1 WHAT I HAVE
2 HOW TO USE MY HIFI
2.1 Sony TC-650 Quarter Track Tape
2.2 ReVox A77 Half-Track Tape - 38 cm/sec
2.3 ReVox A77 Half-Track Tape - 19 cm/sec
2.4 Linn/LOCI/EK1 Turntable
2.5 Transcriptors Turntable
2.6 Camelot Magic
2.7 Aiwa M700
2.8 VTOP/Audacity Digital Recording
3 HOW TO EVALUATE MY HIFI
4 HOW TO INSTALL MY HIFI
4.1 Loudspeakers
4.2 Amplifiers
4.3 Crossover
4.4 Line Amplifier
4.5 Control Boxes
4.6 Sony TC-650 Quarter Track Tape
4.7 ReVox A77 Half-Track Tape - 38 cm/sec
4.8 ReVox A77 Half-Track Tape - 19 cm/sec
4.9 Linn/LOCI/EK1 Turntable
4.10 Transcriptors Turntable
4.11 Camelot Magic
4.12 Aiwa M700
4.13 VTOP/Audacity Digital Recording
5 END
1 WHAT I HAVE
This is a classic stereophonic high-fidelity system
with several input media going through an
ADCOM line amplifier (with remote control),
a passive line-level crossover (not the usual arrangement)
into an Eagle 2A amplifier (50 volts maximum)
driving a pair of Quad ESL
(ElectroStatic Louspeakers, original 1957 model)
with Decca Ribbon Tweeters on top
and into a Scott receiver driving a Fried Model T
subwoofer.
My source media are
a Sony TC650 quarter-track reel-to-reel deck,
two ReVox A77 half-track reel-to-reel decks
(one kept at 15ips and the other at 7½ips),
a Linn Sondek LP12 with LOCI tonearm and
Electro Research EK1 pickup system,
a Transcriptor Skeleton turntable with Vestigal tonearm
and Sonus Blue cartridge, a Musical Fidelity preamplifier,
an Aiwa M700 three-head compact-cassette deck,
and a Camelot Magic USB-digital-to-analogue "dongle."
The final stage of my listening path is, alas,
a pair of high-end Oticon hearing aids.
They're not as good as natural "golden ears"
but they make my musical experience sound a lot better
then not wearing them.
(My older Phonak aids weren't good enough on musical material
to make that claim.)
My source material consists of
3800 records,
765 compact disks,
268 quarter-track factory tapes (19 cm/sec),
227 half-track 15 ips tapes (38 cm/sec),
116 half-track factory tapes (19 cm/sec).
As I don't have a compact-disk player anymore,
the compact disks have been converted to FLAC files.
I leave electronics on all the time.
My paranoia about switches breaking has
me using mains-electricity switches to switch
equipment with motors on and off
and line-level switches to select input sources.
Electric power is conditioned by Camelot power conditioners.
For recording I have an inexpensive V.TOP analogue-to-digital
until that runs into a Linux laptop running Audacity at
standard compact-disk data rates.
For live recording I have a pair of Nakamichi CM700 microphones
and a Sony TCD5 compact-cassette deck
that I use as a microphone preamplifier
and I used to use for getting the band a live cassette right away.
While I appreciate the advantages of superior cable,
I haven't gone the extra mile to get the ultra-high-end stuff.
I use pretty-good audio cables and I try to keep them short.
My listening room is a small sunken living room
with the Quads on stands that keep them at ear level
with the Deccas on top.
The speakers are about two meters apart and
a meter from the record shelves on the back wall.
My listening seat is about three meters from the speakers
with padding on the wall behind me and some on the ceiling.
Most of my equipment is old and dear and wonderful.
I handle it with care,
but I do handle it every day.
My hifi is not an art museum just to be looked at,
but there is beauty in both sight and sound to behold.
2 HOW TO USE MY HIFI
Since my air conditioning and heating system is noisy,
I run it for fifteen or twenty minutes before listening
at a more-extreme temperature, lower in summer and higher in winter.
("Alexa, downstairs thermostat twenty-two" (22°C)
before my morning chores and
"Alexa, downstairs thermostat twenty-six" (26°C)
about a minute before I'm listening to my hifi.
It's a minor inconvience,
no worse than other audio people waiting
for their electronics to warm up before listening.)
For my own listening I put my Oticon hearings aids
on their third mode for Music.
Volume is adjusted with the ADCOM remote control
using the UP and DOWN arrows on the right side.
To set the ADCOM source to CD press
SHIFT-SRC-SHIFT.
To set the ADCOM source to Tape1 press SRC.
