Audio endeavors - the old house's setup

The audio/video setup at the old house consisted of:

• Thorens TD-125 turntable w/SME tonearm and Signet TK3e cartridge
• McIntosh MAC-4100 receiver
• Sony ES CDP-X303 CD player
• Nakamichi BX-1 cassette deck
• Panasonic PV-S7670 S-VHS VCR
• Panasonic DVD-RV32 DVD player
• Panasonic CT-27D10 27" television
• McIntosh Stereotech 3 speakers

The speakers have been heavily modified,first by my cats,who stropped their claws on the woofers one day and shredded their surrounds. Then they were modified by my firstborn,who one day long ago decided that tweeters were just the thing for poking with toddler thumbs. Sigh. Anyhow,Parts Express sold me a new set of foam surrounds for the woofers. Once the woofers were woofing again,I bought a pair of Vifa D25AG-05-06 tweeters from Madisound. Serendipitously,they dropped right into the holes in the boxes vacated by the old tweeters; even more serendipitously,they didn't require any crossover mods to produce something moderately close to flat response! As an added bonus,the old tweeters rolled off like crazy about about 12,000Hz; the Vifas are nice and smooth out to about 18,000 or so (which is beyond where my tattered, abused ears can hear anyhow).

The cabinets have an interesting bit of history. They started life as a pair of Karlson speakers that were built of cherry plywood by my father in law back in the early 60s. They served for many years before finally succumbing to old age and tacit admission that they sounded terrible.

Now they live on,providing a home for my electronics and media.I found the cabinets in his garage one day,covered in crud,and asked if I could have 'em. I completely gutted them,added an inner carcass of birch plywood,put in shelves,replaced the trim and veneer on the one holding the records and CDs,and refinished them.

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