A new member from Hamburg

[Hanseatic60]

Hello to everyone here on the forum, I am from Hamburg/ Germany.

I have joined this forum already last year without doing my introduction post so far. But from the sideline I have enjoyed reading many of the threads on here, good insights and no missionary zeal at all (probably NG wording, sorry).

I have a couple of systems set-up in the house, mostly analogue. Some might call this vintage gear, but I use it and do enjoy it almost daily. Mainly it’s a Thorens TD126 TT, a Studer A81 reel-to-reel M/C, some power amps such as QUAD 405 and Technics SE-A5 and even a Sanyo “Monster Receiver” 2900 (from the early 1980th). Currently used pre-amp/ tuner is a Revox B739 to drive the amps. No tube/ valve stuff so far, but I am thinking about it.

From the US I brought home some JBL L150 and L112 and some old friends from Brighton in the UK arranged some QUAD ESL57 for me (one would love the story how they “found” them. These ESLs still need massive rework. The cunning plan was to have this as a winter project, but still waiting to have some spare time to fix them. Another project is the restoration of a Thorens TD 125 with SME 3009 arm, still some parts (counterweights) are missing. Many years ago I have visited the SME fab in Steyning/ Sussex (business trip, I am in Semiconductors), not sure whether they still operate this site.

Mostly I do listen to Jazz (but not the “heavy/ free-jazz stuff”), more the easy going music (I have spent some time in the US and picked up the easy listening/ smooth jazz virus).

Old gear meets w/ modern tech since last year. I have digitised all my CDs and even some LPs to FLAC format (a winter project), I am using a Cambridge Audio DACmagic 100 to play the files from Notebook.

As you can see, I do need more winters (or more spare time), more projects/ enjoyment to come…..:D


Cheers,
Andreas

[struth]

hi andreas and welcome to AoS. some nice vintage gear you have. i like the thorens tts myself. when you get some ti.e pot a thred with pictures into the Gallery section. we like to look at pictures as you may have noticed.:)
any problems just ask.
cheers grant

[Eagle owl]

guten Tag and welcome Andreas.

Geoff. :wave:

[Ali Tait]

Hi, welcome, some nice kit there, especially the Studer!

[walpurgis]

Hello Andreas. Welcome from me too.

An interesting collection of equipment you have.

As Grant says, some photos in our Gallery would be most welcome.

If you plan to renovate the Quads, please start a thread on this. Many here would be interested in following that.


Enjoy AOS,
Geoff.

[Hanseatic60]

Thank you guys for this swift response.

The Studer A81 comes originally from a protestant (Anglican ?) radio broadcast studio located here in Germany. Basically the condition used to be okay, but it has been stored away, covered in dust and left w/o any use for some years. So most of the caps were dried out and needed to be replaced. Some mechanical parts were blocked (dry oil etc). On the pro side: everything has been documented well (a kind of repair log) from day one in Dec 1982 (the famous Studer red file). I managed to fix and re-calibrate. THAT was my good winter project some years ago ;-).

No question, no one needs a bulky machine like this in his private home, but I like to play with it and at least I managed to rescue and digitalise my old tapes recorded when I was young. I have loads of information on the Studer (and some about more decent Revox A77/ B77 etc), ready to share and to advise. There is also a very comprehensive FTP site in Switzerland, open to the public.

Wrt the QUAD ESLs: as mentioned before I have some other speakers for daily use. Therefore I am not in a rush to fix them. One of the high (treble) panels is defunct/ low, could be a connection prob or a general electrical prob (high voltage ?). These ESL57 are tremendously well documented and you can find all sort of stuff thru the web. Typical German, I have done a massive search and found several good sites (incl socal “mods”). The issue with these speakers is that it’s a major issue to dismantle them, once done (and I haven’t done yet) you have to go thru the whole process. I hate the dust inside (my ESLs are early 1970th) and at the moment I have some floor space constraints (my attic listening room is used as my home office, too). In general, too much bulky stuff, a lack of time and therefore (at the moment) low motivation. Anyway, one ESL works fine and I like the sound. Maybe one day/ next winter….

Any experts around wrt the ESLs ? Don't we have a QUAD(!) ESL thread from which I can learn ? Lastly, this is a UK product !!
And btw: I am struggling to explain all this in English, don’t laugh at me.

Scheduled for this winter: restoration of the Thorens TD125, but need the missing parts for the SME 3009 first, otherwise this project does not make sense.


Rgds
Andreas

[The Black Adder]

Welcome Andreas.

You have some great taste in kit there my friend... All you need now is some valve kit... :) :) Enjoy! :)

[jollyfix]

Hi Andreas, welcome to the forum.

[Hanseatic60]

I am very tempted to give the valves a trial, but don’t know anyone who is in valves. Same is with horns, but once more again it’s a time and floor space prob. To be realistic, there is no reason to grumble, I still have that pile of audio projects which will keep me busy for years. But it does me good to share my “luxury problem”. I know I am not the only one to suffer out there and at the end of the day it’s the music I like the most.

“The journey is the destination” (don’t remember who said this), the techie is getting pathetic now ….

To jollyfix @ Glastonburry:
good place to be, I remember very well (very muddy weekend etc :cool::cool: ), I liked the door sign "no hippies here", many moons ago.

[struth]

“The journey is the destination” was the title of a book of the journals of the so called Mayor of Mogadishu, Dan Eldon, who was killed during the conflicts there if memory serves. He also wrote for Reuters, but was best known for his aid to the people.

[Spectral Morn]

Welcome to AOS Andreas :cool: Hope you enjoy your time on the forum.


Regards Neil