To set the ADCOM source to Tape2 press ZOOM.
The switchboxes are left of the EK1 control panel.
All my sources work well with the volume set around 3
(around ten o'clock).
There is a pair of peak-voltage meters.
The Quad ESLs are rated to 33V (thirty-three volts)
and I used to play them as loud as 40V.
More recently, I keep them below 10V.
There is a
cheat sheat
telling how to use all my source equipment.
2.1 Sony TC-650 Quarter Track Tape
I bought this Sony deck in Dallas, Texas, on eBay in 1999
without shipping.
I drove to the gentleman's house and we exchanged
my money for his machine and I'm still very happy.
Thread the tape from left reel to right.
(I prefer using the big-hub take-up reel
if the feed reel has a big hub.)
From the left-side feed reel,
left of the covered head assembly,
the tape goes over-right of the moveable arm
and under-left of the bigger wheel.
The tape then goes under the covered head assembly
(with the words THREE HEAD THREE MOTOR on it).
Right of the covered head assembly the tape goes
over the capstain motor under the rubber pinch roller
and then under the stationary tape guide on the far right.
Finally, the tape is threaded counter-clockwise
onto the right take-up reel.
Make sure the tape is snug in its path before playing a tape.
Set the ADCOM source to CD,
press IN1 on the right switchbox,
turn on power switches 1 and 8.
(Power switch 8 turns on the standing room light.)
The deck should be set up with
the power switch ON,
the TAPE LIFT switch ON (up),
the TAPE SPEED switch on 19 cm (up),
both L and R REC MODE switches OFF (up),
both bottom center MONITOR swiches
pushed downward to TAPE,
and the SOS switch turned OFF (middle).
Press the green PLAY button to play.
These factory quarter-track tapes are old and fragile
and I recommend playing them completely through without stopping.
The deck will play the entire tape
and it will stop by itself at the end.
In normal playback the VU meters should be moving significantly.
Occasionally one side will be low during playback,
usually the left channel,
and the meter for that channel doesn't show any signal.
When that happens,
jiggling the PB VOL knob on the
deck's lower right often fixes the problem.
Quarter-track tapes play in both directions.
When the first side is finished,
flip both reels over and exchange their positions
so the previous take-up reel is now the feed reel
and the previous feed reel is now a take-up reel
with its label on the "wrong" side facing towards
the deck chassis.
When the tape is done clean the tape heads and capstan
using the tape-head-cleaning solution and the felt-swab
with the tape deck still running.
Take the cover off the covered head assembly,
dip the swab into the cleaning solution,
wipe the tape path on the heads from right to left
and wet the capstan itself, but not the space
between the spinning capstan and the tape-deck chassis.
Get the heads really wet with the cleaning solution.
The cleaning fluid evaperates quickly,
but doing the cleaning after play ensures
it will be dry the next time we play a tape.
I also feel better keeping the deck in a clean state.
2.2 ReVox A77 Half-Track Tape - 38 cm/sec
I bought these two ReVox decks in 1980
from Michael Frasier at Mel Schilling's store Music and Sound.
He made some improvements that have been further improved
by Jeff Polan circa 2000.
Thread the tape from right reel to left.
(The same empty reel stays on the left side
pretty-much always.)
Most of my high-speed (38 cm/sec) half-track tapes
(or two-track, same thing)
are 10.5-inch metal reels with big-hole NAB hubs,
some are plastic reels, and some have small, three-fin spindle holes.
The right NAB hub stays on the tape deck
except when we're playing small-spindle-hole tapes.
The NAB hub goes on and off using its small spindle hole
and the tape snaps on by turning the NAB hub right
and comes off by turning the NAB hub back left.
There is a tape-path-cover bar that should be pushed down,
the tape goes under the tape head cover
over the rubber pinch roller and over over the moving bar
over the movable bar left of the tape head cover.
Run the tape clockwise around the left
and turn the left reel enough that the tape stays on
by friction.
Make sure the tape is directly under the tape heads
so it presses against the little bar left of center
under the tape head cover.
Half-track tapes only play in one direction
so the rule is "rewind before play."
(This is not Blockbuster "Be Kind, Rewind.")
We rewind before play
because the physical stress of rewinding the tape
removes any "print-through" where one tape revolution
picks up the contents of neighboring revolutions.
We rewind before play also because we want
to leave the tape smoothly spooled by playing it
rather than the rougher winding of rewinding.
We call this storing the tape "tail out."
Most of my one-way tapes have a long leader at the head end,
usually white, so it's easy to see the end of the tape rewinding.
