We were donated some older stereo equipment. Just not that familiar with
it and thought I would ask what you thought of the individual pieces.
Nakamichi equipment:
PA7 amp (Nelson Pass designed)
CA7A pre amp
OMS-7A II CD player
ST-7 tuner
CDC-4A CD changer
CR5A cassette deck

KEF speakers:
104/2

Exact age of equipment is not known. I know in its' time, these were
pretty decent stuff, just don't know how it compares to today's
equipment. I plan to dust the stuff off and fire it up to listen to it,
just haven't had the time yet.

Thanks for your input.

Henry Grimmius
Fresno, CA

Henry -

It is all decent-excellent gear. If it is working, there would be little to
be gained by buying more recent equipment.

The one exception may be the CD player, where an inexpensive CD/SACD player
(Sony), CD/DVD-A player (Panasonic), or Universal player (Pioneer) can be
obtained for under $250 and probably would sound as good/better on CD and
allow you to also play some of the newer hi-rez media (not to mention
videos).

Just M2CW.

Harry

"Henry Grimmius" <hankg@psnw.com> wrote in message
news:c71ovs02e0s@news4.newsguy.com...
> We were donated some older stereo equipment. Just not that familiar with
> it and thought I would ask what you thought of the individual pieces.
> Nakamichi equipment:
> PA7 amp (Nelson Pass designed)
> CA7A pre amp
> OMS-7A II CD player
> ST-7 tuner
> CDC-4A CD changer
> CR5A cassette deck
>
> KEF speakers:
> 104/2
>
> Exact age of equipment is not known. I know in its' time, these were
> pretty decent stuff, just don't know how it compares to today's
> equipment. I plan to dust the stuff off and fire it up to listen to it,
> just haven't had the time yet.
>
> Thanks for your input.
>
> Henry Grimmius
> Fresno, CA

Henry Grimmius <hankg@psnw.com> wrote in message news:<c71ovs02e0s@news4.newsguy.com>...
> We were donated some older stereo equipment. Just not that familiar with
> it and thought I would ask what you thought of the individual pieces.
> Nakamichi equipment:
> PA7 amp (Nelson Pass designed)
> CA7A pre amp
> OMS-7A II CD player
> ST-7 tuner
> CDC-4A CD changer
> CR5A cassette deck
>
> KEF speakers:
> 104/2
>
> Exact age of equipment is not known. I know in its' time, these were
> pretty decent stuff, just don't know how it compares to today's
> equipment. I plan to dust the stuff off and fire it up to listen to it,
> just haven't had the time yet.
>
> Thanks for your input.
>
> Henry Grimmius
> Fresno, CA

As a former retailer I offered the Nakamichi line for many years and
am familier with all the componets you listed. On the negative side I
often felt that Nak components you discuss, other than cassette deck,
were somewhat overpriced (at retail) but always very good in
performance. And their reliability and customer support was excellent.

You are correct about Nelson Pass contributing to the amp/pre-amp
design. Probaly the most average of the pieces you have are the tuner
(which is still quite good) and CD changer both of which are mainly
minimal reworks from other suppliers. The KEF's, while admittedly
dated, were well-engineered by any reasonable standard, and in their
day, a top contender anywhere near their price range, even allowing
for personal preferences. Today (even then arguably) you could achieve
an equal/better performing system in many peoples opinion at maybe a
bit more than 1/2 the original retail of this gear, piece for piece.
But make no mistake, you have been the beneficiary of an outstanding
system for free.

dansteel wrote:

> You are correct about Nelson Pass contributing to the amp/pre-amp
> design.

Any idea what improvements they made on the amp when they turned it into a version II?



> The KEF's, while admittedly
> dated, were well-engineered by any reasonable standard, and in their
> day, a top contender anywhere near their price range, even allowing
> for personal preferences.

This will be an interesting few months with this equipment. We are in the midst of a
remodel and building a small recording studio. I could see using the KEF's in the studio
for playback to musicians but not in the control room--not enough height.

The other possibility is to make sure all of this stuff works well and then sell it to help
pay for the finishing of the studio. We'll see what happens.
--
Henry Grimmius
Fresno, CA

Harry Lavo wrote:

> The one exception may be the CD player, where an inexpensive CD/SACD player
> (Sony), CD/DVD-A player (Panasonic), or Universal player (Pioneer) can be
> obtained for under $250 and probably would sound as good/better on CD and
> allow you to also play some of the newer hi-rez media (not to mention
> videos).

I finally hooked up the CD player into my work system (now don't laugh, it
serves its purpose--Marantz PMD320 pro CD player, Mackie 1402VLZ Pro mixer,
Hafler P4000 amp and Dynaudio BM6 speakers). I was pleasently suprised. Sounded
pretty decent. Plenty of weight. The image had pretty decent depth. Certainly
better than the Marantz. The one thing that bothered me, at least for my use,
is that there is no digital out. Great for basic listening but I do use the
digital outs in my proffesion (audio engineer). As soon as I get a chance, I am
going to bring this stuff home in a more familiar listening environment and
replace my Bryston pre & power amp, Rotel CD player and Dunlavy SC-1 speakers.
Should be interesting in the very least.

Henry Grimmius
Fresno, CA

Henry Grimmius <hankg@psnw.com> wrote in message news:<c75ce702qj2@news4.newsguy.com>...
> dansteel wrote:
>
> > You are correct about Nelson Pass contributing to the amp/pre-amp
> > design.
>
> Any idea what improvements they made on the amp when they turned it into a version II?

The improvements, if memory serves, were in the power supply
(capacitor and tranformer up-grades) and the baising of the
transistors to achieve more available quantity of a class A "type
sound." My memory was that there was little, if any, discernable
difference.

>
>
>
> > The KEF's, while admittedly
> > dated, were well-engineered by any reasonable standard, and in their
> > day, a top contender anywhere near their price range, even allowing
> > for personal preferences.
>
> This will be an interesting few months with this equipment. We are in the midst of a
> remodel and building a small recording studio. I could see using the KEF's in the studio
> for playback to musicians but not in the control room--not enough height.
>
> The other possibility is to make sure all of this stuff works well and then sell it to help
> pay for the finishing of the studio. We'll see what happens.

FWIW, while today you could buy arguably competitive performing gear
(in terms of general sonic peformance and if chosen carefully) for a
quarter of the original retail price, the usage you propose also
involves reliability as much as fidelity. The products you have are of
robust construction and that should factor in your decision. Best
wishes.