[elrod-tom]

Yeah, that's the place that was recommended to me by NOS Valves.  I've actually got two of them, the X-202-B and a 500C that was a gift from my father in law.  It was the first thing that he bought after he finished his PhD at Berkeley in the 60's...back then it cost about $300.  It's in beautiful shape, and obviously has great sentimental value too...I'd really like to get cases for both, but for sure for the 500C.

 
Quote:

 
Thanks man!  Nice to "see" you 'round these parts.   The X-202-B is very nice! 
 
I got my case separately.  If did not come with the amp.  Ordered it from http://mcintoshcabinets.com/  The guy takes a while but the final product is very nice, IMO.
 
 

 

 

[BmWr75]

REB,
 
I typed a lengthy reply to your question about the Akai amps sound signature, then it was lost when I hit submit.
 
In brief, these amps make AKG K702s sound very engaging, as they do Koss HV-1s and Grado SR-60s.
 
I could listein to the Akai amp and K702s for hours.
 
The Akais don't sound as good with my LCD-2s.  The LCD-2s sound better with my vintage Sansui 7000 receiver.  No hum or anything, just not as good as the solid state receiver.
 
Regards,
Scott

 

[darkswordsman17]

Quote:

I've had reasonable success powering the HE-6 through the speaker taps on a Cityspot T-amp. If you try this your headphone will have to have totally separate + and - lines for each channel, and you can't run the speaker outputs through a conventional headphone plug adaptor.
 
Some of the Dayton T-amps have headphone jacks, but unless Parts Express states otherwise the headphone jack will have its own low-grade amplification circuit separate from the Tripath amp that powers the speakers. As such, the sound from the headphone jacks is probably not an improvement over whatever you've got now. Save your money and track down a nice old home stereo receiver.

Yeah, I'd basically be just going with it just for speakers. I figure put that $100 towards a vintage receiver that will be a bit better for my needs anyway.


Quote:

The Musical Paradise t-amp does NOT have a separate path for the headphone amp, it uses the main amp.
 
Still, it sounds nowhere near as good (nor has even lose to as much power) as one of these vintage receivers/integrateds - if you can score locally and not have to pay for shipping, you can get a nice receiver/integrated for about the same price as one of these t-amps that will sound much better.  If you don't have space I could understand that.  But consider that I got a 70 wpc Optonica integrated with a MASSIVE torroidal transformer and all discrete output devices that sounds better than some $500-1000 SS headphone amps I have heard...for $100!  The high-powered T-amps are more than that...

Haha, yeah, I saw that earlier, that thing is just awesomely absurd.
 
I check Craigslist and keep an eye out, but there's slim pickings around here, and the few that I've come across the people basically won't even check to see if they work and they look like they just dug them out of the trash or something so I pretty much pass.
 
Audiogon seems to be about the best bet for me.

 

[Skylab]

Yeah, living in a big city has some advantages.  Check out Craigslist Chicago.  All sorts of stuff on any given day.  Some if junk, for sure, but some is not.
 
Of course in my case, that may not be a good thing

 

[scottiebabie]

youre absolutely correct & yes i've given & have been giving vintage preamps some heavy thought to using one as a "dedicated" headamp. i cant disagree that using full blown amps as headamps is not only overkill but less than enviromental & energy friendly. only problem is the headspinning amount of choices with an equally headcracking lack of info & knowledge on which particular make & model uses what circuitry & most importantly, which sounds good. i shudder to think i'd have to go thru a dozen preamps or so to find that out. plus it would seem that preamps are even less wallet friendly than amps!
 
no doubt its a very interesting & valid point. shucks i mite even get a tubed preamp if opportunity presents itself. btw  the aragon 18k is very nice although not cheap by any means - least not in my neigborhood.
 
ps:BMW75r love how u recased the dual mono akais. i almost picked up an akai AA-8500 receiver last month which has the funkiest looking tuner display i've seen. no idea bout sound though.
 
Quote:

If you want to get around some of these problems you could try looking at some vintage preamps, I have found my Aragon 18k to be absolutely amazing, simple, easy to maintain, and insanely powerful.
It is direct coupled, pure class A, uses mosfets, only has a single switch in the entire signal path and has an output impedance of just 10 ohms.
So if you like vintage gear, don't limit your self to integrated amps, there are some sweet preamps to be found out there as well.