If a tape doesn't have leader,
then there are reels of leader tape, a spool of splicing tape,
and a pair of scissors
and both of my ReVox A77 decks have splicing blocks
to put ten big-reel turns of white leader on the front end
so the tape will have leader next time.
Set the ADCOM source to CD,
press IN2 on the right switchbox,
turn on power switches 2 and 8.
(Power switch 8 turns on the standing room light.)
The deck should be set up with the far-right power switch set to
high-speed, big-hub (one notch right of vertical OFF),
volume set to 3, selector on STEREO
balance equal, and output on TAPE.
The REC CH1
and REC CH2 switches
next to the level meters should be OFF (up).
The control knobs on the right side of the tape deck don't matter.
Press the
REWIND button to rewind the tape.
One can let the tape run out rewinding and then re-thread the tape,
but I prefer to get the tape to stop on the leader portion.
ReVox A77 tape decks is evolved enough to have solenoid switches
as oppposed to mechanical controls,
but not advanced enough to change from rewind to play smoothly.
It is up to the operator to make that transition happen well.
When the tape is near the beginning,
only two or three millimeters of tape on the right reel,
press the FAST FORWARD button
to slow down the rewinding process.
Just before it actually reverses direction,
press REWIND again
and keep the right hand on the right reel
to keep the tape moving faster than play
but slow enough to control the speed and slow enough
not to overheat the fingers holding the reel.
Once the tape over the heads is white leader
stop the tape with the right hand and press
STOP.
Make sure the tape is taught
and press PLAY.
I recommend playing them completely through without stopping
until the tape runs off the end and the deck automatically stops.
The connectors on the back of the ReVox A77 decks
are a bit flaky.
If one channel is missing,
then wiggle the wires on the back of the deck
and twist the connectors to establish fresh, clean contact.
Most of my tapes have no more than one minutes
of trailing blank tape.
If the trailing tape is longer,
then find where the music ends,
run one minutes of blank tape,
cut the tape there,
store the original tape back in the box,
and put the extra tape on a metal garbage reel.
When the metal garbage reel is full,
then take it apart and throw away the tape fragments.
When the tape is done clean the tape heads and capstan
using the tape-head-cleaning solution and the felt-swab
with the tape deck still running.
Pivot the tape head cover down,
remove the plastic head cover,
dip the swab into the cleaning solution,
wipe the tape path on the heads from right to left
and wet the capstan itself, but not the space
between the spinning capstan and the tape-deck chassis.
Get the heads really wet with the cleaning solution.
The cleaning fluid evaperates quickly,
but doing the cleaning after play ensures
it will be dry the next time we play a tape.
I also feel better keeping the deck in a clean state.
2.3 ReVox A77 Half-Track Tape - 19 cm/sec
This is almost exactly the same as the other ReVox deck
in Section~2.2.
For both power and selection
this deck is on switch 3 instead of switch 2.
It is set up for smaller-reel factory tapes.
Thread the tape from right reel to left.
(The same empty reel stays on the left side
pretty-much always.)
There is a tape-path-cover bar that should be pushed down,
the tape goes under the tape head cover
over the rubber pinch roller and over over the moving bar
over the movable bar left of the tape head cover.
Run the tape clockwise around the left
and turn the left reel enough that the tape stays on
by friction.
Make sure the tape is directly under the tape heads
so it presses against the little bar left of center
under the tape head cover.
Half-track tapes only play in one direction
so the rule is "rewind before play."
(This is not Blockbuster "Be Kind, Rewind.")
We rewind before play
because the physical stress of rewinding the tape
removes any "print-through" where one tape revolution
picks up the contents of neighboring revolutions.
We rewind before play also because we want
to leave the tape smoothly spooled by playing it
rather than the rougher winding of rewinding.
We call this storing the tape "tail out."
Most of my one-way tapes have a long leader at the head end,
usually white, so it's easy to see the end of the tape rewinding.
If a tape doesn't have leader,
then there are reels of leader tape, a spool of splicing tape,
and a pair of scissors
and both of my ReVox A77 decks have splicing blocks
to put ten big-reel turns of white leader on the front end
so the tape will have leader next time.
Set the ADCOM source to CD,
press IN3 on the right switchbox,
turn on power switches 3 and 8.
(Power switch 8 turns on the standing room light.)
The deck should be set up with the far-right power switch set to
low-speed, small-hub (two notches left of vertical OFF),
volume set to 5, selector on STEREO,
balance equal, and output on TAPE.
The REC CH1
and REC CH2 switches
next to the level meters should be OFF (up).
The control knobs on the right side of the tape deck don't matter.
Press the
REWIND button to rewind the tape.
