Rosen you were right about Fisher . But what about?

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2 months ago i picked up a Fisher sa 300 and bought el34 mullards gz34 mullards and various 12at7 and 12ax7 to play around. this amp was highly recommended by a few audio freaks i respect. so i took the hook on one modified by the fisher doc.
joe warned me to tread lightly when i originally asked for advice on this amp and a few other vintage pieces. but i had to know. i have quads and he pushed his usual marantz 8b and otl land for my esl63's. by the way UPS landed my other quad on the steps of the elec doc 2 days ago. after i already plotted out an exit strategy. it was missing for a over a month. but i am happy it was found.
i got the fisher in my hands 3 days after the new shit jje34l(decent sounding when they weren't snap, crackling and popping) from ned blew my audioprism debut up. i was pissed. do i have any recourse. it blew within 2 freakin days of getting the tubes. audioprism fixed it quickly and sent my amp back beautified for just over $200.great service.
so the planned show down was mostly from memory. and it did not take much for a champion to step forward.
when i plugged the fisher in at first, sans mullards at first, i thought a joke was being played on me. it sounded like a clock radio and i told the seller so.no highs and where is the bass.something must be wrong with it. so i called around to a few folks who have experience with this piece, including bizzy bee. he was called previously to plan for mods. not.
result was that the amp was most likely fine, i just needed to get use to it or change some caps to Auri. but it was not my custom cardas golden cross, penny giles in delrim case passive. but i was not ready to throw good coin at bad. so i gave it time and tried every possible combo i could come up with my equip(fms,silver goertz,cardas ic and speaker cables/cec and timbre dac/toshiba sd9200 dvd and numerous tubes).
still no, luck but i have to admit it did grow on me. only kidding. seriously, over time my ear adjusted to its sound, but i knew it would be in someone elses hands soon.it always maintaind that clock radio sound, but aged fairly well. it did some things that were interesting, but basically my amp was better by a wide margin. especially up top , down low and dynamics. more transparent overall, but to the fisher's credit it would produce some limited sounds( don't ask me what)startlinlyg interesting on the positive side. it could produce sounds that stayed squarely in the mids pretty cool.
please tell me if i am wrong, but i think at times the amp could sound atleast as "fast" on some sounds(due to tube rectification?), but the audioprism was more powerful with better drive, musicality/pace and dynamics. overall, it was not that engaging. very limited in what it could do.
strange thing. when i got my amp back (which now i prefer with mullard el34 and tfk 12at7 over a host of challengers)it startled me at first. in my face. thank, god it settled down with some system matching. i thought i might have to keep the fisher for a second. yeah right. maybe an otl: croft, futerman, kss, graaf etc.?
john coltrane and johnny hartman sound pretty damn good right this minute and it ain't the fisher.
what next? otl, a higher powered set or setp, another el34 design(eico)?
maybe flirt with eminent VIII. i am pretty happy with the quads in their range. just about enough loudness for me and i think the bass is amazing as far as it goes. mids great. could have a little more top extension. ensemble, chario, harbeth?
want a little more body, clarity and musicality. currently a little hard, flat, peaky and somewhat dirty.
back to the used market for the next experiment.

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Topic - Rosen you were right about Fisher . But what about? - campy 17:19:03 06/06/02 (0)

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