This joint needs some more vintage hifi

mhardy6647

Nice Quads... nice stuff.
Do you happen to know a guy in MA whose first name begins with the letter "W", by any chance? If not - I think you two would like each other :-)

Spriggs

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Nice Quads... nice stuff.
Do you happen to know a guy in MA whose first name begins with the letter "W", by any chance? If not - I think you two would like each other :-)



I like your rack(haha), and no i dont know any one by that name, im a kid btw (15) so other than my relative i dont know anyone.

mhardy6647

Not mine, unfortunately - too bad, a 15 year old should have speakers and electronics like that! ;-)

My stuff is a tad more pedestrian...

Spriggs

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Not mine, unfortunately - too bad, a 15 year old should have speakers and electronics like that! ;-)

My stuff is a tad more pedestrian...

[IMG][/IMG]

I have no idea how i got into this kinda stuff it happend in middle school, I love it though. Oh that a nice little se amp i love the wood finish on the chassis. Are those sophias? How do you like Sophia?

mhardy6647

Yes they are - we taste-tested a bunch of different 2A3s in the amp (including some pretty nice vintage ones) and the Sophias won.

Spriggs

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Yes they are - we taste-tested a bunch of different 2A3s in the amp (including some pretty nice vintage ones) and the Sophias won.

Oh really? I had a couple sophias but i settled for vintage 45s inplace of 2a3s. fun fact i live right next to sophias hq

mhardy6647

That's interesting.

Vintage 45s are in a different category altogether; are you using globe 45s?

Drenis

Well this 15 yr old schools me at tubes... I'm lost.

mhardy6647

at what point? the Sophia 2A3 (which is, as I understand it, essentially the same as their 300B but with a 2.5V filament; more plate dissipation than a 'real' 2A3)?

:-)

I certainly don't think I knew what a single-ended amplifier was when I was 15 (although I did know what a Williamson circuit was) ;-)

hertz9753

Spriggs wrote: »

ive joined

Yes you did. :biggrin:

Glen B

I feel like these are modern compared to some of the equipment in this thread, but here goes:

Denon DP-59L


SAE-2300


SAE-2400


Phase Linear 400 Series 2


Pioneer SA-7100


Adcom's first amp, the GFA-1


Kenwood KA-5002

Spriggs

mhardy6647 wrote: »

That's interesting.

Vintage 45s are in a different category altogether; are you using globe 45s?

I am. they are very nice.

mhardy6647

Glen B wrote: »

I feel like these are modern compared to some of the equipment in this thread, but here goes:

Denon DP-59L


SAE-2300


SAE-2400


Phase Linear 400 Series 2


Pioneer SA-7100


Adcom's first amp, the GFA-1


Kenwood KA-5002

Nope, you're good :-)

Spriggs wrote: »

I am. they are very nice.

cool!

cnh

Spriggs wrote: »

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Nice Quads... nice stuff.
Do you happen to know a guy in MA whose first name begins with the letter "W", by any chance? If not - I think you two would like each other :-)



I like your rack(haha), and no i dont know any one by that name, im a kid btw (15) so other than my relative i dont know anyone.

Welcome to Club Polk!

OK, now you can come "clean" on who introduced you to this stuff and where you got it? It's OK. Because it's not likely that you stumbled onto it at your age (then again, remember, this is the internet so I could be 10 years old myself, if I wanted to be--not that I question your age?).

If you are 15, then there is a friend or relative somewhere in your past--a dabbler in vintage audio. And then there is the "ability" to collect such pieces with little or no "income"? So family resources?

Sorry if I'm giving you a hard time, but we've had members here create new accounts and "personas" just to pull our legs. And I am a bit of a doubting Thomas, you see!

In any case. Nice stuff, but hardly something one could collect on a 15 year old's allowance. lol

cnh

cnh

mhardy6647 wrote: »

at what point? the Sophia 2A3 (which is, as I understand it, essentially the same as their 300B but with a 2.5V filament; more plate dissipation than a 'real' 2A3)?

:-)

I certainly don't think I knew what a single-ended amplifier was when I was 15 (although I did know what a Williamson circuit was) ;-)

I think you're being too "modest" here, mhardy. Either that or you were slacking off! lol

As for me, I was reading Camus and Sartre and articulating my own theory of the "ridiculous", and the "absurd"--something I've NEVER really recovered from. So I do NOT recommend it (you'll be brooding over the human condition for the rest of your life and die with no answers!).

cnh

Sprags

I bet this really doesn't count as 'vintage' but the person I'm buying by brand new amp from builds his new amps based on the old Dynaco ST-70 design. I'm not an electronics guy but from what I understand the design is pretty much per the orginal design except for a new modern upgrades which includes a stainless steel heavy gage chassis as opposed to the original. He sells them in kit form as well as builds them. I heard an ST-120 a few years ago and it was absolutely beautiful in sound. He has several models, one of which is referred to as the VTA ST-70 and a more powerful amp which is the VTA ST-120. I remember the ST-70 from a girl I dated in the early 80's whose father built one and had in the his family room system. Here's the link:
http://www.tubes4hifi.com/bob.htm

I know there is another web site that also sells kits based on the original design. These are acually closer to the original design. Here's the link for those: http://www.dynakitparts.com/store/

Hope this post is appropriate.

