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In Reply to: vintage UNKNOWN stanton dynaphase posted by pennyford on February 21, 2007 at 06:35:45:
Hi, pennyford:You should consider visiting your local main library and requesting back issues of Audio, Stereo Review and possibly High Fidelity magazines.
Look up advertisements by Stanton in the index and take things from there. Also, I believe that around August of every year, some of these magazines (AUDIO, especially) published their annual directories, where you may find the listing of those headphones.
There may also have been a product review, published in one of these magazines.
Of course, have you tried contacting Stanton, if they are still in business?
Unfortunately, as you have discovered, when it comes to researching somewhat obscure items, such as the headphones you found, the WEB is not always the ultimate tool for research
Follow Ups:
Thanks Richard i will follow the leads.
As for stanton i contacted them and get this they said they had no info on any of their products older than 3 years.
How that for custiomer service.
Hi, pennyford:The response you received from Stanton is more or less typical of most manufacturers today. This is most unfortunate. And folks want to know how or why we have more or less lost our acumen for holding market share as manufacturers here in America?
The Japanese are not that different, however. Years ago, when I acquired an example of a great tonearm made by Technics, called an EPA-500, the Panasonic (Technics) or Matshushita people denied that they had EVER manufactured such an item. This was perhaps not more than 8 years after the product had been manufactured.
This is typical, I have to admit. And, the prospect of locating any spare parts for ANYTHING manufactured five years after issuance is also a dim prospect.
Is it not interesting that we can resurrect and restore audio gear that was made over forty years ago, bring it up to spec and enjoy it, as compared with some products containing integrated circuit chips, which are totally unavailable only five years after manufacture?
It's shameful, but it is what is going on!
Talk about total disposability of products!
Please follow my suggestion and see if you are a good "detective" at the local library!
Best Wishes!
It is not true of all manufacturers. You can get the owners manual for almost any piece of Yamaha equiment off of their Japanese website. The same is true for Adcom. I was able to get a service manual and owners manual from Adcom for a GFP-1A. Oracle has been very helpfull to me with their my very outdated tonearm. I realized that most companes don't care but suprisingly, some do!
Hi, Dave:I realize that I made a pretty gross exaggeration in my statement but even though you can find the technical data on products, as you pointed out, it is highly unlikely that you are going to be able to source replacement parts for items more than five years old.
You mentioned Yamaha, a company which has an incredible reputation in the industry for its expertise and a company I greatly admire for creating some of the most impressive pieces of audio, not to mention musical instrumentst!
I happen to own three CT-7000 FM tuners. Yes, they are now about thirty years old, but I can no longer find any factory replacement parts for them. Thank goodness that the circuitry is largely discrete.
Also, an example of a company well known and respected for providing its customers with outstanding levels of technical expertise and SERVICE, is McIntosh Laboratories. Until fairly recently, it was still possible to obtain replacement parts for some of their products from the distant past.
In addition, not that long ago, McIntosh used to fill requests for replacement front panel glass on a "waiting list" basis. At least they did it--albeit at a pretty stiff price.
However, as I mentioned with reference to Panasonic and the EPA 500 tonearm, when a manufacturer cannot even locate or confirm that they made a certain product, you know that the times have indeed changed. Recently I contacted Shure Brothers with regard to a rare M-16 tonearm I owned, made around 1959. At first, the factory representative told me he did NOT recognize the product at all, but low and behold! He followed up with me when he not only located evidence of its history in the corporate files, but he even sent me nice clean copies of the literature he had managed to locate.
In other words, here was a person who, though new in his position with Shure, took that extra step to provide yet another example of OUTSTANDING customer service. I wish others would do the same.
One of my other hobbies is collecting antique radio sets.
I can also normally restore most radios manufactured as far back as the 1920's. For the most part, replacement parts are still commonly available and under most circumstances, it is still possible to access technical information in most well stocked American public libraries. The Sams Photofact folders and the Ryders Perpetual Troubleshooters Journals are worth their weight in platinum, for this very reason.
Just some personal observations!
Thanks for your input, Dave.
I hear you about repalcement parts!I've never worked with MacIntosh but I hope to!
I have a few Yamaha Tuners including a CT-810. It is a very nice tuner and I love Yamaha's dial. The CT-7000 retains that syling in a state-of-the-arts effort. I like the silver face better than the black face, but I'd take what I could get! I'll bet it sounds quite nice!
I remember the EPA-500. I love the feel of the ruby bearings. It is definatly worth going to a lot of trouble to get set up properly.
I've started getting into old radios and I agree, but that is the case with most tube gear. I still have a problem with the dials and trim pieces!
Thanks, Dave:The CT-7000 is a mighty gorgeous looking item!
If only the power supply circuit board had been designed with more ventilation in mind! Despite their incredible build-quality and ultimately, the sound they produce, they can be a bit challenging to fix at times.
But, they are absolutely incredible sounding!
Glad that you knew about the EPA-500 tonearm system. I do not believe I have ever seen such a great engineering effort since that was first on the market. It was actually designed more for the broadcast arena than home consumers, though many audiophiles managed to purchase the pricey arms. The base and one wand (arm tube) sold for about $500 in 1985. They are hard to find and there is still a demand for them these days. They also came with a nifty electronic stylus force gauge, another item much sought after.
As I remember the EPA-500 had varios arm tubes of different mass. That was also a cool feature. I loved the feel of those ruby bearings!
Hi, Dave:Yes, one of the unique features of the EPA-500 design was the interchangeability of these various arms or "wands", if you will.
Each one was specially engineered to accommodate various compliances among cartridges and each one was essentially self-balanced, so when the time came to exchange arms and cartridges, all that was necessary was to loosen a special thumb screw and slide out the wand to replace it with another.
This is how I have my EPA-500 set up. I have a moving coil in one wand and when it comes time to spin 78s, I change the wand for another which has a special truncated eliptical cartridge in it for that specific purpose. The turntable is a Thorens TD-126-III.
Also of significance is the nature of the special design of the EPA-500 base. It has a calibrated helical gear, much like the sort of thing you see in good telefoto lenses of Japanese manufacture. This allows precise calibration of vertical tracking angle so you can adjust each wand/cartridge to special playback requirements.
I have never seen such a sophisticated design since the EPA-500 was on the market.
Also: each wand came in its own very heavy, thick lucite case, complete with the technical information on the materials from which it was made and its compliance.
How cool is that?
WAY COOL!
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