CanJam SoCal 2015

CanJam SoCal 2015 Member Table CrocCap

Tyll Hertsens  |  Apr 2, 2015

Sean (CrocCap) is relatively new to the world of headphones having joined Head-Fi just over a year ago, but the gear he brought is anything but new. It's not that he's a vintage gear collecter per se, this just happened to be the gear that his family had in their home.

The front end of the system was a Concept 2QD turntable (sorry, forgot to get a pic) that was gently playing a Led Zeppelin album on repeat. The tonearm return was in perfect working order. I asked Sean if he had worked on it and he said there was no need, it had been playing records for decades in his family's home flawlessly.

CanJamSoCal2015_Member_CrocCap_Photo_S7910

Phono stage and pre-amp duties were performed by a Sherwood S7910 solid-state receiver. I did a double-take, I've got a receiver very much like this at my motorcycle shop downtown.

CanJamSoCal2015_Member_CrocCap_Photo_S5000II

Sean had two vintage tube amps set up for headphone amp duties. The Sherwood S5000II (above) and the very similar Sherwood S5500II (below) were wired into some DIY boxes within which Sean had padded down the roughly 32 Watt drive to something more appropriate for headphones.

CanJamSoCal2015_Member_CrocCap_Photo_S5500II

Speaking of headphones, Sean had some HiFiMAN HE-500 the he's modified and done a pad replacement with HM5 ear cushions, a pair of Beyerdynamic T1 on which he has performed the felt ring damping mod, and a Fostex TH-900 that he hasn't found a need to mod yet. (Give him time, I bet he won't be able to resist much longer.)

Click here if you can't see the video.

COMMENTS
sfoclt's picture
Submitted by sfoclt on April 2, 2015 - 9:16pm

Love equipment with a personality.

This reminds me that I have a McIntosh 2105 that's been sitting under the bed in one of my guest bedroom's for far too long. I had intended to have it serviced and refreshed. I wonder how it sounds with headphones (headphone jack or speaker taps)?

pissin's picture
Submitted by pissin on April 3, 2015 - 10:54pm

Old is new again.
Yeah!
One for the gipper ...

That means I can toss out my HeadRoom Max, HD800s and Audeze LCD-3s and, 'course my SE846 and AK240s ('cause those are like so NOT retro 'nough) ...

Yupper ... buy that heap off fleaBay ... spend half a human lifespan and heap more $$ restorin' that boat anchor ... and then boyz and gurls ... it's time for the gorillas, with their backpacks and beer-ready guts, to spew their pseudo accolades at the CanJam.
Oh, man ... no more warm/fuzzies than that ;)

Come to think of it ... isn't like some highly regarded gear pretty old now? (Grado HP-1, ER-S2, beyer dt990, Stax Lambda, Melos amp, ... shit--I can write a review 'bout ANYTHING, throw it on H-F, or video that bad-boy on YouTube, and social-media the crap outta it ... and LMAO as the thing goes viral and all the apes now agreein' with the 'view that this [old POS] is the cat's meow!)

So WyitF (why in the fukk) do geeks keep buyin' NEW stuff**?
Answer: BOREDOM ... it's what's for dinner, folks.

**An AK240, or even an iPhone and some Shure's, is gear ENOUGH ... not unless ... well, ahem ... gear-headin' is yo' thang.

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