TOTL Vintage Tube amp systems{50'60's}

[hunter00]

How about the Pedersen in my mono system?

system: Garrard RC 88/4 (mono), Heathkit WA-P2, Pedersen W-15, JBL HLS 615.

Pedersen w-15,another Fine example of early williamson mono amp.Never seen one but she;s a beaut,Not common I assume do you have a mate for it?Hows she sound?would love to hear it on an early JBL 001 loaded harkness

hunter

 

[tcdriver]

...,Not common I assume do you have a mate for it?Hows she sound?

No, I only have the single which is perfect for my monophonic system, as seen in the picture.

...Hows she sound?

It sounds just great. I have been using it in my main audio system for a couple of months now. Since it uses triode connected KT-66 tubes, it puts out about 12W power. This is plenty of power in my smaller sized listening room.

 

[Sam Cogley]

Generally it was,

Marantz & McIntosh if money was no object.

Harman-Kardon Citation in between

Fisher, HH Scott, Harman-Kardon non Citation or Sherwood if you had to respect a budget and Pilot another contender. Dynakit and Heathkit were kit centric and competitive at their best. Fisher, HH Scott, and H-K Citation were offered as kits.

McIntosh also offered some of their equipment in kit form.

 

[Pio1980]

McIntosh also offered some of their equipment in kit form.

Mac-kits, iirc.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[radioactive]

Mac-kits, iirc.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Yep

 

[Gang-Twanger]

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulle...agazine-article-that-made-Jim-Lansing-famous&

This add shows the "dream system recommendation in life mag in 1955 showing the Mcintosh 50 w2 mono amp /with the Marantz preamp as the basis for there totl purchaseable system @405.00 @ the time.Fisher 50a/Fisher 50c preamp as an alternative amp in this system for 140.00 less.Total system cost 1625.00 in 1955 u.s dollars!!
These were there top "moneys no object" system and obviously both belong in this thread

hunter

Cool article... I see the old Garrard RC changers mentioned a lot, which most modern hi-fi guys will badmouth til the cows come home. I have an RC88 that I plan to integrate into a mono system at some point, as it is supposed to be wickedly-good for mono LP's. They mentioned Bogen as well, whose amps are a particularly-good match for Wharfedale speakers of the same era. Remember, this article was from the mid '50's, when 99% of home hi-fi'ers were still running mono setups. Garrard was king as far as turntables were concerned at that point (Right?), and Bogen was a big seller as well.

I also saw Bell mentioned (Packard-Bell). High Fidelity did a similar article in the early '60's where the magazine's experts put together three hi-fi setups at a particular price range, with bookshelf speakers by Altec, Jensen, and Wharfedale. I forget which other amps were mentioned, but they had a 20wpc Bell integrated matched with Wharfedale W60's, plus a Thorens changer, and that was ultimately-voted the most-natural, enjoyable, musical-sounding system. The Altec-based setup was knocked for it's brightness, mainly due to the speakers (and specifically the tweeter), although bookshelf models were never Altec's strong suit, so it's no surprise there. The other speaker in the comparison was the Jensen TF-3, which has it's share of fans AND detractors nowadays.

Bozak was included in the Life article, and those would have been the ones with the old paper-cone tweeters. Still great speakers, but not quite as good as the later ones with aluminum cones.

 

[canuckaudiog]

That Pederson is gorgeous!

I love the way 50s gear looks, it's so classy. Keep the posts comin' fellas!

 

[Sam Cogley]

I also saw Bell mentioned (Packard-Bell).

"Bell" and "Packard-Bell" were separate companies.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

"Bell" and "Packard-Bell" were separate companies.

Whoops... You're right... Not sure how/when I got them confused... Yes, I'm talking about Bell, which I assume is connected to Bell Labs somehow? I imagine they haven't made amplifiers since the '60's or '70's. I've never seen any solid-state Bell gear, just tube stuff. Supposed to be a great match for tube-era Wharfedales (The article I read had a team of hi-fi experts putting three complete systems together, with the best of the three being centered around a Bell 2418 and early Wharfedale W60's, so, being a Wharfie fan, I always kept that in mind in case I ever ran across one of their early '60's amps or preamps).

 

[radioactive]

almost forgot about acrosound...

 

[Bill Stevens]

I know tube stuff can have a sound that some folks love, but it was pure distortion at any thing above 5 to 10 watts. Only Mac met specs consistently. Marantz was close followed by Citation. Everything else from Fisher to Scott to Pilot was really pretty miserable. If it had been good when SS came a long the switch over wouldn't have been so fast or awaited by the buying public. My Scotts and fishers were above 2% distort at 10 KHZ and off the charts at half power. With new tubes the did daily well in the bass. Eico, Knight, and others were junk. Altec commercial amps ran around 1 to 2 % distortion and then approached 20 % at 20 kHz at full power. I admit the Altecs would run for ever, but they got very sloppy and irritating before they took their last breath and blew a fuse. Western Electric amps were just OK out of the Box, But Dr Boner liked the sound so we installed them in air ports and public places while everyone else was using SS amps in the 70's. He knew Mac amps were good but thought the sound to critical and wanted a little more relaxed sound I heard him mumble while installing Altec ina Presbyterian Church system in the middle 60's.

