and a solid performer. Hopefully you will be able to figure out the protection fault issue. My Pioneer SA9100 had that problem and after a pretty extensive recap it ended up being a loose fuse holder. Smooth as butter now. It may not be enough for the 90's though in the long run. It could still be used as a preamp only though. Keep us apprised of things as you go. There are a few threads on here specifically about good amps to drive demanding AR speakers. Delve into that and then see what you can find near there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markoneswift Posted March 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 Hey thanks guys, great to feel welcome :-) I'll give a little back story on how I acquired this kit for anyone who's interested....... I recently started reading Audiokarma quite a bit and saw all the cool old gear that people are finding in thrifts etc so it got me wondering what I could find in a tiny little country like New Zealand. I prowled the few charity shops in the city where I live (fourth largest in NZ, population around 150,000 !!!) and all I found was modern plastic junk and VCRs. One day, however, I went to a large charity shop just out of the city centre and actually asked one of the staff if they ever get any older electricals, hifi etc and the lady said yes they do. She told me to talk to a guy who tests all the electrical stuff down in their warehouse. I popped down there, got chatting to the tech and then saw the contents of their warehouse - cha ching !! Some old amps (two of which I now own), loads of old speakers (mostly junk, the best ones liberated by me), heaps of Techincs / sony / Onkyo / Sanyo components (again mostly low to mid level stuff). So after a few visits, the tech agreed I could have a dig through the stuff and take what I wanted away for testing. Once I tested the kit, we agreed on prices which were mostly in the $10 to $20 range (NZ). I went down one day and there, in the doorway ready to be thrown away, were the AR90s. I donated $10 for them and loaded them into my car :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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