Gentle reader,
Mere weeks after finding the super-rare-in-the-USA, Technics integrated amplifier of which I blogged last about, a second trip to the same source yielded a gorgeous pair of speakers made by Philips, a world renowned electronics maker and more. Also, co-creator along with SONY of the Compact Disc and Super Audio CD, plus so much more.
These are a vital part of Philips MCD908/37 audio/video system which combines a tube preamplifier with a Class D digital power amplifier to provide audiophile quality sound and movie viewing with a classic look. Here is their own site touting it:
Well, a perusal of various audio and video sites give mixed reviews of the electronics portion of the system, but rave reviews of the speakers. One fellow wrote something along the lines of; forget the stereo, but get the speakers! I did not put quotes around that statement because it is an approximation of what he wrote. I'm using all kinds of cool words today, aren't I?
As you no doubt know if you follow my blog, I am in love with the tiny wooden speakers that were once Radio Shack's Minimus 7W models. I made a couple posts about the task of upgrading them with everything going except the cabinets.
Well, let me tell you, when I A/B compared those beloved little speakers to these gorgeous Philips MCD908 models, the latter blew them out of the water. I was shocked, shocked (!) at how amazing these Philips sound and yet saddened that my precious little speakers have been overthrown so easily by these newcomer upstarts!
But all is not lost! No, it is not. For I have decided to operate the little ones with their woven Kevlar mid-bass drivers and Folded-Motion-Transformer ribbon tweeters in series with the subwoofer. Below, since I couldn't quickly locate a photo of the rear of this subwoofer, is a picture of a JBL one I once owned:
The way that works is one connects speaker cables from their receiver/amplifier to the high level in as seen above. The sub's amplifier separates the bass signals below the frequency you chose so that it, and only it, reproduces that musical section of the total frequencies of the music or movie soundtrack. Every frequency (sound) above that cutoff is sent through the high level out terminals to the left and right speakers. Combined, hopefully, is a seamless sound. Your small front speakers and amplifier is spared the work needed to reproduce bass notes/sounds they cannot deliver. Thus the subwoofer with it's own amplifier designed to ONLY produce low sounds does just that and the other (front or stereo) speakers put out all the other higher notes/sound/dialog.
Now you may be thinking, "Wait a minute, what about those huge Cerwin-Vega speakers, didn't you just go to all the trouble of reintroducing them into the system?" Right you are and I congratulate and thank you for paying attention.
Yes, those large LS-12 Cerwin-Vega speakers with their signature red woofer surrounds. I have moved them aside, I have done this before. I admit I am toying with the idea of perhaps, oh, I don't know, maybe thinking about, uh, selling them. "What?" you may be thinking, "But you always wanted some Cerwin-Vega speakers as every fan of big speakers does!" Right you are. Again. They are safe for now and merely are facing the walls to prevent Mo the cat from sharpening his claws upon their grilles. One of the reasons I do not use grilles on my speakers.
So, anyway, here are two photos of the den system as it stands today. Why two? The first was taken with my Nikon DSLR with powerful flash bouncing off the ceiling. The other with my venerable Fujifilm FinePix S7000 which has such fantastic macro abilities using it's pop-up, much smaller flash. Which do you prefer?
Big difference in the images, don't you think?
Anywho, or is it, anyhoo? Spell check doesn't like either of them. Huh? What did you say, the word is: 'anyhow'? Why right you are. Moving on. Here are the speakers as imaged by the Fuji S7000.
Their front and side faces are high gloss rosewood. The top piece is 1/4" thick dark tinted poly-carbonate, such as Lexan brand. No rings from someone setting their drink on top of a speaker here. No sir, well done. Also, the bottoms are flat black painted with built-in rubber feet.
Their front and side faces are high gloss rosewood. The top piece is 1/4" thick dark tinted poly-carbonate, such as Lexan brand. No rings from someone setting their drink on top of a speaker here. No sir, well done. Also, the bottoms are flat black painted with built-in rubber feet.
Left pair above, right pair below. Note the curved cabinets.
From the rear. Proper three-way binding/banana terminals.