One can let the tape run out rewinding and then re-thread the tape,
but I prefer to get the tape to stop on the leader portion.
ReVox A77 tape decks is evolved enough to have solenoid switches
as oppposed to mechanical controls,
but not advanced enough to change from rewind to play smoothly.
It is up to the operator to make that transition happen well.
When the tape is near the beginning,
only two or three millimeters of tape on the right reel,
press the FAST FORWARD button
to slow down the rewinding process.
Just before it actually reverses direction,
press REWIND again
and keep the right hand on the right reel
to keep the tape moving faster than play
but slow enough to control the speed and slow enough
not to overheat the fingers holding the reel.
Once the tape over the heads is white leader
stop the tape with the right hand and press
STOP.
Make sure the tape is taught
and press PLAY.
I recommend playing them completely through without stopping
until the tape runs off the end and the deck automatically stops.
The connectors on the back of the ReVox A77 decks
are a bit flaky.
If one channel is missing,
then wiggle the wires on the back of the deck
and twist the connectors to establish fresh, clean contact.
When the tape is done clean the tape heads and capstan
using the tape-head-cleaning solution and the felt-swab
with the tape deck still running.
Pivot the tape head cover down,
remove the plastic head cover,
dip the swab into the cleaning solution,
wipe the tape path on the heads from right to left
and wet the capstan itself, but not the space
between the spinning capstan and the tape-deck chassis.
Get the heads really wet with the cleaning solution.
The cleaning fluid evaperates quickly,
but doing the cleaning after play ensures
it will be dry the next time we play a tape.
I also feel better keeping the deck in a clean state.
All the factory half-track tapes
(or two-track, same thing)
are old.
They stopped making half-track tapes right around 1960,
over six decades ago,
so they should be handled with extreme care
and the heads should be scrubbed clean after play
to remove whatever iron-oxide might peel off from age.
These are time windows to another age
with a level of audio quality unmatched
in any mass-produced factory-issue before or since.
They were also frightfully expensive,
typically $9.95 to $17.95.
Think what eighteen dollars bought in 1958
and you get the idea that these were the property
of hifi royalty.
When I see a price of $250 or $300 for a half-track one-off copy
from The Tape Project
or International Phonograph Inc. (IPI),
I figure that's cheaper and even better
than these dear classics of hifi reproduction.
2.4 Linn/LOCI/EK1 Turntable
I bought my Linn Sondek LP12 turntable in 1979 from
Mel Schilling's store Music and Sound
in Woodland Hills, California,
The LOCI tonearm is the first production tonearm
I manufactured in 1980,
and I found the EK1 system from a dealer in Wisconsin
who was stuck with inventory he could no longer sell.
Jeff Polan helped me build a
power box
for the Linn
that conditions the line power
and lowers the voltage from 110 to 70 volts.
Recently the turntable has needed a push start to get moving
at the lower voltage.
Raise the dust cover,
place the record on the turntable,
and adjust the vertical tracking angle (VTA)
based on the record label.
There is a list of about 150 labels
on a piece of paper underneath the turntable.
If the label isn't listed
(and I haven't written
a VTA number on the inner sleeve)
then set the VTA to 5.0.
This adjustment is on the tonearm itself,
a small cylinder with numbers that turns
with a little effort.
Be careful only to turn the knurled part
and not to touch the smaller wheel with the actual numbers.
Set the ADCOM source to CD,
press IN1 on the left switchbox,
press IN4 on the right switchbox,
push start the turntable platter in a clockwise direction,
and turn on power switches 4 and 8.
(Power switch 8 turns on the standing room light.)
Occasionally brush the stylus with the LP#9 solution
treating the stylus delicately
and always brushing from back to front.
With the record turning,
clean the record with the Decca Record Brush
(being careful not to touch the brisles with fingers).
Touching the spindle while cleaning the record
discharges static electricity.
Then pick up the front part of the tonearm with the fingerlift,
and put the stylus in the outer groove of the record.
It will play as the stylus spirals its way to the inner groove.
Do not close the dust cover while the record is playing.
(My cat Jane likes to sleep on the dust cover
when the it is down and she knows
to keep clear of the turntable when the cover is up.)
There's enough room under there for the LOCI in its rest position,
but not when it's playing a record.
The LOCI is an articulated tonearm,
so there's no cueing mechanism.
The cartridge only moves up and down
from the fingerlift on the front right side of the 'arm.
Placing the right pinky on the turntable frame
goes a long way toward ensuring stable movement
of the fingerlift.