 

[Skylab]

A lot of preamps don't have the muscle for many of today's better headphones.
 

 

[scottiebabie]

yaaa Skylabs rite on the power issue although most modern low Z to an hd800 wouldnt be much of an problem. the orthos def need a real amp.

 

[Adda]

Yes the Aragon 18k is on the expensive side, it looks like they normally go for around 400$, that was what I payed for mine, for what you get, that is dirt cheap.
The Aragon 28k and Aurum should be good as well, the 28k has an internal power supply and a remote control, the Aurum uses a quad mono design with balanced outputs and an upgraded power supply, it's output impedance is 20 ohms.
All of these use the same mono blocks so should sound pretty much the same, the 18k seems to be way cheaper then the others though.
The 18k is a perfect mach with K240DF's, it drives the them with ease and total authority, it even gives the DF's bass below 40Hz so they almost sound bassy, quite amazing.
I wonder what would happen if it was paired with Sextetts or 600 Ohm DT880's or even a K340.
It probably wouldn't be the best choice with orthos no, I suspect that it will deliver several watts in to the 50 Ohm range though.

 

[milosz]

 
Sugden A25
 
This is a pretty nice Sugden amp from the 1980's (?) I got it off eBay for $125 in 2007. I've modified it by putting the line stage opamps on sockets.  Right now I have OPA627ab's in there. I'd like to try some Audio-Gd discrete OPA's in there some day.
 
The headphone jack is OK, but I have some fun with this amp when I connect my Audeze LCD-2's or HiFiMan HE-6's to the speaker outputs.  Sounds pretty good.  Not my favorite amp, though.  
 
I actually like using this amp to drive speakers.  Sounds a bit tube like in the mids and treble.  Has a phono preamp, but I haven't tried it yet.
 
I've come across info stating this amp is class A (it gets REAL HOT!  I put a little 12 VAC transformer / diodes / caps in it to run two 1.5 inch fans which get turned on by a 150 degree F thermal switch I bolted to the heatsink, which is inside the amp.)  However I suspect it is NOT class A but a rather high-bias class AB.
 
Sugden sent me a schematic for the amp, if you need it HERE it is.  It's not an easy schematic to find.

 

[cifani090]

I'll be buying a Pioneer SX-636 today for $40. He said that the case is in perfect shape and that we ran some  cheap bookshelf speakers out of it. What do you guys think? Ill be running if thru my B&W Dm610i's.

 

 

[mythless]

Good price for a SX-636, 25 wpc is enough.

 

[scottiebabie]

i remember a friend having a sugden integrated & thinking at that time that its minimalist design very similar to a cambridge audio i had. sounds decent enuff at this place but i never thought to investigate its headamp capabilities although the cambridge amp did sound more than decent (coudnt tell much difference it & a PPAv2) thru a HD600. however both werent vintages by any means.
 
if im not incorrect, dont all AB amps runs class A upto 2x bias current? im sure one can tweak it up higher but it'll still be in the mw range & shouldnt affect heat output much. atleast not to the effect of needing cooling fans. but waddaikno. its interesting though. i do know however that there are some models of AB amps that are factory designed to run class A upto a higher specific class A wattage before switching to AB. some, like the higher yami CAxxxx vintages, even have an internal switch to allow for pure class A although at a much lower rated output.

 

[cifani090]

Need some help decidinglol; http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/548407/kenwood-9gx-or-marantz-2265b#post_7392111
 

 

[mythless]

Quote:

Need some help decidinglol; http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/548407/kenwood-9gx-or-marantz-2265b#post_7392111
 

Depends on the price.  I sold my Marantz 2230B since it didn't sound as good as my Pioneer or HK receivers, and all three are equally cool looking with their lights, fluoroscan on the pioneer and HK430.  Like Luxman stuff Marantz has a very mellow, soft and smooth sound, not was clean cut or transparent as Pioneer or HK,  I would think the Kenwood might have similar sound signature to the pioneers of that time too.  Again, it all depends on price and how much you want to pay and how badly you want it.  If you are all for the Marantz go for it, you may enjoy it and besides you can probably sell it for the same price you bought it for. 

 

[scompton]

Just scored a Marantz 2230 at Goodwill for $40.  It's beat up, no power button, the volume and balance shafts are bent, no light in the tuner.  It sounds great though.