Glen B

From the first sentence, I knew you had to be talking about Bob Latino.

Mikey081057

Those old SAE's look great even today

heartystatue

My dad had the SAE amp and preamp. From back in the mid 70s. Had a pair of EPI towers for speaks. Those were monsters. I knocked more than a couple pics off the walls listening to them.

mhardy6647

cnh wrote: »

I think you're being too "modest" here, mhardy. Either that or you were slacking off! lol

As for me, I was reading Camus and Sartre and articulating my own theory of the "ridiculous", and the "absurd"--something I've NEVER really recovered from. So I do NOT recommend it (you'll be brooding over the human condition for the rest of your life and die with no answers!).

cnh

Nietzsche was more fun! ;-)

PS Everything I know about philosophy I learned from Monty Python...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_WRFJwGsbY
(some adult language from the Pythons)

mhardy6647

Oh, and back on topic - You all, likely, know the tale of the late, great James "Bongo" Bongiorno. Bongiorno started his career with Dynaco and contributed to the big Dynaco 400/410/416 power amp designs, then moved on to SAE and then on to his own Great American Sound Company (GAS).

GAS was famous for the Ampzilla power amp and numerously cleverly named (by the standards of the day - it was the 1970s, after all!) preamps and a digital tuner called... yes... Charlie (as in "Charlie the Tuner"). From GAS, he progressed to SUMO (the SUMO Charlie, at this late date, is rather better known than the original GAS version)... and, late in his life, an Ampzilla reboot called "Ampzilla 2000". www.ampzilla2000.com

Bongiorno passed away fairly recently, his sense of style in music, audio, and in matters sartorial will be missed.


source - http://www.ampzilla2000.com/JimB.jpg

A fine, large-sized JPG of the early version of the original Ampzilla amplifier: http://amp8.com/tr-amp/foreign/gas/jpeg/zilla2a2-1c.jpg

I have one GAS piece (piece of GAS?)... a somewhat scruffy but well-functioning GAS Thoebe preamp. I don't have a good photo of it; here it is in situ waiting for something to do...

Someday I'd love to have a Son of Ampzilla.

[Deleted User]

"Bongo Jim" in a red zoot suit, priceless! Twenty three skidoo!

mhardy6647

The vintage GAS amps and the vintage Polk Audio "Monitor Series" speakers play very well together.

cnh

Mr. Ampzilla? I remember the first time I heard of that amp, I thought someone was pulling my leg. Ampzilla? Really? But, as is often the case, I was WRONG. I have yet to hear one. But they do seem to be "legendary".

And the guy's history was almost as colorful as his dress?

cnh

mhardy6647

The GAS stuff was good sounding. A little tempermental, but good sounding.

WastelandWand'r

Mr. Hardy,
It appears to be calling to you.
No affil., just thought it was timely with the recent discussion about this amp.
Nathan

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/ele/3548541583.html

mhardy6647

callin' from too far away (and too 'spensive, too)... but thanks for posting that. They're not horrifically common any more.

FWIW, the one I'd like to have is the ca. 80 wpc Son of Ampzilla :-)

Spriggs

cnh wrote: »

Spriggs wrote: »

Welcome to Club Polk!

OK, now you can come "clean" on who introduced you to this stuff and where you got it? It's OK. Because it's not likely that you stumbled onto it at your age (then again, remember, this is the internet so I could be 10 years old myself, if I wanted to be--not that I question your age?).

If you are 15, then there is a friend or relative somewhere in your past--a dabbler in vintage audio. And then there is the "ability" to collect such pieces with little or no "income"? So family resources?

Sorry if I'm giving you a hard time, but we've had members here create new accounts and "personas" just to pull our legs. And I am a bit of a doubting Thomas, you see!

In any case. Nice stuff, but hardly something one could collect on a 15 year old's allowance. lol

cnh

Sorry late reply
I under your doubt it is the internet after all. I am not pulling anyones leg but yea I myself did not pay for everything 1% would be quite the overstatement as well. If you still dont believe me either continue not believing me or met me in person(loljk i dont meet strangers from the internet). But i do have the birth certificate to prove my age and a highschool ID card (I dont have my licence yet i know i should get it soon but ive just been to lazy and SOLs are coming up soon).

tonyb

Mommy just taught him how to use a computer ^^^^^

leftwinger57

After going through these pages that name of Mr.Borgiorno has been heard by me before. Being a Dead gear head that's where I heard the name . After Bob Weir ditched his Mac 2300s for whatever reason he went w/ GAS amps and the original AMZILLA was his main power source after they tore down the WOS and he gigged w/ his own band Rat Dog. From what I heard they were not all that road worthy until some improvements were made then became standard fare for Weir for a long time.