This is absolutely correct information. Anyone who ever worked at a McIntosh dealer, or visited one, might remember Davey O'Brien. He tested every amp known to man. There was McIntosh and right behind it Marantz, and then all the rest trailed behind, a lot were far behind. As far as transistor amps back then, when first introduced the best of them sounded damn good. I remember Gordon Gow coming to the store I worked at and telling us how hard they worked to make their first transistor amp (MC 250) sound as good as their best tube amp (MC275) and it did.

 

[Sam Cogley]

Whoops... You're right... Not sure how/when I got them confused... Yes, I'm talking about Bell, which I assume is connected to Bell Labs somehow? I imagine they haven't made amplifiers since the '60's or '70's. I've never seen any solid-state Bell gear, just tube stuff. Supposed to be a great match for tube-era Wharfedales (The article I read had a team of hi-fi experts putting three complete systems together, with the best of the three being centered around a Bell 2418 and early Wharfedale W60's, so, being a Wharfie fan, I always kept that in mind in case I ever ran across one of their early '60's amps or preamps).

Just founded by someone named Bell, AFAIK.

 

[hunter00]

This is absolutely correct information. Anyone who ever worked at a McIntosh dealer, or visited one, might remember Davey O'Brien. He tested every amp known to man. There was McIntosh and right behind it Marantz, and then all the rest trailed behind, a lot were far behind. As far as transistor amps back then, when first introduced the best of them sounded damn good. I remember Gordon Gow coming to the store I worked at and telling us how hard they worked to make their first transistor amp (MC 250) sound as good as their best tube amp (MC275) and it did.

Personally ,I listen critically to the "music" NOT "Specs".,Many listening sessions over the yrs with most of the top "rated" Tube amplifiers/preamps made in the U.S juring that period with top vintage speakers mostly 16 ohm but also 8 ohm.
In a blind test you'd be hard pressed to tell the sonic difference between the top 4 American tube systems from the 50's to mid 60's if all were recapped and refurbished with the same quality caps and tubes using the same speakers..,.

hunter

 

[Gang-Twanger]

Personally ,I listen critically to the "music" NOT "Specs".,Many listening sessions over the yrs with most of the top "rated" Tube amplifiers/preamps made in the U.S juring that period with top vintage speakers mostly 16 ohm but also 8 ohm.
In a blind test you'd be hard pressed to tell the sonic difference between the top 4 American tube systems from the 50's to mid 60's if all were recapped and refurbished with the same quality caps and tubes using the same speakers..,.

hunter

Are you talking monoblocks, all using the same preamp, or do you mean complete systems, each with a different preamp?

 

[hunter00]

Are you talking monoblocks, all using the same preamp, or do you mean complete systems, each with a different preamp?

Hey gangtwanger.If were talking top tube systems by the top 4-5 vintage manufacturers were splitting hairs,Where I find the most difference in sound between mono amps with a matching stereo tube pre and a stand alone single chassis tube amp is channel separation with the mono's system comeing out on top.The overall sound of the top 4-5 will be quite similar if using the same speakers and being a tube enthusiast they will all sound great!Thats why we own them.
Ive owned heathkit tube mono amps/preamps,Dynaco mono and single chassis tube amps/preamps/eico ect as well as my Fisher 50a mono tube amps{best ive heard by the way}and my full HHscott LK-150 single chassis with matching tube preamp.
My tech buddy has full Harman Kardon tube systems{citation 1/2/5} as well a many others includeing Eico mono amps with hf tube pres/Baldwin,Fisher ect ect.
Just my opinions of course

hunter
hunter

 

[canuckaudiog]

I'd like to bump this thread, I finally came into some really sweet 60s gear. Nothing from the 50s (yet), but this is a little break into the surface for me.

I picked up some circa 1964 Wharfedale W90s and also some circa 1967 Wharfedale Airedales. The Airedales I wish were the older model from before Rank slapped their name onto them, but they're still very good of course!

This new adventure for me started off with the hunt for W90s. And, then it was aptly fueled by an experience I had where I was able to hear Wharfedale W90s for myself. It blew my mind and turned my audio world upside down. Who knew that audio equipment from over 50 years ago could sound this good? I have to say, for the first time in my little audio journey, I actually agree, for once, that there really is some stuff that just isn't made like that anymore. Don't get me wrong - there's plenty of great audio gear today and from all periods, but the stuff from what is considered the golden age of audio is really nothing short of amazing.

Take it from me and give yourself a treat - go and find some of this stuff and hear it for yourself. I was absolutely dumbfounded! Not only is this stuff classy and cool, it just sounds damn good. hunter00 thanks for this thread, let's see some more of this stuff!

 

[Ben Kennedy]

I wonder where the Jap stuff falls in the pecking order? All I have is that darn 1000A.

I have a 1000A as well, and I really like it. It compares well to my st-70/counterpoint set up. While not TOTL, IMHO, it is hard to beat for the $$$'s