Some Improvements to the Den's Audio Systems

Gentle reader,

I know that I JUST posted another blog a few minutes ago, but wanted to get this all down while it was still fresh in my mind.

You may recall that I set up a separate stereo in the den specifically to play 78 RPM records. Being they are all mono, kind of silly to call it a stereo, but the rest of the components are stereo, so there.

I also a short while ago bought a small power amplifier to power the BOSE 301 speakers as well as the Wharfedale Diamond 7.1 speakers. 

They all were powered by the main Kenwood power amplifier, but I felt asking it to power six speakers was too much. What I didn't know at the time was how small the Sherbourn LDS2/75 power amplifier would be. The seller was new to eBay and did not indicate physical size. The price was right at $60. It has to be remotely triggered to make music. Either through detecting an incoming signal, or a 12 volt DC signal. Well, the former didn't work, so I adapted a 12 volt DC transformer to it. The transformer is turned on by the main system. The Sherbourn does have a power switch on the back which must be on as well. If I only want to listen to the oak speakers I rebuilt, I leave the Sherbourn switched off.

Above is the whole shebang. It is playing a 12 inch78 RPM record as I made the image. It may not look any different to you, and definitely not my long-suffering, audio-system-confused-wife. But it is different.

Above you can see that the Pioneer equipment has been replaced by the Mitsubishi MIDI equipment that no one wanted to buy from me. My wife had put that rack in the den for some reason, and I found it to be quite strong. I first attached the Sherbourn amp to the bottom of it, then stacked the Mitsi's less the non-functioning cassette deck on top. Then the wooden shelf that was directly on the floor before on top. The Sony CD player on top of the wood shelf with the Dynaco QD-1L on top. Note, no speaker switch. The QD-1L divides the signals quite well, directing out of phase signals to the Wharfedales in the back of the room.

Below is a close-up of the front of the Sherbourn. Here is a link to a PDF of the owner's manual for the Sherbourn: LDS2-75B_Owners_Manual.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Below, you can see the Wharfedales are right at the wall, where before they were right behind my chair. I'd rolled back the Asian rug and run the speaker wires under it to the Wharfedales. This allowed me to move them back out of the way as well as correct a bump in the rug that was on the right side and bothering me. You can see the PS2 steering wheel/pedals assembly and racing chair waiting patiently in the alcove.

Here's the view from the doorway. Much easier to get in and out of the room and less likely for my son's cat to knock one over.

Below, you can see the system with the cassette deck that replaced the Denon that I sold to a fellow music lover. Yes, that is a Swiffer. I find it does a dandy job of removing dust from records. If they are truly dirty, I clean them with all the Discwasher stuff next to the headphones.

Below is the 100 cassettes on top of the 100 Classical CDs. I have more as you shall see below. That gorgeous skin was bought in Thailand back many years ago by my late, dear friend, retired Army Colonel, Bill Arps. His widow wanted to throw it away! I saved it. My wife "mounted" it on a background and slightly stuffed it. She even added some "eyes" made more for a stuffed toy animal. Moe, one of our cats was walking all over it as she worked on it. When he saw the eyes he JUMPED three feet straight up and tore out of the room. We laughed so hard we cried. BTW, the skin is from a Fishing Cat. That's it's name. Google it.

Here are the rest of the Classical CDs. All the Beethoven 9th Symphonies are on the left as well as box sets of all his symphonies. On the right are some boxed sets of Classical and Jazz.

Below are the LPs that are in the den. Top shelf is classic rock, then movie scores which continue on the bottom shelf. Then the boxed Classical sets. Mostly Beethoven's complete symphonies. The vast majority of the LP collection is right here next to me in my "office/museum".

And lastly below is the radio collection. Only the two rectangular ones on the top ends are vintage tube radios. The rest are solid-state (transistor) replicas. On Sunday evenings I tune into old-time radio on WAMU 88.5 FM. Love that stuff!

There you have it. The changes/improvements I made yesterday to the room/equipment. 

Thanks for looking!

Scott

Cosina Voigtlander Camera Comparison

Gentle reader,

Although this is another beautiful weekend, and I should be outside doing things, I mowed the front lawn after lunch and gave myself a heck of an Asthma attack. Pollen doesn't make me sniff and sneeze, it apparently makes me cough and wheeze.

So, I've been cleaning the house making changes/improvements to the smaller audio system in the den, and making/editing photos of some eBay-to-be items.

One of said items is an almost new, in the box Cosina C1 purely manual simple film SLR camera. This one was made in 1996 and made in Japan. A fact they noted all over it and the lens. I found it at Salvation Army on Wednesday. T'was $14.99, but Wednesdays are 25% off days.

The other camera I'm going to compare it to was also made around then but is called Voigtlander Bessa R. Voigtlander (there's supposed to be an umlat above the O) went out of the camera business some years ago. Cosina of Japan bought the rights to the name and produced numerous cameras that use Leica, Nikon or Contax lenses in both bayonet and screw (threaded) mount. The Bessa R, the first they made is Leica screw (M39) mount. I have tried to bookmark the official importer's web page, but for some reason, it won't let me bookmark it! So, Google it if you really want to know more.

The Bessa line of cameras were the first affordable modern interchangeable lens rangefinder cameras that have a built-in TTL meter. FED made later model Leica M39 cameras with a selenium meter on the front of the body, but it did not read the light through the lens which is what TTL means. Now, Leica has made top-of-the-line interchangeable lens rangefinder cameras for decades. They never made one in M39 mount with a meter of any kind, however.

OK, now that I've established what the Bessa R is, BTW, my wife bought it for me! Gotta and DO love her! This was in the mid-late 1990's. 

First, price: The Cosina retailed for $299 with lens, strap and case. The Bessa R, JUST the body, retailed for $599. A case of paying for the name perhaps, but it was an exciting new camera and the dealers were pricing it accordingly.

Below are various photos of the two for comparison. It is quite easy to see that the black Bessa R was based on the Cosina C1s model. The "s" stood for self-timer which the C1 below lacks.

 

I have numerous lenses for the Bessa R. None are Leica brand. I did have a Summarit 50mm f1.5, but sold it when various sources stated that the Contax Sonnar 50mm f1.5 was a superior lens. My lenses are shown below. The one that is on the camera was more recently purchased. It was the standard lens on the Soviet Zorki 4K camera. It is a 50mm f2.0 Jupiter 8. The Jupiter 3 is 50mm f1.5. I have one in chrome. The black bodied ones are expensive which is why mine is chrome. All the Jupiter lenses are Soviet copies of the Contax Zeiss lenses.

The lenses range from 28mm, (Japanese) 35mm, 50mm, 85mm (the fat one, all Soviet) 100mm (Canon, Japanese) and 135mm (Soviet). I used to have aside from the Summarit mentioned above, a Leica 135mm Hecktor lens, but sold it as well. It was slower than the Jupiter lens, the one on the right. Slower meaning the maximum aperture opening was not as wide as the Jupiter 135mm. Therefore it required a slower shutter speed at maximum aperture.

Finally, if you are interested in buying the Cosina C1, let me know or look for it on eBay. 

Thanks for looking!

Scott