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Post by hifidez on Jul 11, 2017 18:50:51 GMT
There are no good ones on the market these days, only budget brands. Anyone in UK have one in perfect order by a reputable company like Sony, Technics etc.?
I bought a very nice Sony player for my 86 yr old dad for his 80th birthday. It has died.
Cheers guys.
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Rabbit
Administrator
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Post by Rabbit on Jul 11, 2017 19:47:25 GMT
Derek,
I have a Sony D-EJ985 you are welcome to. It takes two NH-14WM Ni Mh batteries. There are two in there but probably knackered. I don't have the original headphones or charger though, but your dad's current one might fit.
If you're interested, I'll send it on to you.
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Post by hifidez on Jul 12, 2017 7:13:10 GMT
Dad's Sony didn't come with a mains power; only used it with AA baterries. I think the unusual batteries may be impractical therefore. A quick look shows that decent brands are very expensive to replace as well. I'm thinking your kind offer may not be a go-er. Someone has as a similar model to yours but with the plug-in power supply. A solution may be at hand :-)
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Post by hifidez on Jul 12, 2017 7:56:42 GMT
It's a shame really. I have two personal CD players (Technics and Aiwa) but the Aiwa is unreliable and the Technics has a faulty bass-boost switch which menas that bass remains boosted on one channel regardless of switch position.
My Dad could use my Technics' line-out into his NX1 headphone amp but I'm guessing that's a bit too much of a faff; he has his NX-1 connected to the TV. Much more convenient to pop the player onto the arm of the sofa, plug in and go.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jul 12, 2017 8:31:10 GMT
Yes, it is a shame really because the EJ985 was a really good player. My old charger died and I never used the original Sony earpieces. It's in new condition as well!!
It used to sit upright in a charger cradle. Oh well.
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sekar
quite active
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Post by sekar on Jul 13, 2017 22:01:16 GMT
Derek, I have an old Aiwa personal CD player being bought at 1995 in US . As I could recall it could be powered through simple AC/DC adapter offered by HAMA or some other brands . This Aiwa was very reliable machine featured with switchable buffer and special flexible platform to prevent loosing audio stream. I'm not in UK though so ... Ian , you could just inspect your Sony player back side as small power supply sockets usually hided near the bottom . They are really small .
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Rabbit
Administrator
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Post by Rabbit on Jul 14, 2017 5:59:28 GMT
It's a weird 'touch' connection Sergey. The two pins are distanced from each other and are just contacts since the charger was a kind of stand, where the player sat upright in it. I've been looking for it but it's gone amiss when I moved three years ago.
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Post by hifidez on Jul 14, 2017 8:25:41 GMT
Derek, I have an old Aiwa personal CD player being bought at 1995 in US . As I could recall it could be powered through simple AC/DC adapter offered by HAMA or some other brands . This Aiwa was very reliable machine featured with switchable buffer and special flexible platform to prevent loosing audio stream. I'm not in UK though so ... Ian , you could just inspect your Sony player back side as small power supply sockets usually hided near the bottom . They are really small . Thanks for your offer of help. I have had an offer from another very kind member so within a few days the problem should be sorted :-) Thanks again.
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Post by hifidez on Jul 16, 2017 8:01:21 GMT
Thanks to member 'juke' I have a complete and fully functioning Sony personal CD player. It's a real beauty.
You never know how roughly it may have been handled in the post so, just in case it had been damaged en route, I plugged in my cheapest 'phones, the Superlux HD681s. Instantly impressed with the smooth and natural top end and warm, rewarding bass. Then out with my best Oppo PM-3s which confirmed the player is a good'n. Really nice.
So thank you Juke. You know he insists on no payment? Another fine example of how DIYAH mates help each other out :-)
I will post in on to Dad on Monday and he'll get it Tuesday. I have printed out the manual - I hope he can work it all out.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jul 16, 2017 9:35:11 GMT
Syd is such a kind guy. I'm still over the moon about the two portable Kameleons that he built. Use them all of the time, although one will be for someone else when I get a filter for it.
Glad you got it sorted Derek.
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Post by hifidez on Jul 22, 2017 17:45:37 GMT
I had hoped to post an update before now. Royal Mail have only JUST delivered the CD player to my Dad; I posted it, first class and signed for, on Monday. I feared the worst and assumed it had been nicked en route.
However, Dad phoned today to say it had arrived. He's now wrestling with the complexities of the various power sources. I/E. plug-in v. NiCads v. AA alkalines. Anyway, I'm condident he'll understand how it works.
Without his music (while Mum watches the usual 'progammes' on TV), Dad would be lost. Although he's had a number of 'normal' jobs in his life, Dad's heart and soul is with music. A gifted child trumpet player, he went on to play in the band of the King's Royal Rifles followed by a career in the Irish Guards' Band where he regularly took part in changing of the guard and a Trooping the Colour or two. While based in Winchester with the KRRs he often deputised for trumpet players in the Bournemouth Symphony Orchetsra, as well as taking part a few times in the BBC's Friday Night is Music Night. That would have been back in the 1950s.
