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NOVEMBER 2006
October has been an interesting month in both the normal and Chinese
senses of the word.
In the normal sense, the middle of the month saw several subdivision sales
and I actually found some interesting tube equipment.
Among the finds were a Heathkit W-5M mono amp with WA-P2 preamplifier,
a Sherwood S8000 FM stereo receiver, a Heathkit TT-1 tube tester, and
some nice tubes.
I have already sold the Heathkit amp and preamp, which worked. The
amplifier had some hum that would not completely go away but the preamp
seemed fine. The Sherwood receiver turned out to have problems that I
didn’t feel competent to try to even understand much less repair. Both
sold on eBay, though, and the gamble I took buying them paid off nicely.
I am awaiting new tubes for the TT-1, which seems to be in working
condition. The meter does not read a high as it should, though, and as
near as I can tell the meter is driven by a 12AV6 tube. I am hoping a new
tube will get the meter indicating in the range it is supposed to. I need to
find someone with a construction manual as it has the procedures for
calibrating this unit. I have only the owner’s manual. This tube tester has
30 knobs and switches (!) and I was pretty intimidated by it at first.
Fortunately, it’s straight forward to use and the owner’s manual made
more sense the third and fourth times I read it. From a couple of
comments I found on the Internet, it appears to be a pretty good piece of
equipment. It should provide a much better indication of a tube’s condition
than my old Lafayette does. Click here for photo. (Three of the knobs are
in the lid of the unit.)
Along with the tube tester I also got tubes. I got over a dozen
Westinghouse 12AX7s that appear to be NOS. These are USA made tubes
and that is all I know about them. While they don’t have the panache of
Telefunkens or Mullards, they are probably pretty good tubes. I haven’t
had any chance to try any of them yet but I am going to put a couple in the
Rogue 90 and see what happens. There were also some used Amperex,
Mullards, and Telefunkens. I sold them as well. It was a question of
keeping some used tubes for my own use or selling them at an obscene
profit. Well, obscenity won.
I also decided to sell the Luxman R-117 receiver that has been sitting
around on the dining room floor. It was tempting to keep it, if for no other
reason than to use it as a power amplifier. Its drawback as an amp is that
its speaker terminals don’t really accept anything but bare wire. There is no
way to connect a banana plug at all; a large spade might short against the
chassis. That sold profitably as well. I may regret selling it but its loss was
mitigated by finally getting the little Marantz SR-1020 receiver into the living
room system.
The SR-1020 is about ten years old, very trick, and includes a remote. I
am very happy with its sound, in particular, its FM performance, which is
superb. It has a touch sensor that opens and closes its front panel. It is
just so slick the way the panel works that I had to have it. It was a $500
receiver new and appears to be made to a pretty high level of quality.
Unlike the Eico, I can leave it running all day and not have to worry about
the heat it generates.
I am still looking for another preamp to spend my eBay profits on and so
far have found nothing used that has gotten me excited—and that I can
remotely afford. I am seriously thinking of an Audio Experience
Symphonies + preamp. I am still very happy with the sound quality of my
nearly six-year-old Audio Experiment and if the + model improves on the
sound quality as claimed, then the sound quality will be very high indeed. I
will make a decision as soon as a couple of eBay auctions close and I know
my money situation. If I can afford it, I may get the model with remote.
I still have my VTL 50-50; the Audio Experiment, the Primus 360s, and it
will make a killer living room/second system combination. I had the VTL on
Audiogon briefly but there was no interest in it. I was sort of surprised as
there is nothing in the $500 tube amplifier range but used Dynaco 70s. I
have to admit, though, that I feel much more comfortable now that I have
decided to keep it.
The interesting development in the Chinese sense of the word is that my
computer completely crashed last week. I am now using my daughter’s old
laptop. The good news is that I lost nothing of any consequence. Some
web site rough drafts are gone but they were articles that weren’t really
working anyway. The main hassle is just getting everything—email,
software, hardware—reconfigured and working again.
I am waiting for a pair of 6SN7s to arrive; they will go into the Rogue 90
with the Westinghouse 12AX7s and I will get back to work on an article
about it.
Happy Halloween and Thanksgiving!
