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In Reply to: RE: My nostalgia system (vintage, faux vintage and not vintage amalgamation). Pictures . . . posted by JoshT on November 23, 2015 at 14:59:27
Not a receiver one sees very often in the wild; I think by the time that model came out, the market had 1) shifted from kits and 2) found better "deals" (prices), at least in terms of watts per dollar, from the Japanese massmarket brands. It'd still be cool to have one.
The AF 877 was an OK piece of hardware, too -- I've had one since it was new. The tt is all plastic,all the time... but the arm's pretty decent, I think.
The entry level of that series (initially) was the AF 777; there was, later, an AF-677 -- and maybe even lower numbered versions, at least in Europe.
I've (ahem) acquired an AF 777 somewhere along the line, in the ensuing four-ish decades, too :-)
When those tts originally came out in the US, the entry level Philips was an odd sort of amalgam of past and future, the lightweight, plastic-y GA-437. I think there's one of these in the basement someplace :-P Same cartridge 'slide' as the GA-212/312 and their kin on this one.
The CSW Sixes are likewise very respectable; e-mail me if you're interested in the XO upgrade published in audioXpress ca. 2001.
OK, that's enough cutting & pasting for now ;-)
Nice system you've got there!
all the best,
mrh
Follow Ups:
Quite the treasure trove of information. Love the Heathkit ad. The guy who refurbished my unit believes it was not a kit, but rather made by the company. Either that, or the person who soldered it was as good as a pro.
I do recall that you have an 877. Didn't realize you also had the fully auto 777. Neat!
My first turntable looks a lot like the GA437, but it was a semi-auto and I'm pretty sure was part of the AF line.
Oh, and I'll follow by email for that XO upgrade. I do find a wee bit of grunge in the upper midrange area, though overall the speakers are quite rich and full in tone.
Sorry for the late follow up and thank you. The last few days work has been kicking my ass hard.
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"If you are the owner of a new stereophonic system, this record will play with even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity. In short, you can purchase this record with no fear of its becoming obsolete in the future."
I owned this table for the first half of the 1980s after my Dual 1218 broke down. Unfortunately, the Phillips 312 didn't hold up much better. Then, in 1985, I got a Thorens, fully manual table (TD166 mk 2) that still works as well as the day I bought it.
If the Thorens ever stops working, I'll go with another fully manual (from either Music Hall, VPI, Pro-ject) machine. As with many things, including turntables, less seems to be more.
I had one of those, and it's a sweet table. Love the electronic controls in the front that light up.
Mine had a somewhat noisy motor and the repair guy said the bearings were going and impossible to replace. It was fine for LPs and for 45s, but got a bit loud for 78s so I figured it was just a matter of time. Since I already had a VPI Scout and my Philips 877, I ended up essentially giving it away to a friend of mine. I just wish that motor wasn't going, because otherwise it was operationally perfect and sounded nice.
___
"If you are the owner of a new stereophonic system, this record will play with even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity. In short, you can purchase this record with no fear of its becoming obsolete in the future."
The Phillips sounded okay and the electronic controls were a cool modern touch. But I don't think it was made as well as the durable, reliable Thorens. In 30 years, I've never had 5 minutes of trouble with my TD166 mk2. The only "maintenance" I do is change the belt every 5 years or so.
As much as I like my Philips, which I bought off of Craig's list for $45, I didn't mean to suggest that it comes close to the Thorens in build quality, just that the particular table I bought, used and for quite a bit of money, had an aging and unrepairable motor.Here's a picture of it from a few years ago. I miss it's tank-like build, but wasn't going to put more money into trying to find a new motor and then pay to have it installed.
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"If you are the owner of a new stereophonic system, this record will play with even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity. In short, you can purchase this record with no fear of its becoming obsolete in the future."
Edits: 11/26/15
Was it the Thorens or the Phillips?
Got it. If the motor in my Thorens went bad, I'd get another table too. But not a Thorns. It's not the same company today. I'd either go used, vintage Thorens or Music hall.
.
___
"If you are the owner of a new stereophonic system, this record will play with even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity. In short, you can purchase this record with no fear of its becoming obsolete in the future."
Is that a Micro Acoustics cartridge on that AF777?
Dave
Any particular reason for asking?
The photo I posted shows one of our annual "holiday" dubbing sessions. My wife and I love Christmas music -- and we have a lot of it on various media. To this day, our favored mode of listening is VHS HiFi video tape -- six (or even eight) hours of high-quality analog stereo audio (recorded via FM using rotating heads) on video tape.
The AF-777 has, over the years, become the default dubbing turntable for this Quixotic task :-)
all the best,
mrh
I was wondering what you thought of its sound. I have 2 that I stuck in a drawer decades ago because I decided I did not like the sound, but I am wondering if I should give them a second chance.
Dave
Not sure I've really actually "listened" to it (i.e., with any sort of criticality).
It's certainly not too bad, as I have been using it for the holiday dubbing festivities for several years now.
all the best,
mrh
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