Personal stereo, and perhaps Hi-Fi, journey.

[barbersurgeon]

I really wish I could find a nice 70-80s retro amp I could refurbish. My system now sounds fine but just sounds soulless in my old hippie retirement DINK tinkering mind,

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/266989077

I got my Pioneer off the GW auctions. I paid shipping, but if your local you have an advantage in bidding. You can search by location and category. It’s cumbersome but there are deals to be had.

 

[1lieutenant]

I wish I had the old stuff, but didn't want to pay big $ for the vintage stuff….

eBay has some reasonable prices on working Hafler DH 110 and 220 preamp and amp. Then I suggest looking into Musical Concepts modifications. These can be sent in or done at home. This company has been around since the ‘70s and the results are true audiophile sound on a relative shoe string budget. My modified preamp and amp continue to sound amazing!
I spoke with John Hillig, the owner, and he assured me the current modifications would blow my 45 year old modifications out of the water! I don’t doubt him, but I find it hard to believe.
Even without the modifications, the Haflers may provide that analog “richness” you’re looking for. Not super expensive, but not nearly as inexpensive as the Fosi amplifier. The Hafler amplifier is class AB with the first few watts as true class A.

 

[barbersurgeon]

So back early in the year I bought a pair of the xkitz 2 way active crossovers.

https://www.xkitz.com/collections/a...-way-active-crossover-fully-assembled-xover-2

Was having a stall out on the project after several attempts to locate a suitable project box. Have the crossovers and a power supply with plug in 3.5mm socket for the box. Finally gave up and sourced all the bits I need to build a box to house the crossovers.

Still working on it, but project is moving forward after several months of no progress.

Have set of 40hz chips (and a set of 70hz as well, but more on those later) and plan on initially using the crossover as a bass blocker between the preamp and main amp. Want to protect the woofers on my polls and clean up any muddy low end they just can’t reach.

Eventually looking to add a woofer box to use either with my Polk es20’s or some vintage speakers I’ve acquired recently. I have a set of pioneer cs33 and a set of cs66 now. The 33’s will swap into the living room no problem, the 66’s will require approval of the spouse. The cs33’s:

 

[barbersurgeon]

They need a bit of tlc, but are serviceable as they are.

hopefully this weekend I’ll finish up the crossover box and patch that in.

 

[dubber09]

Title is misleading, personal stereos are basically walkman type devices. The ones you're talking about are home stereos.
Normally, if you have good hearing and can really enjoy music/audio reproduction then you need good speakers. No matter how good other components are but if speakers cannot reproduce sound well then that will result in dissatisfaction and disappointment and giving up.
Bigger speakers also usually provide better sound, so you should start and spend time on research and consider spending money on good speakers, they can last you lifetime so money will be well spent. Some good ones are not very expensive either.

 

[barbersurgeon]

I’m pretty happy with the Polk es20’s. I wanted to try something vintage and both sets of pioneers came up local at a good price. Also I am a sucker for the wood lattice.

I started this thread to track my personal journey with various stereo equipment, not sure if that will include cassette format at any point in the future.