In civilian life he played trumpet, cornet and euphonium in a number of highly regarded brass bands and conducted a few too, as well as arranging various pieces for the brass band genre. He's coached many young players through their Grades, as well as mentoring both my lads who are competent brass players. As well as having a high standard of playing ability in his younger days, Dad's theoretical music knowledge is vast. I never tire of his tales. And I love it when he pulls a recorded performance apart, and then explains how it could have been done better.
Although a brass player he would have prefered to play piano... his favourite instrument. His hands, though, are too small; he can't manage an octave. To hear him improvise around a tune though, makes me gasp and smile.
His hearing is now starting to dull. Not surprising at 88 and with a lifetime, on and off, of playing in LOUD bands. But his decent Shure 'phones, along with a little clockwise adjustment of the volume control, this means he can wallow in music when ever he likes.
He has a Pioneer PL12D in perfect nick. I wish he'd let me have it. I KNOW he never uses it :-)
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jul 22, 2017 18:53:10 GMT
Some old haunts of mine Derek. BSO and the 'gastric's band' which is what the BBC Concert was referred to sometimes.
I did a few jobs down in Bournemouth in the 70s and the Concert Orchestra was such a nerve wracking place to sit. Going out live where one minute you'd be playing tweedledee and 30 seconds later, something so complex .... all going out live on air!! Hence the name 'Gastrics band'.
The old days of the BBC were wonderful. Very lively in those days and less concerned about crowd pleasing.
Glad he got sorted with a player.
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Post by hifidez on Jul 23, 2017 20:31:28 GMT
So my Dad was a brass player and my sons too. What about old Derek, the old 'hifidez'? I somehow missed out.
But I did join a band at the age of 40 plus. Was lead singer, well joint lead singer, as half of a male vocal duo fronting a pub and club rock band.
Then moved away from my home town with work and gave up all that singing malarky. But, when I early-retired at 52, I joined a new band, again as a singer, but they 'let me go'.
Then found a good band and I performed, once again, as part of a vocal duo, but this time with a good female singer. Played a bit of blues harmonica too. Loved that. We had two or three years good gigging... but I packed it all in and left them in 2009. I was getting too old to reach the high notes, plus there were 'artistic differences'. I knew I had finished with public performance.
Occasionally I mess about recording with backing tracks at home, just for fun. Started off a lounge-jazz type project. Sinatra covers, that type of thing, but only four or five tracks done do far. Now that my wife has fully retired I don't get time alone... so maybe that's it for now.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jul 23, 2017 21:54:10 GMT
Vocals are always very difficult Derek. I've always struggled with it myself. First, I don't like the sound of my own voice, even when speaking and secondly, getting it properly in tune is quite a task.
Biggest problem for me was staying in tune when live when the sound wasn't fed back properly. I.e., going through speakers behind me or even worse, in front, facing out. The sound from the band would be so loud that I always had problems placing my voice. Then I took up with monitoring my own track when singing live with an iem and radio pack. That made it way easier to sort out what I was doing.
I did a lot of band vocals as well even though I didn't like my voice, Such a tart ..... the attraction of money!!!
I trained as an oboist and was how I started out, but soon learned that by spreading my wings, I could earn way more than I ever thought. I've always been lucky with regards to work and never hd to use the 'system' until now as a retired pensioner and even then, I sold up and bought a box house to live in!! That's my pension. Can't afford to go on to 100 though.
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Post by hifidez on Jul 24, 2017 11:44:18 GMT
Yes, vocals are difficult. Couple that with the fact that, for guitar players, singers are a necessary evil. If guitarists had their way they'd play at full volume, flat out, ALL the time (amateurs know nothing of the magic of dynamics). Because guitarists like to play very loudly then there is no way a voice can compete. Turn up the gain on the microphone channels and you get feedback. And then the drummer wants LOADS through his foldback channel, so he can hear what the band and singers are doing, and that feeds back into the microphones too. I used to own and operate the PA, but I never did get to grips with those LOUD guitar players.
I think as a singer you have to like your own voice, at least a bit. I got used to hearing my own voice through training courses where you'd be recorded or video-d and then your performance assessed. I did technical training for 4 or 5 years and also used to be very active in our union so got used to addressing large groups. I got to do a presentation at an Autocad converence once. I got used to the sound of my own voice. I don't mind it.
I am sensitive, though to errors in pitch. If I'm flat I hear it. And when playing back a recording it's tempting to fiddle around with it and keep doing re-takes. Even though it's only for my own fun. Never had formal traing as a singer. Would like to understand more about it.
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