Dynaco stereo 400 amp

doggie750
doggie750 Posts: 1,160
Hi polks.... any thought on this? Should I pull the trigger? The amp has faulty lefty, likely a known bad soldering with this amp. It’s a $300 used unit, might bring it down to half. Any 2cents is appreciated. Cheers
Godspeed,
D0661E

AVR:Pioneer Elite SC-07
Surrounds: RTis
2channel:Rti100 (carver driven
Sub:SVS PB12-Plus/2
Dedicated AMPs:Adcom GFA535, 2xCarver 1.5t, Carver m1.0t
Wsrn:Hitachi ultra vision LCD60, 32XBR400
PowerConditioner: MonsterC HTS5100
PS3, Toshiba HD A2, etc: SonySACD/ Panasonic gears DIVX.


MR3LIGION: Polkaudio; GSXR; E46; Reeftank;
Odyclub; Xsimulator; Sony; Zune; Canon

Comments

  • pumpkinman
    pumpkinman Posts: 9,497
    I bought a basket case for fifty bucks and had it recapped. New front fuse holders.
    Maybe it’s me but $300 sounds like a little to much.
    lmivdewpnb28.jpg


    Because I am The Pumpkinking


    A Kind Word Is An Easy Gift To Give
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,708
    Buy something that you know works.
    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

  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    edited July 2018
    They -- require a fair amount of TLC to be brought to a functional state. At that, I am not sure how reliable/robust they could be, even after investing a fair amount of time, money and/or effort into one.

    I've got one sitting in the basement. I have plenty of spare time -- and I still don't have the inclination to look into it in any way, shape or form.

  • lightman1
    lightman1 Posts: 10,776
    Hardy runs the corner to chase the lob! Aaand gives an underhanded slapback to his opponent!
    Brilliant strategy!
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    edited July 2018
    The 400 was, in a very literal way, the progenitor of the Ampzilla ;)

    I think if one were looking for a vintage 200 watt soiled solid state amplifier, the 416 would be a better choice than the 400. The 400's pretty crude.
    Unfortunately, none of the Dynaco solid stuff was very good, either in terms of design, robustness or sonics.

    The GAS stuff (Bongiorno started at Dynaco and did indeed work on the 400) was persnickety but much, much better.


    PS the one I have was given to me. I think it was guaranteed to hold a door propped open in a gale if it were so employed.

  • BlueFox
    BlueFox Posts: 15,251
    Interesting. I always thought Dynaco kits produced good gear. Depending on who puts it together.
    Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
    Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
    Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes

    Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
    Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
    Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables

    Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
    Three 20 amp circuits.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    The vacuum tube stuff was pretty good, and some was great (ST-35). The solid state stuff's all pretty dismal.

    There's a PAT-4 and an ST-120 sittin' not too far from me as I type this - and that's about as good as they're (ever) going to sound (i.e, unplugged and disconnected).

    The PAT-5 was a little better.
    Frank van Alstine made a career out of improving the Dynacos (ss in particular).


  • BlueFox
    BlueFox Posts: 15,251
    Oh well. I guess if I ever retire, and bring the soldering iron out of retirement, then it will be building Pass amps. :)
    Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
    Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
    Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes

    Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
    Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
    Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables

    Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
    Three 20 amp circuits.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    edited July 2018
    The ss FM-5 and AF-6 tuners aren't bad, in fairness.

    14979446696_d3ca400452_b.jpgDSC_9819 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

    (top to bottom: PAT-4, SCA-35, AF-6. The SCA-35 is a pretty good sounding, if crude, PP EL84 integrated amplifier with a minimalist preamp section)

    I actually used the SCA-35, on and off, for a while while we had two houses.

    9608227418_c66be7a0e6_b.jpgDSC_6212 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
  • doggie750
    doggie750 Posts: 1,160
    Thanks for all your inputs, all well taken. I let the Dynaco pass by.
    Godspeed,
    D0661E

    AVR:Pioneer Elite SC-07
    Surrounds: RTis
    2channel:Rti100 (carver driven
    Sub:SVS PB12-Plus/2
    Dedicated AMPs:Adcom GFA535, 2xCarver 1.5t, Carver m1.0t
    Wsrn:Hitachi ultra vision LCD60, 32XBR400
    PowerConditioner: MonsterC HTS5100
    PS3, Toshiba HD A2, etc: SonySACD/ Panasonic gears DIVX.


    MR3LIGION: Polkaudio; GSXR; E46; Reeftank;
    Odyclub; Xsimulator; Sony; Zune; Canon
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    edited July 2018
    FWIW, I think I'd recommend staying away from pretty much all of the high-powered vintage ss amplifiers. By and large, they weren't renowned for their reliability or ruggedness when they were new -- and the passage of 40 years hasn't been kind to their guts. Add to that the challenge of sourcing new (or NOS) driver and power output semiconductors for most of 'em (counterfeits abound) and it just seems like a poor risk to me. Plus, most of those amps didn't sound that great to start with.

    One exception might be the venerable Crown DC-300 (150 wpc, I guess). Those don't sound great, either, but were known as pretty rugged, at least 3 or 4 decades ago!

    One other brand whose high-powered amplifiers aren't that familiar to me is (was) SAE. In other words, I cannot extend my blanket statement above to SAE, although I suspect it would be true of their big amps, too, I just don't know them well enough. They just weren't popular where and when I came along.

    "Modern" high-power amps are probably a much better investment if one wants to have behemoth amplifiers.

    OK, I'm off my soapbox now! ;)
    Post edited by mhardy6647 on
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 32,926
    I just happened to notice that there's an ST-400 restoration thread @ AK:
    http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/lets-restore-a-dynaco-st-400.735401/

    Strictly FYI and FWIW. :)