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Watch companies aren't alone in marketing vintage...

JwRosenthal
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SkunkPrince SkunkPrince
I thought you were talking about that specific time....
I’m sure he was- just clarifying for those reading who are not in the know that Mintosh of then is not McIntosh of now. The parallels to the watch world are uncanny- Macintosh has poised themselves in the slot that Rolex assumes in watches- a very well marketed upper mid-tier brand based on a reputation that the company earned 50 years ago. And like Rolex, they are an aspirational brand. Their signature styling (like Rolex) has given them an iconic presence- but they don’t resemble the products of their former self. I have shelves stacked with Mc gear, but only use two pieces on the regular. I will say they made some of the best power amps on earth in the autoformer days- but they couldn’t build a preamp to save their lives.
 
kippyk
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Solid state amps are more accurate....tube amps color the sound primarily due to the "bad" slew rate of the tube amp technology. Many people like the colorization that the tube amp adds to their particular system. How would you prefer a photo of a playboy centerfold: high resolution digital camera or captured on film with a soft filter?

I am a recovering audiophile...through intervention and therapy I am now able to listen to the music and not to the system.
 
JwRosenthal
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kippyk kippyk
I am a recovering audiophile...through intervention and therapy I am now able to listen to the music and not to the system.

The hardest part is admitting you have a problem 😉
Many audiophiles do get lost in the gear and forget that the hobby is about the enjoyment of music. I have listened to $100k systems that sounded awful (total mismatch of equipment) and $500 systems that sounded astounding- the key is to not get lost in the gear itself and keep your ears tuned to what actually sounds good to you- finding your aural esthetic and being content with what you hear.
 
Bill Sohne
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Evitzee Evitzee
I have two McIntosh solid state amps (250 w/ch and 110 w/ch), McIntosh has long said they can make their SS amps sound like a tube amp. All Mac amps tend to have a similar house sound, a bit warm with a smooth top end, not like the cold, clinical sound of some makers. Tubes are fine if you like them, I just don't think you have to go the tube route to get that kind of sound. McIntosh still makes tube products (pre-amps, power amps and integrated amps) but most of their production is solid state and has been for years.

I remember growing up in the 50's and 60's and going with my dad to the local Walgreens when our B&W tv would go on the fritz, they had one of those console tube checkers in the corner with a vast array of different tube sockets, you'd bring in the suspect tv tubes and you could check their status, then buy a new one from the cabinet below. What a hassle. I have no desire to get into that world at all. Others like the idea of 'tube rolling'....good for them, it keeps them off the streets and out of trouble.


HI @Evitzee

My dad's business was racking Tube testing machines in drug stores , hardware stores etc....(like the one your dad would use at Wallgreens) He had many " routes" and he bought other routes over the years.... and finally sold out to Arrow Electronics in the early 1970s.

He is a electrical engineer , last class to learn Tube tech at University .... He was not an audio guy ... but we had decent equipment at home was all solid state....

I was restoring a Trans Oceanic radio needed a "1l6" , mentioned it to my dad who was 85 at the time ... he said to me " what the heck do you need a 1L6 for? , i hope your not playing with a old Trans O radio just get a solid state one your better off !"

He is 95 1/2 now...

Good Hunting
Bill
 
Archer
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kippyk kippyk
Solid state amps are more accurate....tube amps color the sound primarily due to the "bad" slew rate of the tube amp technology. Many people like the colorization that the tube amp adds to their particular system. How would you prefer a photo of a playboy centerfold: high resolution digital camera or captured on film with a soft filter?

I am a recovering audiophile...through intervention and therapy I am now able to listen to the music and not to the system.

Spot on - when I hear someone say "warmer" I'm out. For me being able to listen to the music and not the system, means the system is as transparent as it can be...
 
rcs914
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This is the amp stack at a local restaurant in Arcadia (part of Phoenix) called La Grande Orange. I am not an audiophile, but this made my jaw drop when I saw it.

20130721_104310.jpg
 
SkunkPrince
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Archer Archer
Spot on - when I hear someone say "warmer" I'm out. For me being able to listen to the music and not the system, means the system is as transparent as it can be...

