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I have a friend that has one. But I figure even if he does the work himself it's going to end up costing around $300+. He's not really a tube person. He just ended up with this receiver.
He also has a vintage SS piece that he uses daily and is his permanent stereo. My advice to him was not spend the $300+ on a stereo that he will in the end will not be very impressed with. And instead use the money to have his permanent aging stereo professionally restored with new caps, relays and brought back up to spec.
Opinions?
Follow Ups:
Would this be the same friend that asked a couple weeks ago? This is a receiver and the tuner section really isn't that great. It's simulcast stereo which is one half on the AM band and the other on the FM. The concept died a horrible death about 50 years ago when FM stereo was introduced. The front end and amp sections are pretty good however. I believe it's the same topology as the 230 Ballad, and as I recall that wasn't too far removed from the 244 Trio.
This as Eli said it would go perfectly with a good pair of Altec speakers.
If he wanted to learn it's a great place to start replacing caps, resistors and other aging pieces. In the end it's up to him to decide.
Edits: 10/03/16 10/03/16 10/03/16
Is this the fellow who owns Altec Valencias? If so, he really hasn't heard what those speakers can do, until they are matched with tubed electronics. Over damping is almost certain, when SS power amplification is used.
Ordinarily, I'd tell the man to "flip" the H/K. However, ideal speakers already on hand make investing in the "hollow state" receiver an attractive proposition. He'll have to put more than $300 in to get a true refurbishment, but system synergy rates, highly, to work in his favor.
Eli D.
The ROI on - rebuilding & rethinking - the TA230, IF he's not an originalist, could be quite high.i) It would suit his Altec Valencia's very well.
ii) The FM stage simply needs a MPX (stereo decoder) kit, SS ones are not hard to find. If you need a low Z drive into the pre-amp? Add a 12AU7 in Cathode follower mode and you are good to go. SS for the audio?
iii) IMO&E most of the reported sound benefits from Valve FM tuners derive from their valved front-ends. ? They are likely to be resistant to strong out-of-band signals below 88 and above 108Mhz. There is a LOT of this RFI/EMI about. Classic SS tuners are not as likely to have this 'feature'. The FM stage will need to be driven hard by a directional antenna to improve the radio system's station selectivity.
iv) as it is a simulcast rcvr the AM stage/s may have/allow a wider audio bandwidth than most around today. Depends on AM where he is if this matters or not. A good AM antenna IE a longish random wire outside and a coil and a vane cap to tune it to desired stations - is a good thing.
OR CC Crane's AM device.v) all valve power amps, even tiddlers, have the potential to benefit from a very high storage PSU. In a rcvr this helps quieten all the line sources .... and phono. You do have to ditch the valve rectifier and replace it (OR bypass it) with modern SR SS Schottky diodes to cope with much bigger capacitors, and maybe add a choke, but that's all.
LBNLeast? My main system's tuna is a rebuilt & rethought simulcast rcvr. It had two AM BCB stages and we now have wide audio bandwidth AM. We added a Stereo MPX kit and turned off the power amps.
While this path is not as simple and could involve some further commitment to antennas, my experience - though not including the power amps confirms it can be worthwhile.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Edits: 10/07/16
"iii) IMO&E most of the reported sound benefits from Valve FM tuners derive from their valved front-ends. ? They are likely to be resistant to strong out-of-band signals below 88 and above 108Mhz. There is a LOT of this RFI/EMI about. Classic SS tuners are not as likely to have this 'feature'. The FM stage will need to be driven hard by a directional antenna to improve the radio system's station selectivity."From what you say it's evident that radio broadcast has evolved differently than here in the States or the East Coast anyway. very few FM stations are wide bandwidth anymore with most if not all sharing their frequency with an HD sideband. I know because I have a Fisher FM100 that I rebuilt and spent a good bit to have realigned just to have all the local stations move to the HD format. Radio is for listening to on the way to work anymore.
That being said I really don't think the tuner is worth chasing, he could do better with a stand alone input. I have rebuilt and still have several H-K integrated amps, 6V6 and 6BQ5 outputs, and I find them very nice when when paired with vintage speakers. I have a pair of 846 Valencias that I prefer to use with all lower power amps.
Edits: 10/08/16
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