Putting together a budget vintage system - advice and suggestions please

[surayne]

I've grown to admire and appreciate a lot of the vintage gear posted here, and am now in a position to put together a small vintage system. It will be in the living room of a flat so can't be too large. The appearance is going to be important in this space as well. What I have in mind is a receiver, turntable and small bookshelf speakers. To fit the design brief I'm hoping for a wood surround / finish for each component.

On the receiver list at the moment are the Marantz 2215, Superscope R-1240 and Harman Kardon 330C. I'm hoping to keep to around £150 for this, but it would be nice to have a recapped unit and I may stretch for something exceptional.

The Pioneer PL-12D is top of the turntable list with a budget of £100ish, but I'm open to suggestions. I'm slightly lost with speakers though. I am hoping for something compact (about the size of Harbeth P3s), and will mainly be listening to jazz, blues and acoustic music. The only speakers of that size that I know well in the price range of £100-150 are the Mission 760 and B&W 600 series, and neither would be a good visual match with the rest of the system.

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome!

[Firebottle]

For a budget TT you could try a Dual 505. With the headshell carrier screwed to the arm 'headshell' it improves it no end.

:)

[karma67]

the sansui sr 212 is another option if you like the pl-12d, i started off with this.

[Geoff101]

I've had quite a few PL-12D and every one has had audible mains hum from the motor. Sound nice otherwise though.

Speakers wise, I don't know if I'm allowed to reply with my own offerings on this area but I still have these:
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?39725-FS-B-amp-W-DM1-Vintage-Compact-Monitor-Speakers

and I also have a fully working pair of Kef Celeste II in quite respectable cosmetic condition which would be the same sort of price.

[surayne]

The Sansui looks lovely and seems to be very well regarded. Not so sure about the Dual, if I'm honest, but thanks for the suggestion.

Geoff, both your speakers look exactly like what I have in mind. I'd have the B&Ws in a heartbeat if the they were working. Let me look into the cost of replacement tweeters and I'll let you know, many thanks. I'd be interested in any thoughts about them and the Kefs...

[Geoff101]

They usually go for about £20. I missed the last one but am keeping my eye on ebay...

[surayne]

Would speakers of this age need any other work done to ensure good performance for the foreseeable future?

[walpurgis]

Would speakers of this age need any other work done to ensure good performance for the foreseeable future?

The B&W DM1 is pretty durable as long as it is not overdriven, apart from the rather fragile Coles tweeter, which is not hard to come by second hand. I believe Falcon Acoustics can supply a new replacement equivalent.

Other decent and reliable vintage compact speakers to consider are the Celestion Ditton 15 (1st series), Mordaunt Short Pageant 2, IMF Compact and Super Compact, AR4Xa and KEF Chorale.

Of those, my favourites are the Pageants and AR4Xa. They are pretty reliable and sound very nice.

The AR's are virtually 'everlasting'. They have doped cloth roll surrounds to the cones which just don't rot away and the crossovers may just need a new capacitor every twenty years. They have level switches that can just be cleaned. Nothing else to do on these and they sound very sweet, easy to drive too.

[Geoff101]

I've also still got these I remembered:
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?36100-FS-Mordaunt-Short-Carnival-Series-II-Speakers

There's more in the garage but they're all larger. You're welcome to come up for a listen to any / all and have a cup of tea.

[surayne]

Those Carnivals are very tempting. I did consider the AR4 but they're a bit larger than I'd like in this room. I looked at the tweeters for the DM1 and Falcon Acoustics charge nearly £100 a pair, which would put them above budget. If I can turn up some used ones I may well go for the B&Ws, Geoff. I'm assuming that the tweeters should be changed in pairs?

Some great info so far guys, many thanks. Any thoughts on receivers? In particular, does anyone know a source for refurbished ones, or a repairman who could service and recap one? What would you expect to pay for that service?

[karma67]

Stephen at vintagetech is first class. He recently repaired my Sony amp.hes in peaslake too so not far away.

[Geoff101]

If replacing the Coles for the modern equivalent then probably best in pairs but if replacing with an original used item then I'd just do the one.

[walpurgis]

Those Carnivals are very tempting. I did consider the AR4 but they're a bit larger than I'd like in this room. I looked at the tweeters for the DM1 and Falcon Acoustics charge nearly £100 a pair, which would put them above budget. If I can turn up some used ones I may well go for the B&Ws, Geoff. I'm assuming that the tweeters should be changed in pairs?

Some great info so far guys, many thanks. Any thoughts on receivers? In particular, does anyone know a source for refurbished ones, or a repairman who could service and recap one? What would you expect to pay for that service?

I agree with Geoff. If the Coles units in the DM1 are replaced with new ones, then yes, I'd say use a pair, but buying second hand replacements of the exact model tweeter and of similar vintage, then replacing them singly should be OK in my view. They only cover a small part of the audio bandwidth and sonically, minor variations in tonality are unlikely to be heard.

If you want a pretty small vintage speaker, there is another B&W that could be considered. The D5 (not DM5). It is a very decent sounding model, not common though.

NAD receivers seem to plod on forever. A friend has one approaching forty years old that shows no signs of giving up the ghost. Sounds OK too.

[surayne]

Well, it's been a busy morning... I managed to find a single, working B&W DM1 on ebay for a steal and have agreed to buy Geoff's pair. I also bought this:

http://www.acwsoft.de/bilder/retro/superscope_5050809_r1240_05_2015/800_09345.jpg

http://www.acwsoft.de/bilder/retro/superscope_5050809_r1240_05_2015/800_09393.jpg

http://www.acwsoft.de/bilder/retro/superscope_5050809_r1240_05_2015/800_09388.jpg

http://www.acwsoft.de/bilder/retro/superscope_5050809_r1240_05_2015/800_09380.jpg

A Superscope R-1240 receiver, fully recapped and serviced. From what I can gather this seems to be a Marantz 1040 amp and a 104 tuner in the same case. Made in Taiwan rather than the US, with the majority of the components identical to the Marantz receivers. 20WPC should be sufficient for the DM1s, I hope.

Now for a turntable!

[Gordon Steadman]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rega-Planar-3-Turntable-/181849417599?hash=item2a5711e77f

This looks a good bet if the budget would stretch.

[Firebottle]

That looks fantastic, and a bonus that it's serviced and re-capped.

Can I be cheeky and ask what you paid for it?

:)

[surayne]

Got it from ze German eBay... £150 delivered. Perhaps a little steep for a Superscope, but considering it's been fully sorted I thought it was worth it, rather than having to have to find a suitable receiver in good cosmetic condition and have it serviced (which I can't imagine would cost me much less than £100). I would love to service one myself at some point but simply don't have the time to spend on a project like that at present.

[walpurgis]

Yes it is a Marantz under the skin. Looks very nice. The mainstream Marantz gear was not made in America during that period. Much like Harman Kardon, they outsourced much of their production. None the worse for it though.

[surayne]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rega-Planar-3-Turntable-/181849417599?hash=item2a5711e77f

This looks a good bet if the budget would stretch.
Thanks, but I've had a Rega before and it would be nice to try something a little different, and more "period correct".

[walpurgis]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pioneer-PL-12-Turntable-with-Shure-Cartridge-/301720237991?hash=item463fed77a7