Tube Foray

After letting go of the big mcintosh mc2300 amp,

I thought I'd be content with our current hoard.

Do I really need two unused sansui's for backup?

Or a third pair of klipsch fortes,

just in case?

Difficult to answer that.

For a brief moment I tried unloading stuff,

clearing the unneeded clutter to keep the good.

It was working until...

I met this guy,

a race car builder and tuner,

who also is heavy into vintage stereos.

http://www.agentfortyseven.com/harbinger/

He's got one serious resume!

When ya start dabbling in these old stereos,

people rave about solid state/transistor vs tube/valve amps.

Heath has a big collection,

and a deal was struck.

An early Dynaco st-70 was in the house.

Wow.

This thing wouldn't play loud,

but the sound was so soothing.
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Ron Carter - All Blues

words can't describe...

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Running it was like driving a flathead,

a specific on and off routine,

nothing taken for granted.

Somehow the burning metal produced sound!

And after a couple hours,

poof...

Cringing screech and a puff of smoke.

When ya read about these things,

stability is not the main quality.

These guys live to be hot rodded,

there are dozens of upgrades.

Hundreds can easily be spent on tubes,

trick boards, capacitors...

The dim bulb tester was used for the second time!

After a brief foray I realized the stress involved listening to a time bomb wasn't worth it,

no matter how sweet it sounded.

Maybe later...

TP