Firing up unused Speakers/Amps/Pre-amp after 12 years!

[sanadsaad]

As some of you may know, I recently became fascinated by audio equipment and found some stuff in my dad's garage from his audiophile days. After building and listening to my Crack on speedball, I thought I should dust and lay everything out in my room and connect em all and see if they still work. Here's the equipment:
Denon DAP-2500 Pre-amp
DENON POA-6600A Amps(4)
A pair of JBL Titanium Series 18Ti Speakers
A pair of JBL Studio series S26BE speakers
A pair of JBL Studio Series S321 speakers
A pair of JBL Titanium Series 250Ti Speakers

There's a pioneer CD player and a turntable but as I dont have any records, i'll be connecting my laptop to the preamp and using 24 bit files. Lets see how everything turns out! Pics to follow.

[earwaxxer]

I love digin up old stuff and playing with it! Makes for good sound comparisons from old to new.

[Grainger49]

If you want to be gentle with the electronics bring them up on a variac.  Go to 1/3 voltage and let it sit for 10 minutes, then to 2/3 voltage for 10 minutes and finally to full voltage.

The speakers might have started to sag if they have been tweeter up for 12 years.  Rotate the woofer 180 degrees.  This pulls in the opposite direction.

Then tell us how it sounds!

[howardnair]

Sanaad!!!--find a record and hook up that turntable-since you are on a voyage of discovery this one more step to vinyl is worth the effort
howie

[earwaxxer]

I found a 60's or 70's vintage Marantz receiver in a yard sale once about 15ys ago. It was beautiful! I remember it from that time growing up around audio. It was missing one nob, but otherwise great shape. It was powerful as well. I think it was 125wpc. I did 'fire it up' for a brief audition. It sounded 'ok', but certainly not up to current day standards. I ended up selling it when me moved. Fun to look at though!

[sanadsaad]

They worked perfectly! The sound from the 250Ti speakers is amazing! Grainger, I dont have a variac. Im surprised they worked as well as they did. The turntable didnt power up. I'll have to get it checked to see what's wrong. I need to understand speakers, amplifiers, preamps and everything about audio. Where do I start? Also, what would be the best way to connect my macbook to the hifi? The sound quality left a lot to be desired even though I was playing back 24/192 files. Here's the sound chain:

Macbook pro to 3.5mm to RCA out > Denon preamp > Denon amplifiers > Speakers.

I have a lot of learning to do regarding audio so once I head back to the UK, I can invest in a proper sound system with a turntable and a vinyl library. How did I take this long to get hooked on audio when my dad had all this equipment when I was growing up?

EDIT: Any bottlehead member living in UK? Possibly near Slough/Windsor/Birmingham and would be willing to be bothered by me in the future?

[Hank Murrow]

Try the Dragonfly DAC with your MacBook Pro to realize the full potential of your audio files.

http://www.musicdirect.com/p-87559-audioquest-dragonfly-usb-dac.aspx?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=9-7-12&utm_content=&utm_campaign=soundbytes

Cheers, Hank

[Grainger49]

I think Hank is saying that the DAC inside the MacBook and the headphone amplifier is limiting the sound of your files.

[Hank Murrow]

That's correct, Grainger. The Stereophile review strongly suggests using the DragonFly internal digital volume control(64 position!) connected directly to one's amp for a super-sounding and cheap(@$250) setup. I'd be happy with that until the Bottlehead Dac arrives.

[sanadsaad]

Hank, sadly it only ships to US addresses! It would have been a good solution, other than burning these files to discs and playing through the CD player. Bottlehead's coming out with a DAC?

[Grainger49]

I'll bet the usual US companies I get emails from will ship to you.  Try Audio Adviser, Musical Surroundings, Music Direct, Acoustic Sounds or Elusive Disk.