4 The Audio Appraisal Reference Hi-Fi System
The Audio Appraisal reference system. This post will be updated to reflect future changes and kept as a historic reference to log the equipment used to create these reviews.
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2 Technics RS-B665 Direct Drive Cassette Deck Service
The Technics RS-B665 is a direct-drive cassette deck and roughly the middle of its model range from 1989 to 1991. It's a good performer and a fuss-free, maintenance-free cassette player.
Toshiba PC-G10 Cassette Deck Repair
The Toshiba PC-G10 cassette deck was sold in 1983 as part of a Toshiba ‘Rack system’. These are fine decks and well worth the little they cost to pick up on the second-hand market.
Sony CFD-G50L Boombox Repair
the culmination of the so-called ‘ghettoblaster’ in its best form after decades of refinement. This particular example had a few faults. The CD player didn’t read discs, the tape deck warbled hopelessly off key and FM radio reception wasn’t as good as I thought it should be.
Sony CFS-W318 Cassette Radio Repair Fail
A Sony CFS-W318 radio cassette boombox from the turn of the millennium. Scrapped due to brittle plastic in the tape mechanisms, but an interesting electronic design and a useful source of parts including a nice tuner module.
Philips MC-151/12 Micro System Repair Fail
You can't save 'em all. This is a Philips MC-151 micro 'hi-fi' system, a far cry from the once-great audio division of Philips who produced the first cassette recorders, a myriad of portable and hi-fi turntables, one of the first consumer CD players and even owned Marantz for a time.
Repairing Cassette Capstan & Turntable DC Motors
A basic primer on cassette capstan and turntable DC motors and how to repair them if they become noisy. With due care and a steady hand many can be repaired with success.
Yamaha CRX-M170 DAB CD Receiver Repair
a Yamaha CRX-M170 CD receiver offered on Freecycle recently sparked my interest. It was listed as having a couple of faults - a temperamental CD player and an erratic volume knob. These are plentiful on the second-hand market for little or no cost and are well worth a punt.
How To Fix A Digital Volume Control
If the volume on your stereo randomly turns up by itself, or doesn't work at all, this article is for you.
Sendy Audio / Sivga Aiva Headphones Reviewed
Engaging, fun and emotive, with bags of detail and a pleasant sonic palette that is easy to listen to for hour upon hour.
2 Denon DRM-740 Cassette Deck Repair
full of cheap plastic and not the most fun to service, but serviced with care they do sound very good, and cost less on the second-hand market than other 3-head, dual capstan models from Sony, Technics, Aiwa, Pioneer and Nakamichi et al.
2 Cambridge Audio AXC35 CD player Reviewed
well made and smart to look at, clean uncoloured and pleasant to listen to, the AXC35 is a fine performer. Its simplistic electronics and quality disc drive should be reliable for many years.
Cambridge Audio AXA35 Integrated Amplifier Reviewed
a smart-looking, well-featured amplifier. It’s nicely made and finished with plenty of versatility for most users, but it could be better engineered in places and has a lot of competition at this price.
Cambridge Audio History & AX Series Overview
a system that performs in perfect harmony and looks more expensive than it is.
Cambridge Audio SX-60 Standmount Speakers Reviewed
These are speakers for rock and pop fans, but classical listeners should probably look elsewhere. They’ll delight hiphop and electronic fans too providing you have an amp with some ‘oomf’ behind it that can give those slightly stiff woofers a kick up the backside.
2 Yamaha KX-580SE Cassette Deck Service & Repair
Later KX-series decks are very simple mechanically and electronically, easy to service and maintain and generally well constructed as far as later cassette decks go. And for now at least, second-hand pricing is still relatively sane
Cambridge Audio 540C No Disc Repair
A mini review and repair of a Cambridge Audio 540C V2 CD player with a 'No Disc' error. Applies also to 340C, 640C, 740C, 840C, 351C, 651C, 851C etc.
2 Sony’s Last Flagship Cassette Deck – The TC-WE675 repair & ...
Whether cassette will see the same resurgence as vinyl, only time will tell. But while there are still plenty of these in the wild, it’s a fine deck for the money.
CAMBRIDGE AUDIO CXA81 Integrated Amplifier Reviewed
A real breath of fresh air in a market dominated by boring black boxes with average build and same-old specs.
Sivga Audio Robin Closed-Back Headphones Reviewed
A supremely comfortable pair of headphones with wonderful build quality and evident craftsmanship throughout.
4 Fyne Audio F700 Standmount Speakers Reviewed
An aesthetically beautiful speaker with a sonic signature that closely follows the neutrality line, but adds a dose of ‘get up n’ go’ to proceedings. Impeccably built with possibly the best single-point concentric driver currently on the market.
4 Kali Audio IN-8 V2 Coincident Active Studio Monitors Reviewed
One of the best coincident driver designs around regardless of price, Paired with an equally adept bass driver, clever port design and unique DSP-based boundary equalisation. These active monitors are quite extraordinary at their position not far from the bottom rung of the price ladder.