For the rare moment when a record skips
and repeats the same groove over and over and over and over
there is a pencil that can be
held with two fingers above the turntable,
gently leaned on the right side
of the tonearm near the pivot point
(one of the untold advantages of an articulated tonearm),
and brought forward towards the cartridge with angle increasing
until it no longer repeats.
When the record is done playing,
pick up the fingerlift and put the LOCI tonearm
back to its rest on the right side of the turntable.
2.5 Transcriptors Turntable
I saw the Vestigal tonearm circa 1975
and I saw the Skeleton turntable not much later.
Only as recently as 2019 I found the
combination on eBay.
There was significant assembly work
(Thank you, Anthony Sheppard)
and there were parts missing in transit that needed replacing
(Thank you, Don Sellers at Audio Acres)
and now I have this wonderful piece of audio art
in my own hifi room.
Far more than the Linn,
the Transcriptor is fragile.
The dust cover is heavy glass and is propped up
with a moveable metal bar at an angle,
so I believe it doesn't take much for it
to come crashing down.
That hasn't happened yet,
but please handle this system
with extreme care.
I always move the dust cover glass with two hands.
When I prop up the dust cover,
I keep my hands under it for five seconds
just in case the prop-up catch isn't quite right.
Raise the dust cover
and place the record on the turntable.
Set the ADCOM source to CD,
press IN2 on the left switchbox,
press IN4 on the right switchbox,
push start the turntable platter in a clockwise direction,
and turn on power switches 5 and 8.
(Power switch 8 turns on the standing room light.)
Occasionally brush the stylus with the LP#9 solution
treating the stylus delicately
and always brushing from back to front.
With the record turning,
clean the record with the Decca Record Brush
(being careful not to touch the brisles with fingers).
Touching the spindle while cleaning the record
discharges static electricity.
Then pick up the front part of the tonearm with the fingerlift,
and put the stylus in the outer groove of the record.
It will play as the stylus spirals its way to the inner groove.
The Vestigal is an articulated tonearm,
so there's no cueing mechanism.
The cartridge only moves up and down
from the fingerlift on the front right side of the 'arm.
Placing the right pinky on the turntable frame
goes a long way toward ensuring stable movement
of the fingerlift.
When the record is done playing,
pick up the fingerlift and put the Vestigal tonearm
back on the right side.
There is no armrest,
only the anti-skating keeping the tonearm away from the platter.
2.6 Camelot Magic
Around 2018
my high-end compact-disk player stopped working
one too many times and I decided I would turn all my CDs
into FLAC files rather than buy another player.
Set the ADCOM source to Tape1 and
turn on power switch 8.
(Power switch 8 turns on the standing room light.)
There is a Linux-Ubuntu-Mint laptop called Mooney
(my computers are named after airplanes)
directly in front of the listening seat with
another laptop called Hornet just to the right.
Open a blue Hornet window
logged in as the "adam" user,
type "cd $CD" at the command line,
and find the directory and file to be played.
(This can be done directly on Hornet,
but I prefer to use the secure-shell ssh program
to link from Mooney to Hornet and to run the program there.)
Type "mplayer" and space and the name of the file.
Arrow keys jump forward and back ten seconds
and the letter "q" quits the playback.
I wrote a utility MPLAY that manages a FLAC (or WAV) playlist.
Once a FLAC file is played, its name is recorded in a file played.lis
and MPLAY won't play it again, so I can type "mplay *.flac" and it
will only play the files I haven't already listened to.
If I interrupt a playback with "q" I have two seconds to press
control-C to keep MPLAY from putting that file on the played list.
If there is no sound, then there are lots of things to try.
First, make sure the ADCOM is selecting Tape 1
on the right column of lights.
Make sure the volume of Mplayer is turned up
(press 0 (zero) key).
When that fails, then hit the Windows key,
type "sound" and ENTER to get the sound screen,
set the Device to "Analog Output PCM2704 16-bit stereo audio DAC,"
and make sure the volume is turned up
Just to be nice to the next user of the hifi
(usually myself),
let's put the ADCOM selection back on CD.
2.7 Aiwa M700
I had an Aiwa M700 three-head compact-cassette deck
when I was in graduate school around 1980,
it stopped working,
so I found another Aiwa M700 deck on eBay circa 2019.
The eject switch mechanically opens the compartment
and the cassette is inserted tape down.
The control switches are solenoids.
Set the ADCOM source to Tape2 and
turn on power switches 7 and 8.
(Power switch 8 turns on the standing room light.)
The deck should be set up with the power switch turned on.
The tape-movement buttons work as one expects:
PLAY, STOP, REC,
FAST FORWARD, and REWIND.
When the tape is done clean the tape heads and capstan
using the tape-head-cleaning solution and the felt-swab
with the door open and the cassette removed.
