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Hi
Any idea to seek for vintage Altec power amplifiers ? Tube or solid state ?
Or is it a bad idea when we today can buy cheap Tripath amplifiers with rave reviews ?
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The Mind has No Firewall~ U.S. Army War College.
The vintage 340/350 amps are consideed to be classics and sound very good. The earlier commercial non ultralinear designs are also very good as they utlized the Peerless 20/20 transformers. Later amps become more designed for ruggedness and reliability rather than sound, IMHO.
Stu
What about the Altec 9440A solid state amp incl. 15335A transformers.
However, I own one but have heard it yet, as it is in bit and pieces for cap replacement and curious if it is worth the effort.
yes they need some tlc and diy changes of the usual caps,resistors etc but done right i have not heard better for certian applications
i still use 1569a on a 515b
Altec tube amps range in complexity, but in general, they are a lot of fun for a hobbyist who is comfortable working on and maintaining tube equipment. These amps are built to a high standard and give the hobbyist with a good technical knowledge a strong foundation upon which to refine what the Altec engineers built to withstand the rigors of 24 hour service. For high end audio a full rebuild with new capacitors and full rewiring with high quality wire would be a start. Circuit changes would probably be called for too. Don't forget that the normal use for most of these amps was churches, bowling alleys, VFW halls, shopping centers and movie theaters. The needs of a bowling alley are quite different from those of the audiophile, but the clever hobbyist can turn the "battleship" into a "yacht".
Having looked up some tripath reviews once my curiosity was raised by your question, they don't look much like raves to me. If you are sure you will be satisfied by a mediocre, disposable M-I-C 20 watt per channel amp, go ahead, knock yourself out. At $20 per, a cheap enough experiment. Only you will know if your ears are satisfied, and that's all that counts.
OTOH those old Altecs were well engineered in the day when that meant quality construction meant to last decades. Lika any "vintage" gear, old Altecs will likely need the usual repairs & upgrades. And once that is done, you can expect quality audio. There are lots of fans of tube Altecs; you can find them on this website. SS Altecs, at least the ones I've seen & repaired, were built by BGW. Industrial strength reliability, made in USA. I found nothing to complain about in terms of sound quality, perhaps a "dry" tone associated with sand amps. But these are big bruisers intended for sound reinforcement / PA use. If you don't need a couple hundred watts per channel why bother.
If you try the tripath, let us know how you make out, OK? And if you need to get rid of any old tubed Altec or similar boat-anchors, just ship 'em here. Or flog them on AA Trader. I'm sure you'll find willing buyers.
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