I would try to find a member in your area that would be willing to come over and help you set it up or see how much a nearby dealer would charge. You can watch and learn and ask questions. Good luck!
Zoomer needs help navigating 50's-80's Hi-Fi equipment
Hello all, I am a 20-something that recently came into possession of my late grandfather’s audio equipment and I want to use as much as I can to set up my own system at home. The main problem is with some of this stuff I have no clue how to connect them together at all, let alone have it in the correct order. I am looking for help in chaining everything together without blowing everything up.
So, I have done some research on what I have recieved and have just been pulling my hair out trying to figure it out. I just don’t know enough to even Google what I need to know. A small selection of the stuff I was given is as follows:
- Kenwood KR-5600 Stereo Receiver
- Akai GX-F60R Cassette Deck
- AudioControl Ten Plus Series Two Equalizer
- SAE 5000A Impulse Noise Reduction System
- Viking of Minneapolis RP62 Pre-Amp
- Fisher SA-300 Amplifier
I am looking to set up a whole home audio system, but my primary goal is to play my records that have been collecting dust. From what I have figured out in my research, evidently my grandfather was a massive audiophile over his life, so all this equipment is VERY overkill for what I need. But I have all this equipment, may as well use it, you know? I cleaned them all up and plugged them in and they all powered on. It may be naive to think everything works correctly, but when things get lined up that should be easier for me to figure it out.
If anyone has literally ANY suggestions/comments on how dumb I am/guidance on making this work, I am all ears. Regardless, thank you for reading!
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There is a site called HiFiEngine.com They have manuals and info on lots of older/vintage gear. Pretty sure several pieces you have will be listed there. It's a free site, so no cost other than time to search. They also have a nice index and search feature by brand. Read through the old manuals. They should all have recommended set-up instructions. You may want to post where you live. Someone here may volunteer to help you sort it all out. Just because it's old doesn't mean it doesn't work or sound decent. I've had plenty of vintage gear, unrestored, that worked just fine. Good luck and enjoy the hobby. It's better than bar-hopping.
PS- You can always sell gear after you get it all figured out. |
You can use the Kenwood KR-5600 as a platform to test almost everything you have. First thing to do is make sure the Kenwood receiver still in working condition. Then you can connect the cassette deck to its TAPE A or B IN/OUT to test if the cassette deck still functioning. You can do the same for testing the AudioControl equalizer and the SAE 5000A. Testing the Fisher SA-300 amplifier and Viking of Minneapolis RP62 preamp, you can utilize the Kenwood receiver ADAPTER IN/OUT.
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I'm going to assume that you want to keep the gear, at least for a while, because it has sentimental value and it is interesting. So here are a few tips about hooking it up. Often there is more than one way to do it so I'll try to list the options but be warned, it is confusing. Your Kenwood receiver has a tape loop which is critical to being able to run some of this gear. I'm going to start with the tape loop and how it affects your hookups. The equalizer will have a tape loop that allows you to hook up another piece of gear with a tape loop. You hook up the EQ first in the chain because if you record cassettes you may want to EQ the incoming signal. So hook up the EQ to the receiver and then chain your SAE noise reducer and your cassette deck (see below). Here is an excellent instruction manual from AudioControl AudioControl Manual You can easily press the defeat button on the EQ if you don't want it to affect the signal. The SAE noise reducer suppresses the clicks and pops from vinyl records. It works reasonably well (I have one). It is designed to work on a line level signal (not the low signal directly from your turntable) and it has a tape loop to allow this. This complicates matters somewhat. Hook up the turntable cables to the phono input of your receiver. Hook up the SAE to the tape loop of your EQ. Now you can hook up your cassette deck to the tape loop of the SAE. To run this conglomeration you need to push the tape monitor button on the receiver. This will route the signal through the components hooked up to the tape loop depending on which of their tape loop buttons are pushed. To just run the EQ make sure that the tape loop on the EQ is disengaged. That prevents the downstream components (SAE & deck) from going through the tape loop. If you want to play a vinyl record and use the SAE to reduce the surface noise engage the tape loop on the EQ but make sure that the tape loop on the SAE is disengaged. If you want to run the tape deck you will need to engage the tape loop on the SAE but also press the defeat button on the SAE so it doesn't try to reduce the noise on the tape. I've ignored the preamp and the amplifier but the principles will be the same as the receiver. It's confusing with all the tape loops and you will find yourself staring at the rack trying to figure out why something isn't working until you figure out which button you pressed (or didn't) by mistake. One more tip about tape loops. Each manufacturer may use a different convention for naming the in & out jacks. You want to hook up the output of one loop to the input of the next one. Sometimes you have to think about it and you may get it wrong depending on the naming convention. When you hook up each component to the tape loop test it and make sure it's working. If you don't hear anything try switching the input and output cables to see if that was the problem. Good luck! |
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