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In Reply to: Anyone familiar with Bedini or Counterpoint amps ? posted by Sean on March 11, 1999 at 00:21:06:
I used to own a Bedini 100/00 Diode Emitter amp. I am not familiar with the 250, but have seen several used at Stereo Exchange's web site. I believe that all Bedinis were based on the same general circuit design, with a noncomplementary output stage (output transistors are Motorola MJ15024 NPNs). This means that they all invert absolute polarity, so this will be an extra consideration in your triamp scheme. Bedinis got good reviews in Aczel's The Audio Critic (25/25 paired exceptionally well with original Quads, mostly because they were also polarity inverted) and Audio Alternative (45/45, in '78-80). Bedini's also had two power transformers, but they were wired together to form one transformer, rather than used as separate power supplies for each channel. I wasn't too fond of the tantalum input cap they used, so I replaced it with a Wonder Cap for a slight improvement. Although all Bedinis claimed Class A operation, there is no way that this was up to rated power for the 100/100. The diode emitter series replaced the output emitter resistors with large Motorola diodes (1N4004?; bias checked at 0.53 V across diode). For output protection and stability, they used series fuses, thermal breakers, and an inductor (belt and suspenders approach). The sound was smooth and forgiving; Bedinis flaws were those of omission. Transparency wasn't very good. This is about all I can remember off the top of my head.
I forgot to mention what I know about the company/the man. I bought my Bedini amp new from a dealer in Woodland Hills, CA, for $888 back in 1982. I visited John Bedini at his factory in Sylmar, CA. My impression was that this was a pretty small company and John was a bit of a huckster, selling products with buzzwords ("positive feedback", "diode emitter", "ionic guides", etc.), but his amp sounded decent and civilized on my Vandersteens at the time and was reasonably well-made (47 lb. and quite attractive with gold accents and brass handles on a black finish). A project he was working on at the time was rebuilding TO-3 transistors: grinding open the back of the metal cases and filling them with a "proprietary" damping compound (draw your own conclusions). Since then, John moved his company to the Midwest (Iowa?) and made a mark with his CD Clarifier. I don't know if he still manufactures amps/preamps.
I greatly appreciate it. Unfortunately, i don't / didn't get to read all of the different mags and reviews on various gear. I have tried to step this up by getting a subscription to a few different magazines for contrasting views. I kind of "took a vacation" from hi-fi for a few years and am now getting back into the swing of things.
As to the Bedini stuff, I didn't realize that it was the same guy that made the amps and the CD gizmo. As i said, i wasn't familiar with his amps at all and had seen just enough on it's specs to become interested in them. I think I can stop doing any further investigations pertaining to those amps. If i could get some feedback on the Counterpoint, i'd be doing pretty good !!! Sean
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