Kent Johnson
October 30, 2006
October has been an interesting month in both the normal and Chinese
senses of the word.
In the normal sense, the middle of the month saw several subdivision sales
and I actually found some interesting tube equipment.
Among the finds were a Heathkit W-5M mono amp with WA-P2 preamplifier,
a Sherwood S8000 FM stereo receiver, a Heathkit TT-1 tube tester, and
some nice tubes.
I have already sold the Heathkit amp and preamp, which worked. The
amplifier had some hum that would not completely go away but the preamp
seemed fine. The Sherwood receiver turned out to have problems that I
didn’t feel competent to try to even understand much less repair. Both
sold on eBay, though, and the gamble I took buying them paid off nicely.
I am awaiting new tubes for the TT-1, which seems to be in working
condition. The meter does not read a high as it should, though, and as
near as I can tell the meter is driven by a 12AV6 tube. I am hoping a new
tube will get the meter indicating in the range it is supposed to. I need to
find someone with a construction manual as it has the procedures for
calibrating this unit. I have only the owner’s manual. This tube tester has
30 knobs and switches (!) and I was pretty intimidated by it at first.
Fortunately, it’s straight forward to use and the owner’s manual made
more sense the third and fourth times I read it. From a couple of
comments I found on the Internet, it appears to be a pretty good piece of
equipment. It should provide a much better indication of a tube’s condition
than my old Lafayette does. Click here for photo. (Three of the knobs are
in the lid of the unit.)
Along with the tube tester I also got tubes. I got over a dozen
Westinghouse 12AX7s that appear to be NOS. These are USA made tubes
and that is all I know about them. While they don’t have the panache of
Telefunkens or Mullards, they are probably pretty good tubes. I haven’t
had any chance to try any of them yet but I am going to put a couple in the
Rogue 90 and see what happens. There were also some used Amperex,
Mullards, and Telefunkens. I sold them as well. It was a question of
keeping some used tubes for my own use or selling them at an obscene
profit. Well, obscenity won.
I also decided to sell the Luxman R-117 receiver that has been sitting
around on the dining room floor. It was tempting to keep it, if for no other
reason than to use it as a power amplifier. Its drawback as an amp is that
its speaker terminals don’t really accept anything but bare wire. There is no
way to connect a banana plug at all; a large spade might short against the
chassis. That sold profitably as well. I may regret selling it but its loss was
mitigated by finally getting the little Marantz SR-1020 receiver into the living
room system.
The SR-1020 is about ten years old, very trick, and includes a remote. I
am very happy with its sound, in particular, its FM performance, which is
superb. It has a touch sensor that opens and closes its front panel. It is
just so slick the way the panel works that I had to have it. It was a $500
receiver new and appears to be made to a pretty high level of quality.
Unlike the Eico, I can leave it running all day and not have to worry about
the heat it generates.
I am still looking for another preamp to spend my eBay profits on and so
far have found nothing used that has gotten me excited—and that I can
remotely afford. I am seriously thinking of an Audio Experience
Symphonies + preamp. I am still very happy with the sound quality of my
nearly six-year-old Audio Experiment and if the + model improves on the
sound quality as claimed, then the sound quality will be very high indeed. I
will make a decision as soon as a couple of eBay auctions close and I know
my money situation. If I can afford it, I may get the model with remote.
I still have my VTL 50-50; the Audio Experiment, the Primus 360s, and it
will make a killer living room/second system combination. I had the VTL on
Audiogon briefly but there was no interest in it. I was sort of surprised as
there is nothing in the $500 tube amplifier range but used Dynaco 70s. I
have to admit, though, that I feel much more comfortable now that I have
decided to keep it.
The interesting development in the Chinese sense of the word is that my
computer completely crashed last week. I am now using my daughter’s old
laptop. The good news is that I lost nothing of any consequence. Some
web site rough drafts are gone but they were articles that weren’t really
working anyway. The main hassle is just getting everything—email,
software, hardware—reconfigured and working again.
I am waiting for a pair of 6SN7s to arrive; they will go into the Rogue 90
with the Westinghouse 12AX7s and I will get back to work on an article
about it.
Happy Halloween and Thanksgiving!
Kent Johnson
October 30, 2006