|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
97.84.194.114
"
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
Follow Ups:
Michael,
Did you get my e mail?
Jerry
I can't email you from asylum either because you have your setting not to accept emails.
My email is
merccougar89@yahoo.com
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
What a short memory we all seem to have.http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=vintage&m=208116
http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=tubediy&m=204955
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Edits: 03/04/14
Tim
You've lost me here..I own a lot of theater from Altecs to RCAs to Stromberg Carlson and I have never seen one like the one in my original post that links to an Ebay ad..Are you saying you saw that amp on that tour?
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
you were talking about that particular theatre amp, and I thought you were talking about - all - classic early (mostly SE) theatre amps.
:-)!
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
I have always said that the transformer companies started the hi-fi movement; from the beginning. As soon as we built DIY radios, some of us immediately wanted better tone; more realistic tone. Some of the transformer companies were right on that agenda, very quickly. You could buy mid-grade or hi-grade trannies from many vendors; as soon as 1928.Even Push-Pull offerings were available.
Let's see, starting from A-Z, I can quickly think of late 1920s high fidelity grade trannies and amps available stateside from companies like Amertran, Ferranti, General Radio, Kenyon, (Inca)/Phelps-Dodge, Samson, Sangamo, Silver-Marshall, Thordarson, UTC, Western Electric, and then some. As some of you know, most of the transformer manufacturers offered a kit of parts so you could build your own amp with your choice of which grade trannies. RCA and WE were already marketing leased only theater systems, which is why that early theater gear is so rare and sought after. If you wanted to actually own your theater's sound system, you could approach many of the above vendors, as well as the then flourishing sound system radiomen. A term "radiotrician" also began at that time.
1928 was a seminal year for the birth of HiFi. Besides the tranny companies stepping up to the plate with various grades of "iron" for Single Ended or Push Pull amps, the electrodynamic field coil speakers became worthy of "quality Musical reproduction." Before Jensen and Magnavox showed us we needed a flexible but controlled speaker surround and spider, RCA and many other radio manufacturers (like Majestic) either offered limited excursion speakers or speakers with uncontrolled excursion, which distorted too easily. The 1928 Jensen, Magnavox and Silver-Marshall speakers enabled true hifi in the home; with the right amp.
Of course, phono pickups and the consumer grade microphones were not quite high fidelity yet. But, the hifi concept was well under way, long before EH Scott used the term high fidelity in their 1930s ads. It was a limited market, but many folks, besides sound engineers, knew what was needed to make their home radio/music setups sound better.
Alas, phono pickups were a very limiting factor until after WWII. The 1940s appearance of low output magnetic pickups from Audax, Clarkstan, Radio Music Products, GE, Fairchild and others truly brought hifi into most homes. Broadcasting studio gear notwithstanding, I credit the reasonably priced GE Variable Reluctance phono carts and preamps with the birth of home hifi as we know it...
Interstage Tranny, Is that a projector amp? or Is that part of a projector amp system? Just wondering, I see some of these amps have that system with them, I don't exactly understand it but I know they were using light to pick up the sound track and some of these amps had that system aboard.
GR (General Radio) was a laboratory grade vendor. There was a lot of competition for sound systems in the thirties. The OP's pictured ebay item is definitely a small amp; maybe even a mic or line level amp. With only two tube sockets, it is probably only a small part of a larger system. GR made some of the highest grade gear; ever.
The first sound tracks for film were via turntables; spinning and playing along in-sync nearby with the "video" of film. Optical sound tracks for film became popular in the thirties. Read by a photocell, they require a very high gain stage in the front end of the amp system. Samson's optical unit was called the head unit or head amp, which connected to the mic/line preamp stages; then to the actual power amp. Standard optical track frequency response was actually intentionally limited up top to only 8KHz, before WWII. Some of the mid '30s to late '30s theater power amps included filter networks for this HF rolloff purpose. Others filtered the highs in the preamp stages or utilized certain trannies with limited bandwidth within their system.
The amount of black soot found in an old theater projector room/sound system equipment would have been quite an eyeful. The carbon arc projectors needed their bright flashing carbon arcs replaced before every hour. That burnt soot found its way into many WE and RCA theater amps. Having restored more than a few '20s and '30s RCA and WE triode amps built for the theater, I can attest to their often found caked on soot; requiring tremendous cleaning efforts. Today, restoring these historical amp treasures is probably easier than finding a pair of amps at one time.
Hi Mike, when I looked at that amp picture it looked like those were 2 rectifier tube sockets. Then I got a tube amp book out and the Western Electric 300B tube had 4 prongs.So, if this was before solid state diodes, maybe they had them,what were those arrays of little tube like things on the left side of the amp?...Mark Korda
Mark
THe rectifier and the triode output tubes were mostly four pin in those days.I was wondering if it was a dual channel single ended amp at first.
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
Hi Mike, hows the sub zero life. I'm watching the Oscars and Ellen Degeneros seems like on Valium or drunk, not funny and missing cues. Mike that amp I thought at first might be half of a power amp, kind of like the Heathkit W-3. which had 2 chassis that you see often on Ebay. Maybe it's just half of the story, but your my hi-fi guru and it is your duty to find out what those little army of short mini towers are on the left side,your homework for tonight. I watched Gravity with Sandra Bullock 2 days ago. It's 10 minutes of 11 at Portland Me. and I predict she will win....I know you like the space race like me, so this movie is a must...my prediction 10:45 EST. Why would an SE amp have 3 giant transformers, was it an early stereo or double mono,I'm not that schooled...love you brother...Mark K.
Colder than hell..We just got hit with more snow and now sub zero temps.
I will check into those stacks and see.Peace out bro.
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
An oxymoron. I love them! Like "Military Intelligence," or "Cruel to be Kind."
Sorry, for the side-track. In a tangent mood.
8^)
and my college days..We all had long hair past our ears and it was a much simpler time where our biggest worry was filing the gas tank at a 1.20 a gallon.
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
What's up with people? Why do they think shaky, fuzzy, blurry photos in auctions are going to help sell an item? Is it that tough to check the pic on your phone and snap a better one before uploading it? If I were a buyer, I'd certainly like to know what the labels on those knob connectors say. Sheesh.
___
“Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix”
Or at least they should clean it up with a paint brush and soft vacuum cleaner head.I will be first to admit that I don't dust my equipment on a daily basis but gee,at least it should be presented so the perspective buyer would want to touch the item when he gets it.
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
Not everybody is a expert photographer,,
It looks pretty early.
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: