Revitalising you old hi fi(if you have one).

[saxonborg]

I’ve been listening to more music recently and I wondered if there was any device that could convert my old Technics hi fi system so it would be able to play digital music from a source like smart phone or tablet. I can see that there are lots of Bluetooth devices available with the usual huge price range.
Has anybody else done this and had good results and which unit did you buy.

 

[wildebus]

I’ve been listening to more music recently and I wondered if there was any device that could convert my old Technics hi fi system so it would be able to play digital music from a source like smart phone or tablet. I can see that there are lots of Bluetooth devices available with the usual huge price range.
Has anybody else done this and had good results and which unit did you buy.

What connections do you have on the back of the Hi-Fi?
Typically RCA/Phono, but might have SCART or HDMI if it was a Home Cinema type Hi-Fi.

Chances are you could use a headphone socket out to the Phonos so you are converting Digital to Analogue in the source.
Something that you could do (maybe considered, maybe not) is copy your music to CD keeping it as MP3 format. Most players still around and working can play digital music from CD.

 

[saxonborg]

All the connections are RCA/Phono, unfortunately when I purchased the hi fi kit I only bought the amplifier, tuner and cassette tape player.

 

[wildebus]

All the connections are RCA/Phono, unfortunately when I purchased the hi fi kit I only bought the amplifier, tuner and cassette tape player.

I am sure there are still CD Players out there with Phonos. In fact, what I would do if I were in your situation would be to buy a DVD player with Phono Leads (may be referred to as composite) and then you could play MP3s saved to a DVD disc as well as a CD, just connecting the Audio leads.
Benefit would be a CD stores 680MB of data and a DVD is, from memory, 4.7GB, so far more tracks. Only problem with the DVD choice might be if the player requires control/track selection from a screen rather than having a litle LED display.

Not a recommendation, just one that popped by when I searched for "DVD Phono" as an example - https://amzn.to/43UiuJ7

 

[Dorwyn]

I am sure there are still CD Players out there with Phonos. In fact, what I would do if I were in your situation would be to buy a DVD player with Phono Leads (may be referred to as composite) and then you could play MP3s saved to a DVD disc as well as a CD, just connecting the Audio leads.
Benefit would be a CD stores 680MB of data and a DVD is, from memory, 4.7GB, so far more tracks. Only problem with the DVD choice might be if the player requires control/track selection from a screen rather than having a litle LED display.

Not a recommendation, just one that popped by when I searched for "DVD Phono" as an example - https://amzn.to/43UiuJ7

I've done that, cheapo Bluetooth with remote, CD connected through phono, works a treat. You can change tracks but not volume. Brings new life to an old top of the range system.

 

[nabsim]

I still have my Techics micro system. I seem to recall seeing a unit that matched that would let you stream but I may be remembering wrongly. Have you had a look on the Techics site? Then again I suppose my kit could be knocking on 20 years old now. I went for the Amp, tuner, cd deck and cassette deck lol. With matching walnut stand of course

Actually I didn't go for it, Caz bought it for me, my kit was a mismatch of makes but had foundation shaking abilities

 

[nabsim]

I’ve been listening to more music recently and I wondered if there was any device that could convert my old Technics hi fi system so it would be able to play digital music from a source like smart phone or tablet. I can see that there are lots of Bluetooth devices available with the usual huge price range.
Has anybody else done this and had good results and which unit did you buy.

Have e a look here

Stream old Technics

 

[wildebus]

Have e a look here

Stream old Technics

I think this is doing stuff the other way round than is wanted?

Interesting topic though as I have what was what a really good quality Rotel Pre-Amp and Power-Amp which I used until I moved into Home Cinema with a Pioneer seperates setup.
The Rotel was better quality though and still fetches decent money on eBay. Need to check it out to list it up there.

 

[TimSands]

I have a musical fidelity system based around the x components. I have upgraded it in two ways. To stream music from my laptop or phone I got one of these https://ifi-audio.com/products/zen-air-blue/. I also got a Brennan B2 which is basically a hard drive player onto which I have copied my rather large collection of CDs, I play them through a Musical Fidelity DAC which has two inputs. With my CD player and turntable I have a choice of four sources. All sound great I have to say and via the ifi/dac combination I can listen to BBC sounds and spotify through my setup.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

All my gear is in the loft, a mismatch of stuff, inc a CD to CD machine, I used to listen to a lot of music, but not so much now unless I'm driving, now it's all MP3, some say it's crap, but so are my 75 year old ears, so I just play it through the cars speakers or the BT speaker in the van from my phone as it is so noisy it's good enough, could do with more volume though.

