My dad's old audio equipment

Michael87

New Member
Hi all,
I just received my father's old audio equipment from his teenage years and the equipment are as follows:
Luxman L-116A Stereo Integrated Amplifier
Luxman T-1 AM/FM Stereo Tuner
Denon DR-320 Cassette Deck
Philips CD150 CD Player
Klipsch KG 4.5 Loudspeakers
KEF 304 Series 2 Type SP1148 Speakers
Are these equipment any good? Does anyone have any experiences using these stuff? Also, should I use them for my audio setup or get new gear?
 
Welcome to AK!

Hopefully you have survived the outage. :)

That is pretty decent equipment. Your father chose some good stuff. Hopefully it all still works. While you will eventually develop your own sonic preferences, it would be good to setup and use your father's system, and get used to the sound, so you have a frame of reference, and can tell upgrades from downgrades and sideways moves later on. There's no point in rushing to get all new stuff - half the fun is realizing improvements along the way.

So, have fun!

:music:
 
Welcome to AK!

Hopefully you have survived the outage. :)

That is pretty decent equipment. Your father chose some good stuff. Hopefully it all still works. While you will eventually develop your own sonic preferences, it would be good to setup and use your father's system, and get used to the sound, so you have a frame of reference, and can tell upgrades from downgrades and sideways moves later on. There's no point in rushing to get all new stuff - half the fun is realizing improvements along the way.

So, have fun!

:music:

But before using the equipment again, do I have to change any components in the equipment? I've heard that vintage equipment shouldn't be switched on immediately as the capacitors might blow up and cause a bigger problem. Is this true?
 
If you are worried about a capacitor problem, you can remove the case covers and inspect the circuits for bulging or leaking caps or toasted resistors first. If components were put away while still working, chances are they will still work now. It's not like those units are from the 1950s or 1960s. If plugging them in smokes something, then you could consider a use-or-replace decision as having been made for you. ;)

Someone may come along and offer better start-up advice, or suggest a more thorough check-up, or a recap, or total rebuild, and if you're into electronics, those suggestions may make sense. You could get a variac and bring them up slowly, but a good one is likely $100 and up. Although these are decent pieces, whether they are worth repairing if broken is a different question. It probably depends on what they are worth to you.
 
If you are concerned with starting up the vintage gear, look for an electronics repair shop in your area and contact them about inspecting, cleaning and testing your gear. They have the knowledge and tools needed to get the gear running without damage.

It's a good collection and I'd not hesitate to set up a system based on that gear and playing it as long as the gear tests out.
 
Take the grills off of the speakers and take a look at the foam surrounds on the woofers to see if they’re rotted. You can also gently touch them to see if they disentegrate.
If so they’ll need to be replaced (“reformed”) - not a terribly difficult process, kind of like an art project.
 
@Michael87
w1jim is right about the Kefs. I have Kef R107s that I got from an old audiophile's widow, and the foam surrounds on the 10 inch woofers were in perfect shape when I checked them, but as soon as I drove them at a decent level, the surrounds discintrgrated. I have personally refoamed a few speakers, including a pair of mid size infinity's, and they were fine. But I tried to refoam the older Kef drivers and it didn't go so well.
I ended up taking the 10 inch drivers to a pro speaker shop to have them done, and to re-do the 2 that I had attempted.
The Kef drivers have an extremely narrow gap for the voice coil to slide in, and a smaller magnet to mate with it.
Many speaker manufacturers use a larger magnet which allows them to design a wider gap for the voice coil to slide in; but Kef must have a reason for the tighter fit.
Perhaps a lighter magnet allows for better/more accurate, frequency response? I don't know.
But I do know that they are ****ing difficult to refoam properly. And I'm ussually quite adept at doing intricate repairs.
So, to make a long story short (too late), your vintage Kefs will surely require refoaming, and I highly advise having the drivers refoamed by a well-recommended, speaker repair shop.
Keep in mind that it's probably worth the investment, cuz a well-maintained pair of Kefs sound really nice.
For what it's worth ...

Dave
 
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