So I threw more money at the money pit that is the rack of stereo equipment, and as usual, I get to watch it go *poof* without any quad bliss to show for it....
I have the cartridge, I have demodulators, I have quad amps.....but the turntable situation still needed to be addressed. I was quite disappointed to find my luxman was no longer up to the task of being a functioning record player, and attempts to have it repaired were chased away. This resulted in the purchase of an NAD C588 turntable. Which, unfortunately, doesn't accommodate multiple cartridges without having to do a complete recalibration every time you change it, which is a pain in the neck. At least with swappable headshells, all that's needed is an adjustment of the counterweight - but I suppose a swappable headshell offers another contact point in the chain.
Anyways, I made sure I put in a shelf wide enough for a 2nd turntable, and after doing research, found that I once again came up with the NAD being the best option when considering all things. I had considered perhaps going with something vintage to stay in the quad time period.....but I'm so sick and tired of all the things that come with that! No one services these things, and I'm not getting any closer to being anywhere near competent enough at electronics to realistically service any of this stuff myself - but that seems to be what it comes down to. You want it fixed, learn how. No one ever wants to repair anything, or I've not found the right place. Even when I take a nice luxman turntable to a stereo repair shop, it's chased away in favor of replacing it, so now it sits in my basement to rot.
So, the new turntable has arrived, and I set it up, put on the signet cartridge, aligned it, and got out my demodulators - the Marantz CD400, and the Victor CD4-10. Did a quick setup of the CD4-10 to see how it performs as is - sandpaper city! More money that was thrown on the pit - with no payoff since no one will work on it for me! And I've tried!
Ok - onto the marantz. Well - it's become problematic. Which I've known for years, but stay in denial about. As anyone knows that has heard my CD4 conversions, every now and then if the planets align, it can produce some quad bliss to be captured. But - it's a pain in the ass. Right channels like to crap out at times requiring wiggling wires.
And my quad amp - a marantz 4060. A rather budget model of the marantz amps. I do have a 4400 in the basement - no sound from the pre-amp. Another piece of equipment I bought under the delusion that I could find someone to repair it, more money thrown at the pit. Well, the 4060 is a crackly mess if you touch anything, and lately doesn't like to settle down into working - the right channel likes to pop out, resulting in needing to wiggle the volume knob and maybe play with the tape monitor button to turn it into a crackly mess and hope it settles into working. Lather, rinse, repeat.
So.....another purchase that will probably sit unused due to the frustrations it takes to get anything useful out of it.
Which brings us back to the topic at hand.........could anyone do the modifications documented in this post on my CD4-10 for money?