Now a more exact detailing of these speakers, which are definitely keepers. Specs from the Philips link above reads: "3 way, Ribbon tweeter, Dome mid range, 5" woofer, Gold-plate (sic) speaker connectors, Speaker grilles detachable".
No further information from their site. The sound is rich and detailed with surprisingly deep bass output. The small dome speaker is actually a mid-range/tweeter with the ribbon tweeters actually being "super-tweeters". Being 60, I have sadly lost the ability to hear the higher frequencies, but what I do hear blew me (and my little wooden creations) away!
So, these are definite keepers. Sound aside, they are very attractive too. What happened to the rest of the components? I have no idea. While I would like to have a tube amplifier, they are way above my price range for either vintage or new stuff which is still being made and sold to this day.
As I noted above, I have wired the subwoofer to work as designed. I used the black Monster Cable Z-Series from the "B" terminals (bottom ones) on the Dynaco Stereo 200 power amplifier.
But first, I reconfigured the gray (Monster Cable M-Series) jumpers with the Monster Cable dual-banana plugs being plugged directly into the "B" terminals and the shorter black Z-Series cables plugged into those bananas. The other end of those jumpers plug into the inputs of my speaker switch. Note the #1 outputs are empty. So theoretically, I can plug the Cerwin-Vega LS-12s or other speakers into them without disturbing any other cables/plugs.
The other end of the shorter Z-Series cables plug into the high level inputs on the subwoofer. The longer Z-Series cables are plugged into the subwoofer high level outputs. The other ends being plugged into the little wooden speakers. Thus the burden of deeper music is removed from the small speakers and handled by the subwoofer.
Whew! I actually strained my lower back rewiring this whole setup by sitting on the subwoofer and trying to work sideways.
On another note, our daughter offered us their oldest flat screen TV seen below which is a Panasonic 42" plasma unit to us when I mentioned one of the things preventing me from buying an XBox One is the 32" Samsung I was using had inoperative HDMI input.
The nice thing about it, besides it's being free is the larger image looks correct as far as scale, and the steering wheel as seen from my perspective lines up perfectly with my wheel. Pretty cool. Plus, It's easier to get into and out of the racing seat and I have more shoulder room. Can't get to the window anymore. A small price to pay. Image is great. Sound output is HDMI only, so I bought a small DAC converter that inputs HDMI digital and outputs analog stereo sound and composite video. The latter is unused. That way, I can soon use the seat's built-in sound system.
The scene above is at the start/finish line at the Nurburgring in Germany. I am "in" my Ferrari F-40. I chose yellow, as so many Ferrari cars are painted red.
Finally, below is the Technics SU-VX800 is for sale on eBay. Here is a link to it as of today's date of January 22, 2017. Restored Technics® SU-VX800 Integrated Amplifier XLR, Phono: MM/MC Class AA | eBay
Thanks for looking. I hope I didn't confuse you too much.
Scott
No further information from their site. The sound is rich and detailed with surprisingly deep bass output. The small dome speaker is actually a mid-range/tweeter with the ribbon tweeters actually being "super-tweeters". Being 60, I have sadly lost the ability to hear the higher frequencies, but what I do hear blew me (and my little wooden creations) away!
So, these are definite keepers. Sound aside, they are very attractive too. What happened to the rest of the components? I have no idea. While I would like to have a tube amplifier, they are way above my price range for either vintage or new stuff which is still being made and sold to this day.
As I noted above, I have wired the subwoofer to work as designed. I used the black Monster Cable Z-Series from the "B" terminals (bottom ones) on the Dynaco Stereo 200 power amplifier.
On another note, our daughter offered us their oldest flat screen TV seen below which is a Panasonic 42" plasma unit to us when I mentioned one of the things preventing me from buying an XBox One is the 32" Samsung I was using had inoperative HDMI input.
Finally, below is the Technics SU-VX800 is for sale on eBay. Here is a link to it as of today's date of January 22, 2017. Restored Technics® SU-VX800 Integrated Amplifier XLR, Phono: MM/MC Class AA | eBay
Scott