2.8 VTOP/Audacity Digital Recording
To record any of my analogue sources,
usually an old tape of some kind,
there is a laptop named Hornet
(my computers are named after airplanes)
to the listener's right on my table.
Set the ADCOM recording selection to CD
and make sure the Audacity program is running.
Audacity is set up not to record if there is no signal,
so press "r" (lower case) to start recording
before starting the source.
Play the source until it's done.
On the Audacity screen click STOP,
click File->Export->WAV,
type the name of the digital file to save,
and press ENTER twice.
Check that the file is in the $CD/audacity directory
and then click File->Close and click NO.
3 HOW TO EVALUATE MY HIFI
It's worth a few paragraphs
to write about what makes good hifi
so much better than the middle, pretty-good stuff.
Frequency balance and phase.
There are lows from the deepest bass
through highs at the highest treble.
Getting all the frequencies in the right proportion is important.
Also important is getting the phase relationships correct
so a transient comes out like live.
Think of the impact of a drum beat or a piano key.
It's amazing how all the frequencies matter.
Disconnect a subwoofer and the highest piano keys
lose their plink-plink.
Human voices and musical instruments
take on a life of their own on a good hifi rig.
Everything matters from the source through
the electronics to the loudspeakers.
There is a natural tone to a voice,
not overstating the breathy aspiration,
not emphasizing the sibilants.
The wood and rosin of a violin and bow
have their own sounds.
Frequency balance and correct phase create
lifelike voices and instruments in perspective.
They also create a stereophonic image.
Left to right image is pretty normal for two-speaker hifi,
front to back is a a lot less common,
and the vertical component of image is a special consequence.
A sense of space in stereophonic playback
is an important part of my listening experience.
There is a vast and esoteric
vocabulary
we use to describe aspects of hifi sound.
At the end of the road
it's important to remember the mission
is the appreciation and enjoyment of music.
Vast and expensive machinery is fun to have and to play with,
but it's only a means to the end of enjoying a musical event,
real and live or
produced and contrived.
4 HOW TO INSTALL MY HIFI
It's a long and winding road of labor
to install my hifi to sit back and to enjoy
music like the Beatles record "Let It Be."
I'll start with the loudspeakers and work my way back
to the source equipment.
4.1 Loudspeakers
The Quad ESL (ElectroStatic Loudspeakers)
go on top of a pair of lovely Koa-wood stands
with the white plastic plumbing pieces propping up
the back of the speakers.
They seem fragile balanced there,
but thirty-six years of having cats playing around them
haven't seen one of the fall down.
(I knocked one down sometime about 1990,
there was no damage, and I have been more careful since.)
The Decca Ribbon Tweeters sit on top of the Quads
on little shelves made for that purpose.
The Quads have quaint power cords that plug
into a power strip that plugs into a Camelot power conditioner
that plugs into the wall.
The Fried T subwoofer sits in front of the Quads.
Ideally its open end with the driver and port
should be midway between the two channels,
but if there isn't enough room,
then put the driver and port on the right side
as most of the bass in classical music
is on that side.
In theory bass at its frequencies is nondirectional,
but there is just enough higher frequency information
coming from the subwoofer to make me choose to
put it facing right for classical music.
It isn't enough to mess up the bass in the center
of almost all jazz and popular recordings.
4.2 Amplifiers
The Eagle 2A power amplifier sits between the Quads.
A dual-banana-plug cable runs from the Eagle 2A to the Quads
with the black ground being the side of the dual plug
with the ridge on it.
(I think it's even marked "GND" on the side.)
Here's the twist (pun intended).
The Quad ESL is out of absolute phase,
so the red plug on the cable goes into the black hole
and the black plug on the cable goes into the red hole
on both left and right speakers.
(I'll admit I have no idea which way "correct"
absolute phase works, positive voltage compression
or positive voltage rarefraction,
but Quads are opposite from other loudspeakers and,
more important,
the opposite from my Fried T subwoofer.
I remember a story from my golden-ear days
where I was listening to a friend's hifi
playing Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon"
and I could tell something was wrong with the tom-tom drums.
The subwoofer was out of phase with the satellite speakers
even though they were in phase with each other.)
The Eagle 2A can be plugged into the same power strip
as the Quad ESLs.
The Scott receiver for the subwoofer is connected
from its loudspeaker output A to the Fried T subwoofer
(it doesn't matter which channel).
It can also be plugged into the same power strip.
Its balance and tone controls
are set to their neutral positions
with their controls vertical.
The speaker-A and TAPE 2 switches are ON
4.3 Crossover
I have a made-it-myself passive bi-amp crossover.
