Ah, you need to look at Ikea differently, I walk about thinking “now what can i use that for?”
So far I have repaired the GRP bumper on my motorhome with stainless steel bars bought from the kitchen department, I have made oak veneered open baffle speakers with stainless steel stands from cabinet panels and other parts, a portable satellite receiver dish positioning motor unit and tripod from aluminium parts obtained there, and most recently a stylish ‘lean back’ support frame to hold my rack mount ‘helix guitar amp modeller’ from the beautifully curved timber from a chair frame. Ikea can bend wood much better than I can, plus I am sure that there are other things too!
Not in vain, and for some reason it will be, the midrange drivers in the K6 and K8 are the incredible soft domes from ATC, conveniently adapted to the ProAc signature…
If it turns out well enough, it might join my hifi as a…‘to be revealed’
The cricket bat in the right hand side of the picture has been hacked too. I believe it is unique its a ‘sledge-O-matic’ the world’s first? self sledging cricket bat.
Ah, sorry about that, you are quite right Richard it is truly a tank of a cassette player, but the mechanical mechanism is a nightmare. I managed to repair the 1978 JVC, (it had a delaminated metal flywheel!), so the 1975 Sony is going to be the donor. Apparently the Sony retailed for $500 in 1975, the JVC $250, it is easy to see why.
Why does the Dolby switch have a Filter on/off option with Dolby on? Did Sony fit an extra LPF to block tape hiss on cheaper tapes?
More generally, what was the thinking behind FeCr (Type III) tape? ISTR vague mentions of getting Type II performance at Type I prices, but Type III cassettes we’re unavailable by the time I became a teenage tape-head in the mid/late 80s. Did they prove to be a waste of money?
Good questions @Ebor , teh short answer is that I don’t know, I will check the circuit diagram to see what the switch does, as for tape types, I recall using Ferric, Chromium dioxide, and Metal, but FeCr doesnt ring any bells with me, I expect Richard will know, he seems to be up on his tapes.
I remember a fairly unusual tape by TDK denoted ‘OD’ not sure what type that was.
The filter setting will be to switch in an MPX filter so it doesn’t mess with Dolby operation.
FeCr was a dual layer formulation that tried to get the benefits of both types in one tape. It didn’t work so well. Once metal tape arrived and pseudo chrome and ferric formulations markedly improved, FeCr was finished.
System up and at it, and sounding great. The speakers are probs too close and too near a wall and a fireplace etc but it was the spot in the house I was afforded, and it works for me. The cabinet is pretty spesh - clic from Denmark rather than ikea. A solid piece of kit
It’s a shame you can’t get the speakers either side of the fireplace, but sometimes domestic harmony needs to prevail. What a lovely view out of that patio window.
Looks impressive.
