Top Tip n.1- increase output of portable for hifi connection

[Guest Anonymous]

this is used so that the poor output of your portable is boosted to line level when connecting to hifi

There are 2 techniques:

1-the easy way. use your pcs soundcard. connect the minidisc portable to your line in. connect the pcs line out to your hifi. Turn minidisc, line in and line out (pc) volume to max. this produces reasonably good sound, verging on very good.

2-the groovy way. obtain an old casette deck. i just got a cool 1978 model with proper analogue VU needles, they're a bid dead now but still very cool! open it up.

buy a simple switch from somewhere, you only need a small one.

now open up the casette deck and find the wire that activates the recording circuitry when the record button is pressed. you may need to mess around a while with the buttons to see what happens. add the swith to this so that you can activate the circuitry without need for the motor or the tape heads to come up.

connect minidisc (vol full) to line in, either internally or externally.

this method has the advantage that you get full control of output vol with the record level control, you get the groovy VUs and you dont have to have your PC on making a horrid noise everywhere.

The tape deck can be as nailed as you like - in theory you could remove the mechanical parts and create a cradle for your minidisc, which would be useful, so its out of the way.

let me know how you get on.

my minidisc is a sony mzr700ps.

sony mdrs have such a quiet output, it sucks!

[Bazirker]

Neat! That's really cool!

*Gets on ebay, starts searching for old tape deck*

[tmeg]

sony mdrs have such a quiet output, it sucks!

But my N1 has very high level line-out. I can hardly turn the volume up on my amp. I now even changed to headphone out when I want to listen with low volume. Also when connected to the PC I have to set the recording level of my SBlive to 50% otherwise it is clipping. So I think the line-out is powerful enough for me :roll:

But your idea :idea: is good anyway for users of the 505 or 707 I think

[biggles]

I have a Sharp MT80 and when I want public music I use a set of PC speakers with an inbuilt amplifier. I just plug the jack from these into my MD.

[Guest Anonymous]

well my tip probably is best for users of the low - or mid range sonys, that want to use their portable minidisc as part of their hifi system and are finding that they have to use too much power on the amp which does make the music sound a bit muffledand.... quet really.

Can i add that when doing the tapedeck mod, a JVC deck with the logic control is very easy to moify, there are only a few wires, and it's easy to see what does what.

When faced with platic slider - switches, slightly more difficlut, use wedges of cardboard to secure.

My next plan is to gut the Sharp tape deck and fill it up with the contents of a 480 minidisc deck, to produce the world's only MD deck with analouge VUs! (probably).

Sharps have a higher oputput anyway, so they wont be as affected.

Also high range sonys have a line out anyway, but i cant afford that sort of thing.

[Guest Anonymous]

Also high range sonys have a line out anyway, but i cant afford that sort of thing.

if you have a sony mdr 510, you can modify it to actually have line out.