It's unique in that it uses the resistive input impedence
of the amplifiers as its load.
The line-amplifier output goes through a network
of capacitors and resistors to produce output voltages
with a crossover frequency around 90 Hz
(as I recall).
The left and right output cables plug into the Eagle 2A
left and right inputs
and the subwoofer-bass output goes into the TAPE 2 input
of the Scott receiver
using the same channel (left or right)
as the subwoofer output cables.
4.4 Line Amplifier
There are wonderful, expensive line amplifiers out there,
but I have been satisfied with a basic ADCOM that has
the features I like including a left-right balance control
and enough source selections to do the playback and recordings
I like.
The crossover input plugs into the ADCOM main outputs
and the ADCOM is plugged into its own Camelot power conditioner
that plugs into a power strip that plugs into the wall.
The unit should be turned on,
the volume is usually between 3 and 4,
and the balance, bass, and treble
are set to their neutral positions
with their controls vertical.
4.5 Control Boxes
There are two four-button signal-path control boxes and
a power strip with eight switches.
The signal output of the left control box
plugs into the IN4 input of the right control box.
The signal output of the right control box
plugs into the CD input of the ADCOM line amplifier.
The power strip plugs into its own Camelot power conditioner
that plugs into a power strip that plugs into the wall.
4.6 Sony TC-650 Quarter Track Tape
The Sony TC650 should have its power turned ON (up),
tape lift ON (up), tape speed 7&half (up),
rec modes OFF (up), all on the left side of the deck.
On the lower-middle the sources should be set to TAPE (down).
On the lower-right the SOS should be OFF (middle)
and the PB VOL should be at nine o'clock for both channels.
The power plug should be plugged into plug 1
on the power strip with eight switches.
4.7 ReVox A77 Half-Track Tape - 38 cm/sec
The high-speed ReVox A77 should have volume set to 3.5,
selector set to STEREO, monitor set to TAPE,
and power set to
big-reel and higher speed (one notch right of vertical).
The red CHANNEL 1 and CHANNEL 2 buttons should be off (up).
The power plug should be plugged into plug 2
on the power strip with eight switches.
4.8 ReVox A77 Half-Track Tape - 19 cm/sec
The high-speed ReVox A77 should have volume set to 3.5,
selector set to STEREO, monitor set to TAPE,
and power set to
small-reel and lower speed (two notches left of vertical).
The red CHANNEL 1 and CHANNEL 2 buttons should be off (up).
The power plug should be plugged into plug 3
on the power strip with eight switches.
4.9 Linn/LOCI/EK1 Turntable
We can write whole essays on setting up
a Linn Sondek LP12 and people have written such essays.
I've written manuals for setting up the LOCI tonearm.
I'll summarize those here and I'll try not to make
too many assumptions about what's already set up.
The LOCI tonearm is mounted in a single large hole
in the Linn armboard in the back right of the turntable system.
Ideally the large LOCI counterweight is pushed back
so the `arm is dynamically balanced,
but I keep it a little closer to the pivot
so the dust cover closes when the tonearm is in the armrest
and fastened in place with a 2-56 Allen hex wrench.
The tonearm cable should be fastened to the plinth
with the (infamous) Linn P-clip mount
so there is free movement of the floating turntable chassis.
There are pencil marks for aligning the inner and outer platters.
(That's the alignment that sounded best quite a few years ago
and it might just be that the two parts settle in after a while and
it doesn't really matter how they're aligned.)
The black-plastic Tri-Pad goes on top
with the cork side up.
The EK1 cartridge is fastened with mounting screws going
through the black metal plate and between the two pairs
of carbon-fiber mounting rods.
The wire colors should match,
red and green for left channel and
white and blue for right channel.
These wires are delicate.
The small counterweight is adjusted for tracking weight
using the Shure scale and fastened in place
with a 2-56 Allen hex wrench.
The cartridge is aligned using the
Nerve or Dennison alignment Sound-Tractor.
The pivot-point pointer goes right into the 4-40 Allen hex setscrew
on the back of the tonearm.
Rotating the back of the LOCI tonearm around the tall pillar
can effect gross changes in front-to-back overhand
and small changes can be done by moving the cartridge
within the four carbon-fiber rods.
Once it's right, then tighten the 4-40 Allex screw
in the back of the tonearm
and the screws holding the cartridge in place.
The voltage-control system
is a big transformer mounted on a sheet-metal frame.
The power plug should be plugged into plug 4
on the power strip with eight switches.
The motor power cable goes into the plug next
to the no-longer-used Valhalla board.