 

[wildebus]

All my gear is in the loft, a mismatch of stuff, inc a CD to CD machine, I used to listen to a lot of music, but not so much now unless I'm driving, now it's all MP3, some say it's crap, but so are my 75 year old ears, so I just play it through the cars speakers or the BT speaker in the van from my phone as it is so noisy it's good enough, could do with more volume though.

It is all a joke isn't it. Seperates was the way to go and some folk used to have a Reference Recording for their Linn Sondek turntable playing through super-fancy setups and speakers on spikes - and it was the only thing they would play to demonstrate how clean the system was. Never played an actual record as it was too imperfect. When Home Cinema became a thing, the same thing happened and a Reference Laser Disc was produced and the same thing happened. But then MP3s came out and the iPod and now most people listen on small players and bluetooth headphones.
Same with watching stuff .... TV Screens get bigger and bigger and now we have UHD and 4K and probably bigger and sharper, but it seems most of the people who would actually have good enough eyesight to tell the differences are happy to watch Tik-Tok and Netflix and whatever on their megabig 6.5" phone screens.
Like most things in life, convenience trumps quality.

I don't use my phone for watching anything if I can avoid it and much prefer a big screen. But the stuff I watch is old and an HD resolution screen, let alone 4K, is pretty pointless.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

And the nice big TV's seem to have tiny speakers that face down or backwards.

We too are going backwards.

 

[merl]

I use my hifi for the TV audio and have the speakers positioned either side of a projector screen. I have a Roku dongle for streaming TV but I can also cast video and audio to that dongle from my phone or laptop. Not the ultimate in sound quality (sorry, massive hifi nerd) but great for gatherings or parties because anyone can cast to the dongle and play tunes from their playlist.

 

[marchie]

And the nice big TV's seem to have tiny speakers that face down or backwards.

We too are going backwards.

Thin Samsung TV, paired with a DALI Kubik One speaker [*NOT a Soundbar*, DALI don't make them, only speakers!] that has 6 bamboo cone speakers, virtually no electronics, is a PITA to set up, but the sound is excellent, especially at low volume settings - still bags of bass. 'Fanfare to the Common Man' [Copeland and Emerson, Lake & Palmer versions]/1812 Overture/Thus spake Zarathustra are delivered beautifully

Steve

 

[merl]

Thin Samsung TV, paired with a DALI Kubik One speaker [*NOT a Soundbar*, DALI don't make them, only speakers!] that has 6 bamboo cone speakers, virtually no electronics, is a PITA to set up, but the sound is excellent, especially at low volume settings - still bags of bass. 'Fanfare to the Common Man' [Copeland and Emerson, Lake & Palmer versions]/1812 Overture/Thus spake Zarathustra are delivered beautifully

Steve

Bet you can't name my speakers Steve

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Laurel n Hardy?

 

[merl]

So close..... Morecambe and Wise.

 

[marchie]

Bet you can't name my speakers SteveView attachment 77252

'The big buggers'? ... . The DALI is 900mm long, about 150mm high, and about 150mm deep. Weighs in at over 7kg. It was a 'no holiday allowed because of COVID Lockdown, so let's spend the money on a speaker to improve the TV audio output' purchase!

Steve

 

[Heppy]

Bet you can't name my speakers SteveView attachment 77252

SHt I’ve just seen the Leeds score on the tv

 

[Okta]

What your HiFi seems to be missing is called a DAC (Digital Analogue Converter). You can spend 100s of £s getting a true HiFi DAC but there are cheaper ways. The Apple headphone adapter for iPhones and Pads contains a DAC chip which is generally seen as very good for about £10 but avoid the cheap copies because some have lower quality DAC chips. Until recently Bluetooth file compression was not generally regarded as true HiFi, they claim to have new ways of overcoming the deficiencies.