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In Reply to: RE: Hogan SET amp in want ads posted by Wojciech on April 22, 2014 at 20:40:41
I am sorry to make this late comment, but I was out of electronic communications for a few days.
It seems as if you have been misinformed about John Hogan. If you were to search through the SET forum you would discover that John was a talented, unassuming, and friendly person with a good sense of humor. His knowledge and interest in tube electronics goes back many decades including his service in the United States Army Signal Corps, lifelong interest in Ham Radio (including building his own tube based transmitters), his 32 years teaching in the Newark, N.J. School system as a Science and Computer Science teacher, and, of course, his passion with building his unique SET amps.
I don’t think he was penniless, because the year before he died he bought a BMW 7 series and was very excited about its performance and all the electronic goodies. Frugal, perhaps, as he saw it as a challenge to buy old organ amps and use their transformers and chassis in creating funky looking SET amps. This was his hobby, he enjoyed the designing, building and listening. He was very open to trying different types of tubes and combinations of tubes. He build SET amps using 2A3, 45, 50, VT-52, 183, 300B and 845 output tubes.
As to the performance of John Hogan amps, you heard one and were not impressed. That is your opinion, which you are entitled to. I have owned several John Hogan amps (including the one for sale) and I have enjoyed them very much. I admit they tend to have a bit less bass and don’t go as high as some amps I have heard, but the midrange is rich, detailed and three dimensional. I personally like the midrange on his amps better than many high end amps I have owned. That includes Yamamoto, Sun, KR Audio and Korneff amps. Hey, that’s just my opinion. I have only heard a handful of Chinese amps, and none could match the brands I just mentioned, much less any John Hogan amps I have heard.
The downside of all this internet chat and marketing is that we cannot share the sound of the music. In the old days with Stereo shops all over the place, you could listen before you buy, even take a piece home to try in your own system. Now we just text. No music in that.
To learn more about John and his amps, search this forum for John Hogan. You will find many opinions, comments, ideas, lovers and haters. Or search for his posts - nk2j was his handle here. I see you joined AA after he passed away, sorry you missed him. A lot of us miss him.
Follow Ups:
whoa,I am as surprised to see that post as much as you. It is very inaccurate.
John was very skilled as a craftman/technician. In addition to what you mentioned, he also previously rebuilt grandfather clocks.
John stepped into the audio/electronics thing and built a variety of amps from scratch. The reason for the "fortutitious" find was that John was not enthralled by expensive items, but rather used what was around him. So he happened to pull out some organ amps which had the gold in them, the vintage webster opts.And I would have to say that the chassis were of special value too.
The vintage opts that John happened upon contain the rich iron which was part of the great "midrange" of the earlier audio era. That era and an earlier era produced, in my opinion, the best engineered audio ever made, say from the 20's to the 50's which also includes Western Electric.
John did not realize what he found. I will take credit for that. I was the one that recognized initially the value of those opts, and from the first amp on, they were purposely sought.
We are all free to chose out own preference in sound. I have heard a lot of great things in audio. But you can keep the extended highs and lows, and give me that midrange. Was it Klipsch or someone who said "we live for the midrange"? That's where I live.
Sure, thats why he bought a Bimmer series 7. It shows, that he had his priorities straight unlike many of us -me included. Although, I didn't read about John Hogan personal life and his financial status, which actually does not interests me and made a wrong assumptions based on the look and construction of his amps, I read plenty from Njjohn and others over the years about them, and I heard one which sounded pretty much like they described. The amp is sorta useless in full range mode and quite a bit better but still not correct sounding as a midrange amp (driving round 350Hz Edgar horn with JBL 2441 from 500k-10k) It doesn't mean one can't enjoy it or even have some love for it. It means that objectively it's a lumpy sounding amp which restricts your choice of music , which may not be a problem for most of the people. I'm pretty sure I could be a friend with John and understand many people miss him. I don't think he would find a problem with me saying straight face to face that he is making lumpy sounding amps but if it makes him and his friends happy there is no harm in it . Better be happy than right. Same thing with late Terry Cain ,lovely man and disastrous sounding speakers he made ,which obviously still make many people happy , if not from anything else than from the quality and craftsmanship of enclosures. Now, don't ask me that if I'm such a smart ass what things I use :) Pretty much nothing actually. The amps I built are marginal at best. The middle of the range commercial I could eventually afford are not better. The ones I might like are far beyond range. The same with the rest of the chain. Crappy car radio and the only classical FM station in town is the last refuge of burned out audiophool.(Maybe, I actually should get sentenced by AA to Hogan amp and Terry Cain speakers for a purgatory time for all my trespassing here;) Have a nice day guys and watch your sugar level....PS) PWK was wrong or he didn't follow his own word. He built marvelous sounding (with the right driver NOT with k-33E ) ,domestically friendly horn midbass enclosure . Midrange was where he SUCKED -big way!
Edits: 04/24/14 04/24/14
(Actually it was a 5 series.)
(John did not alter the opts, but used the p-p as is.)It really does not matter much what people post on the asylum regarding the opinion of John's amps.
It's okay if I remain the biggest fan of these amps. I have listened to them every day for the last so many years. I can play the same cd on a system every day for 5 years and not tire of the music on the cd.
If I didn't have one, and with what I know, I would pay as much as needed to get one. I also wished I had had the money to pay 25k or so for the Western Electric speakers that I heard. What a raw combo that would have been.
I would have to say that John's amps are the best that I have heard to recreate what jazz sounds like in the best jazz clubs. It plays all music well although I cannot comment about classical since I don't listen to it much.
I am a fan of the Ohio based musician Tim Story, and I am actually listening to Anouar Brahem right now. If you like that pensive type of new age sound, don't think you can hear it on better, because it can allow that type of music to touch the soul.
Audio sound is not about highs and lows, etc., for me. It's about a host of other sound variables. It's about depth, feelings, ambience, dimensionality, intensity, and other nonspecifics. Some of the nonspecifics occur accidently; it is often not known how to purposely generate them.
It's the same genius that makes for a Rembrant, or why any painting is revered. What goes into the whole that makes us react and feel a certain way.
Audio reproduction is a truly wonderful and unique medium. It has always been art to me. We are here mostly because we know or sense how special it can be. It can be an encounter as remarkable as anything else we are capable of experiencing, and yet it is its own unique medium in the way it can generate particular feelings. The way it can be in the background or foreground and still have its impact on feeling, the way we can enjoy it in our homes, enjoy it when alone. The way it can bring music to life. It can bring "sound' in a special way.
Edits: 04/27/14
I've enjoyed reading through this thread. I had this JH combo and thought it sounded wonderful but it only drove my 350hz horns so bass and highs where not an issue. These are the 26/300B SET amp and the 6SN7 preamp. I am still sorry I sold them.
At one point I was going to sell them because the tone was BLAH, but then W came over with a pair of KR 300Bs and we swapped those for the EH 300Bs and the amp came alive. The next day I ordered a pair of the KRs.
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