The good news is you're retired so you have lots of time. This is a great opportunity to really have fun with this rather than viewing it as daunting. Since you've been out of the game for so long your hearing and tastes in sound have probably changed as well. You really need to re-discover what sounds good and what's important to you now, and the only way to do that is to go to at least a couple good dealers and see what stuff sounds good to you with your music. Trust me, it will be well worth your time and you'll be glad you did it. Once you can relate back what you found, in addition to you being better able to identify what you'd like to possibly try, we will also be in a much better position to make targeted recommendations for you to consider. I have a feeling once you get the chance to hear good modern equipment set up properly at a good dealership you'll be surprised at how amazing this stuff can sound and then actually get excited about the journey. And no, if I were you I would not even consider servicing your current equipment. To me, the ONLY benefit of going that route is that it's easy. There's lots of great equipment out there these days at very reasonable prices that will blow that stuff away, so it's well worth your effort especially now that you're retired. Anyway, best of luck.
New Member Needs Help
Hello everyone. I am a new member and could really use some advice. First, I hope I am posting this in the right section since I suspect the problem lies in the area of my electronics, although admittedly I am not sure. I was a budding audiophile in my younger days and accrued some equipment, all bought new. It consists of an Adcom GFA-555 amp, Adcom GTP-500 preamp/tuner, Adcom GCD-700 CD player and a B&O Beogram 1700 turntable. I am using a set of Soundwave Grand Soliloquy speakers. My wife would sometimes turn on the equipment for background music but there really hasn't been any serious listening in years.
Having just retired I now have some free time, so after checking all the connections, I began listening to the system using the CD player as the source. Overall, I thought it sounded very disappointing - pretty harsh and a bit thin, lacking in bass. I couldn't listen to it very long. I then tried the turntable. The sound wasn't much different but the belt on the TT must be shot and the resulting rumble made serious listening difficult.
Having done some searching on this forum, I decided to pull the speaker cloth and examine the Grand Soliloquy speakers. They looked perfect. The cones and surrounds were butyl? rubber and looked good, as did the glue, which I read was a weak spot on some early model Soliloquys.
So now I am wondering where to go next. Could the amp/preamp have deteriorated that much with time? Is that something I would audibly notice? Would the crossovers in the speakers deteriorate over time? Or maybe it is just my memory and I don't remember the sound very accurately? And is any of this equipment up to today's standards and worth saving?
I also have a pair of Ohm Walsh 2 speakers and an old Harmon Kardon HK730 receiver packed away that I could haul out for a comparison, but I am not sure that will answer any questions, and might confuse me more. I appreciate any and all ideas from forum members. Oh, and my room is large - about 14X22 feet. Sorry for rambling a bit but thanks very much in advance.
jpl
Having just retired I now have some free time, so after checking all the connections, I began listening to the system using the CD player as the source. Overall, I thought it sounded very disappointing - pretty harsh and a bit thin, lacking in bass. I couldn't listen to it very long. I then tried the turntable. The sound wasn't much different but the belt on the TT must be shot and the resulting rumble made serious listening difficult.
Having done some searching on this forum, I decided to pull the speaker cloth and examine the Grand Soliloquy speakers. They looked perfect. The cones and surrounds were butyl? rubber and looked good, as did the glue, which I read was a weak spot on some early model Soliloquys.
So now I am wondering where to go next. Could the amp/preamp have deteriorated that much with time? Is that something I would audibly notice? Would the crossovers in the speakers deteriorate over time? Or maybe it is just my memory and I don't remember the sound very accurately? And is any of this equipment up to today's standards and worth saving?
I also have a pair of Ohm Walsh 2 speakers and an old Harmon Kardon HK730 receiver packed away that I could haul out for a comparison, but I am not sure that will answer any questions, and might confuse me more. I appreciate any and all ideas from forum members. Oh, and my room is large - about 14X22 feet. Sorry for rambling a bit but thanks very much in advance.
jpl