The state of the art of solid-state amplifier is vastly improved since the 80s. Back then it was a lot cheaper and easier to build or buy a tube amp and rework the circuitry to get a decent sound, and certain innovations such as connecting the cathodes of the output tubes through the output transformer secondary resulted in a lot cleaner amp that sounded more neutral.

Now I can get a Parasound HALO amp and not worry about it, with astonishing specs and frequency response from DC to light speed plus very flat phase response. Much improved D/A converters of today are also a part of excellent sound.

I miss the nostalgia of modifying old tube components and using them but I don't miss flaky circuit boards that were cheap when they were new or point-to-point designs soldered with solder more suited to joining copper pipe, not to mention the heat and expensive of tubes. A decent tube design can certainly get you to that 98% benchmark (Mark Dineen's ADC B100 preamp), but you won't ever get past it.
 
rcs914
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My only hands on experience with McIntosh or other tube amps is that I used to own a MC-30 Monoblock tube amplifier and a Dynakit MKIV. The were both given to me by my uncle, who lived in Binghamton his whole life (both my mom's parents were born there as well, Granddad in 1904 and Grandma in 1905).

I had them for close to 20 years before I decided that I was never going to do anything with them, and I sold them on ebay.


20160427_115930.jpg 20160427_120435.jpg 20160427_122019.jpg 20160427_121627.jpg 20160427_121825.jpg
 
SkunkPrince
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Those Mk IV amps are heaven for a modification project, as is their bigger brother, the Mk III. The 7199 front end is kinda "meh" but the transformers are some of the best on the planet and you can either buy a replacement circuit board or design one yourself.

If you rectify, filter, and regulate the filament supplies, these amps are dead quiet.
 
alam
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Tony C. Tony C.
Those into high-end audio will likely be aware of this, but vintage electron (aka vacuum) tubes have long been in demand amongst users of tube amplifiers (I'm a solid-state guy). One of the "grail" vintage tubes is the Western Electric 300B.

WE3b.jpg


Here's one - one - currently bid over 1300€ on eBay:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/300B-WESTER...615448?hash=item263e197e98:g:Nv0AAOSwnKJe60Vb

And here's the brief story of Western Electric manufacturing a new version of the iconic tube:

https://www.westernelectric.com/products/300b.html

For those interested in digging deeper, here's a serious review of the tubes, both old and new:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/we300b/300b.html

I’m sure my former teammate, an old-school electric engineer and avid collector of these tubes, would definitely have an orgasmic reaction to this post...
 
This website may earn commission from Ebay sales.
BlackTalon
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WE 300Bs are out there. Like some watch 'resellers' there are shops that have a network of people spread far and wide who alert them to newly discovered stashes.
 
Flatfoot
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My youngest son is deep into tube amplifiers. He has created a business building audio gear using Vacuum tubes.

He’s been playing jazz and blues guitar from a young age, and his first high school/ cottage business with a classmate was building and selling custom wound guitar pickups. He dog-robbered my wife’s older Kitchen Aide Mixer, and used it as a winder for creating those pick ups.

Below is a link to his story and design ethos- and a cool time lapse video of assembling an amp.

[url]https://www.bandwidthaudio.com/our-story
[/URL]
 
SkunkPrince
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BlackTalon BlackTalon
Looks like very well-made gear. Your son looks like he is really enjoying himself. Congratulations to him.
So intrigued, want to see schematics! 😁
 
river rat
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I must be old I remember in the 1960’s as a kid going into a grocery store seeing a tube display cabinet were on top were you test your tube’s to see if there good or bad and new tube’s below under the cabinet. Think mostly for TV repair we still had a lot of black and white tv’s back then. Those old tv were heavy compared to the tv’s of today.
 
Flatfoot
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BlackTalon BlackTalon
Looks like very well-made gear. Your son looks like he is really enjoying himself. Congratulations to him.

Yes, thanks. He is truly passionate about electronics, sound and how it is created- using both modern and vintage methods.
 
Flatfoot
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SkunkPrince SkunkPrince
So intrigued, want to see schematics! 😁
Ha, yes.😉

He can speak to people in depth about many variations of amplifier circuitry. Send him a ping.
 
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