Restored Eico HF-81

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00p225
00p225 Posts: 100
edited October 2004 in 2 Channel Audio
I recently bought a 1959 vintage 14wpc Eico HF-81 integrated tube amp on ebay. The seller had upgraded the filter caps as well as most of the other caps except the ceramics which tested ok. Tube compliment is mainly Eico by Mullard, except the EL84's which are Eico, made in spain? They do sound good though. I bypassed the funky focus (balance) control which introduce gain and increased the volume when moving to the right or left channel. For the chassis, I painted the main panels argent silver, polished clearcoated the brass faceplate, and painted the cage gold to compliment the faceplate. These are really sweet sounding amps, and the phono amp is not bad if used with a mm cartridge.
Main System
Pre - Homebrew 12au7 tube preamp
Amp - Eico HF-87 with EHEL34's
Source - Modded Toshiba 3950
Interconnects - DIY Belden
Speakers - Polk SDA-1C

Basement System
Pre - McIntosh C-28
Amp - McIntosh MC2100
Source - Modded Toshiba 3960
Tape - Pioneer RT-707
Turntable - Thorens TD150MKII with Denon DL-160
Speakers - Pioneer HPM-100
Post edited by 00p225 on
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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited October 2004
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    Sweet! Real nice!
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  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited October 2004
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    Very nice!
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,799
    edited October 2004
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    I like!
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • 00p225
    00p225 Posts: 100
    edited October 2004
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    I tried this little integrated with my Polk SDA-1C's and was pretty suprised at the result. It drove them well above normal listening levels, and the sound was just plain lush. Nice wide soundstage, and rich bass. Really a good match with the passive radiator design of the sda's.
    Main System
    Pre - Homebrew 12au7 tube preamp
    Amp - Eico HF-87 with EHEL34's
    Source - Modded Toshiba 3950
    Interconnects - DIY Belden
    Speakers - Polk SDA-1C

    Basement System
    Pre - McIntosh C-28
    Amp - McIntosh MC2100
    Source - Modded Toshiba 3960
    Tape - Pioneer RT-707
    Turntable - Thorens TD150MKII with Denon DL-160
    Speakers - Pioneer HPM-100
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  • Tour2ma
    Tour2ma Posts: 10,177
    edited October 2004
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    Sweet... More "after" pics, if you please...

    How'd you polish the face w/o removing all the lettering?
    More later,
    Tour...
    Vox Copuli
    Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. - Old English Proverb

    "Death doesn't come with a Uhaul." - Dennis Gardner
    "It's easy to get lost in price vs performance vs ego vs illusion." - doro
    "There is a certain entertainment value in ripping the occaisonal (sic) buttmunch..." - TroyD
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  • 00p225
    00p225 Posts: 100
    edited October 2004
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    The letters are imprinted or pressed into the brass, so I just polished the faceplate with Flitz polish, repainted the lettering, then used paint reducer to wipe away any stray black paint on the surface which just left the paint in the lettering indentations. This is the only other pic I currently have, the good thing is it still sounds better than it looks even after the new finish;-)
    Main System
    Pre - Homebrew 12au7 tube preamp
    Amp - Eico HF-87 with EHEL34's
    Source - Modded Toshiba 3950
    Interconnects - DIY Belden
    Speakers - Polk SDA-1C

    Basement System
    Pre - McIntosh C-28
    Amp - McIntosh MC2100
    Source - Modded Toshiba 3960
    Tape - Pioneer RT-707
    Turntable - Thorens TD150MKII with Denon DL-160
    Speakers - Pioneer HPM-100
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  • gidrah
    gidrah Posts: 3,049
    edited October 2004
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    That looks great! Eico is definately an under appreciated brand. Not too many people own them, but the people that do are very happy.
    Make it Funky! :)
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  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,576
    edited October 2004
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    Great work, looks cool!
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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