Friday, June 17, 2022

Hub City Vinyl

We took a long drive to visit relatives in Western Maryland for Memorial Day weekend.

I made sure we checked out Hub City Vinyl in downtown Hagerstown, MD. This really cool record store is housed in an Art Deco structure that served as a car dealership in its previous life.


I was based here from the latter part of the 90s till the late 2000s and never imagined a well-stocked record store of this size could thrive in this town.


Notice da boss patiently waiting in the listening lounge?


The Zu Omen speakers driven by Schiit Audio electronics with Steely Dan's "Gaucho" spinning on a Technics turntable made the atmosphere even more endearing!


Towards the back of the building is another room full of LPs and CDs.


The left hand corner of that room had stacks of classic hifi gear!


 This Gates CB1200 3-speed idler driven turntable + Gray 206 viscous damped tonearm definitely caught my eye. But I've run out of space and need to unload to pacify the boss.😉 

So I hope a blog reader will buy the above set up and enjoy it!🍻


I like the black out aesthetics of this 70s Plainview NY era Harman Kardon 330C receiver, which sported technically innovative circuitry. The rack mountable Tandberg tuner is also interesting!


How about a custom tube amp using 6BL7 tubes?


One of the sales associates told me that the back end of the building will eventually be transformed into a live music venue as the pandemic winds down. This is really great news for the cultural life of Washington County!


If you're a record collector and/or audio buff driving through the junction of I-81 and I-70, this place is a must-see!

Welcome, summer! Safe travels!




Friday, June 3, 2022

Fidelity Research FR64fx - dead channel fix


After many years of service, my FR64fx tonearm dropped one channel. 



I started sleuthing by studying the vertical pillar.


By peeling off the tonearm height scale (essentially an aluminum backed sticker), the set screws are exposed.


I loosened the set screws to carefully pull out the 5-pin DIN terminal + horizontal bearing housing from the vertical pillar. The unsoldered wire was instantly visible. 

After soldering the broken connection, I re-assembled in reverse order. I used rubber cement to secure the tonearm height scale back to the groove in the vertical pillar. 


Happy listening!