The turntable at low voltage can run
but doesn't quite have the "oomph" to get started,
so it requires a hand-push start to get going.
Anti-skating can be adjusted by sliding the small black
thread holder with its tiny counterweight.
I've been using minimum anti-skate,
but the "more-offical" method is to adjust
for zero stylus deflection when lowered onto
a rotating record groove.
The output cables from the LOCI
run into the EK1 input of the EK1 control unit
and the line output of the EK1 unit
plugs into the IN1 input of the left control box.
The Linn-to-EK1 cable run is short,
but I find it works best without extension cables,
especially with less hum.
The EK1 unit can plug into a power strip
that plugs into its own Camelot power conditioner.
Finally we have the LOCI's trademark
vertical tracking angle (VTA) feature.
Thanks to the patented parallelogram
the VTA doesn't very during playback
but it does very when adjusted with
the cute little wheel assembly
atop the dual armtubes.
Find a record whose label is on the list
and adjust an inner-groove track with repeated listenings.
Once that record sounds its best
then adjust the small numbered wheel to have the correct number
for that record label.
(If I may make a recommendation,
the last band "Josie" on Steely Dan's "Aja"
with significant left-right disperson that
reaches a clear maximum at optimal VTA.
ABC records is VTA number 4.)
Sometimes the Linn/LOCI/EK1 system is noisy.
It sounds like record noise anytime a record is played,
even a new or clean record.
The first plan is to clean the record on the Nitty Gritty cleaner
and to clean the stylus with one of the tougher stylus brushes.
If those don't work, then check all the electrical connections.
Unplug the cables from the EK1 control box and plug them back in.
The next step is to unplug the cables and check them
with an ohm meter for continuity.
It may be necessary to repair the LOCI cables.
I have a young friend Anthony who has young eyes and young fingers
and he can fix those skinny little wires when they break.
The most recent time this happened, in 2021,
it turned out replacing the stylus assembly did the trick.
There are stylus assemblies for
the Panasonic EPC-451C cartridge
that is the EK1 pickup.
I even found their SL-701 quadraphonic turntable system
on eBay when I needed another cartridge for my hifi.
I played Tommy James and the Shondells on it,
out of respect for its era,
before I removed the cartridge for my EK1 system.
I keep one extra cartridge and two extra stylus assemblies
in the hope that the hifi lasts until the last day I can use it.
4.10 Transcriptors Turntable
The Vestigal tonearms screws into a mount
on the Transcriptors turntable,
the Sonus Blue cartridge screws into the Vestigal head,
and the cables attach by color,
red and green for left channel and
white and blue for right channel.
If the glass enclosure needs assembly,
then that's a complicated deal,
kind of a Chinese puzzle,
and make sure the screws are tight
so the dust cover glass doesn't slip out and fall.
It's critical the turntable is level.
The only anti-skating adjustment
is the level-tilt screw on the Vestigal tonearm.
The tracking force is adjusted with a turning screw
on the back end of the tonearm.
That screw should be at a 45° angle when
the stylus is in the record groove.
The left-right leveling tonearm adjustment should
gently sway to the right, away from the record.
That should act as a de-facto armrest
as well as anti-skating.
The output cables from the Vestigal tonearm
go into a Musical Fidelity preamplifier
which should be set on moving-magnet mode,
not moving-coil mode.
It should be always on and plugged into a power strip
that is plugged into a Camelot power conditioner.
The Transcriptor turntable system
power plug should be plugged into plug 5
on the power strip with eight switches.
4.11 Camelot Magic
The Camelot Magic is plugged into a USB port
on a laptop in the hifi room, the one I've named "Mooney"
(after an airplane type as are all my computers)
directly in front of the listener.
The cables from the Camelot Magic go into
the Tape 1 input on the ADCOM line amplifier.
At least this one is easy.
4.12 Aiwa M700
The Aiwa M700 output goes into
the Tape 2 input on the ADCOM line amplifer.
Its power plug should be plugged into plug 7
on the power strip with eight switches.
4.13 VTOP/Audacity Digital Recording
The VTOP analogue-to-digital gadget
has its analogue side pluged into the Tape 2 output of
the ADCOM line amplifier
and its digital side plugged into a USB
on the laptop named "Hornet"
(after an airplane type as are all my computers).
on the listener's right side.
The Audacity program is run from a Linux window
using the command "audacity" at the prompt.
I put old half-track tapes in a subdirectory called "tape"
and other recordings in appropriate subdirectories
using the UNIX "mv" command.
The large number of files starting with "c-"
are my old compact-cassette recordings from graduate school.
5 END
8:42:25 Mountain Standard Time
(MST).
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