[Ferdi]

I've never had that much vintage equipment, unless you count the stuff that I have resisted throwing away over the years. 

Today my wife and I were visiting our local goodwill shop. Not sure if other countries have anything like this. Anyway, I first found a nice tuner that didn't seem to have any visible damage but was otherwise covered thinly in what seemed to be mould. Looking a bit closer it turned out a Yamaha T1 tuner. Bought that for Euro8. Cleaned it off once at home and I would rate it 9/10. Incredible how such an old piece of equipment is in such good shape. All lights work etc. Oh yes, it plays fine through my office-system. Good as I didn't have an FM tuner in my office.

Then I also noticed a pair of speakers in a prominent location. Physically they look excellent. Not a scratch, no discolorations, original grills and logo badges. There are Pioneer HPM900. These were supposed to cost a lot more: Euro 175 for the pair. On closer checking it turned out that the woofer surrounds were rotted away. That was of course to be expected but made the price way too high. We left for home but I did a bit of searching on the 'net and decided to go back and get them after all. Bid Euro50 just before closing and got the pair, provided I took them with me immediately.

So, I now have 2 huge speakers sitting in my office, I ordered new foam surrounds and have high hopes they will turn out really well. If they end up in the way I can always sell them. I am now playing one of them with an old amp and CDP and apart from some distortion from the bad woofer,  it sounds really nice. I do suspect that the good looks notwithstanding, the crossover etc. could do with a bit of refurbishing as well. This sounds like a nice audio project for the coming months.

Is anyone familiar with either the speakers or the tuner?

[warnerwh]

The tuner is an excellent tuner. Scroll down on this page til you get to your tuner: http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/yamaha.html

As you can see this tuner cost 365 bucks back in 78. The reviewer calls it a supertuner for the budget minded. It's well made and sounds good. I don't know what the exchange rate is but it appears you got a great deal.  There's even a schematic on that page.

Mod a tuner like that and you'll have a world class tuner. Cost is about 300 dollars american. 200 if you don't go all the way but you'll get 90% there.

I'm jealous, wish I would have found that. I did once get a nice Kenwood KT 8300 for 70 dollars but that's been my best tuner buy. Here in the U.S. alot of guys go to Salvation Army or Goodwill to see if anything is worth buying. The ones by me never have anything, although I rarely go, but I've seen some excellent buys made. It depends on the store and if they know what they have. The Goodwill near me I can tell by the prices has someone who knows the value and actually charges a tad high.

If you want to know the best mods for your tuner and could do it yourself there's a group on Yahoo called fmtuners here: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/FMtuners/

Join that group. These guys are true fanatics and will know what the best route to take in modding that tuner would be. I wish I could do that myself as it would save alot of money because the parts don't cost all that much. In my modded Kenwood Kt 7500 though I think there's over 75 bucks just in Black Gate capacitors. Best wishes!

[Captain Humble]

I don't know what the exchange rate is but it appears you got a great deal.  There's even a schematic on that page.

Current exchange rate is 1.30809.
Here's an exchange rate converter:

http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html

The Yamaha T1 tuner @ 8 Euro = 10.4647 US Dollars
The Pioneer HPM900 @ 50 Euro = 65.4049 US Dollars

Nice find Ferdi.

 

[jrebman]

So, I now have 2 huge speakers sitting in my office, I ordered new foam surrounds and have high hopes they will turn out really well. If they end up in the way I can always sell them. I am now playing one of them with an old amp and CDP and apart from some distortion from the bad woofer,  it sounds really nice. I do suspect that the good looks notwithstanding, the crossover etc. could do with a bit of refurbishing as well. This sounds like a nice audio project for the coming months.

Hi,

just a reminder that if you want to keep those speakers alive and well, it is best to not play them with damaged surrounds.  This greatly increases the chances of making the voice coils rub in the gap -- and that job is much more involved than replacing the surround.

I'm only passing this along as I'm currently in the process of refurbishing a vintage pair of JBL L-300 Summits and the folks at the JBL authorized service center told me to not play anything until the surrounds were replaced.

-- Jim

[Ferdi]

Hi Jim, thanks for the reminder. This is very much my concern as well so I shut things down after a short while and low volume. Don't think I've done any damage. In the meantime I have received replacement surrounds and will make the repair in the next few days.

Warner, I'm not sure if I want to mod the tuner or keep it original. I will open it up and have a look.

Capt. thanks for the good wishes....