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Thread: Radford STA100 Restoration Blog

  1. #1
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: South West of England

    Posts: 263
    I'm Will.

    Default Radford STA100 Restoration Blog

    A long time ago I was given four STA100s to restore by a family friend. They were completely and utterly worn out, kept in a loft for decades, covered in soot, rust, dirt and goodness knows what else.

    I began the project but sadly difficult family matters slowed down progress to almost a halt for a long time. Recently I have been working on these full time aside from other side work.

    Recently, montesque's amp was added to the restoration queue, giving me five to do.

    All of the original four were in similar looking condition:









    Last edited by Radford Revival; 07-07-2017 at 20:26.
    Radford Revival
    www.radfordrevival.co.uk

  2. #2
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: South West of England

    Posts: 263
    I'm Will.

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    The amps were stripped down. They were completely toast.



    Radford Revival
    www.radfordrevival.co.uk

  3. #3
    Join Date: Oct 2012

    Location: NE England

    Posts: 4,173
    I'm Jez.

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    What rusty old knackered amps... so badly past their best that I'll do you a favour and dispose of them for you
    Arkless Electronics-Engineered to be better. Tel. 01670 530674 (after 1pm)

    Modded Thorens TD150, Audio Technica AT-1005 MkII, Technics EPC-300MC, Arkless Hybrid MC phono stage, Arkless passive pre, Arkless 50WPC Class A SS power amp, (or) Arkless modded Leak Stereo 20, Modded Kef Reference 105/3's
    ReVox PR99, Studer B62, Ferrograph Series 7, Tandberg TCD440, Hitachi FT-5500MkI, also FT-5500MkII
    Digital: Yamaha CDR-HD1500 (Digital Swiss army knife-CD recorder, player, hard drive, DAC and ADC in one), PC files via 24/96 sound card and SPDIF, modded Philips CD850, modded Philips CD104, modded DPA Little Bit DAC. Sennheiser HD580 cans with Arkless Headphone amp.
    Cables- free interconnects that come with CD players, mains leads from B&Q, dead kettles etc, extension leads from Tesco

  4. #4
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: South West of England

    Posts: 263
    I'm Will.

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    The output transformers in these are beasts. Large core with many turns for high flux headroom and inductance!



    Boards de-populated be cloned (long since done!):


    This was also re-engineered to fit standard 35mm caps and remade in stainless (also long since done, pictures to follow):
    Radford Revival
    www.radfordrevival.co.uk

  5. #5
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: South West of England

    Posts: 263
    I'm Will.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Arkless Electronics View Post
    What rusty old knackered amps... so badly past their best that I'll do you a favour and dispose of them for you
    Thank you for the kind offer, they are clearly fit for the skip
    Radford Revival
    www.radfordrevival.co.uk

  6. #6
    Join Date: Oct 2012

    Location: NE England

    Posts: 4,173
    I'm Jez.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Radford Revival View Post
    Thank you for the kind offer, they are clearly fit for the skip
    Especially those heavy old output transformers.... Drool....

    You've got your work cut out there! I'm envious of their new owners before they're even finished!
    Arkless Electronics-Engineered to be better. Tel. 01670 530674 (after 1pm)

    Modded Thorens TD150, Audio Technica AT-1005 MkII, Technics EPC-300MC, Arkless Hybrid MC phono stage, Arkless passive pre, Arkless 50WPC Class A SS power amp, (or) Arkless modded Leak Stereo 20, Modded Kef Reference 105/3's
    ReVox PR99, Studer B62, Ferrograph Series 7, Tandberg TCD440, Hitachi FT-5500MkI, also FT-5500MkII
    Digital: Yamaha CDR-HD1500 (Digital Swiss army knife-CD recorder, player, hard drive, DAC and ADC in one), PC files via 24/96 sound card and SPDIF, modded Philips CD850, modded Philips CD104, modded DPA Little Bit DAC. Sennheiser HD580 cans with Arkless Headphone amp.
    Cables- free interconnects that come with CD players, mains leads from B&Q, dead kettles etc, extension leads from Tesco

  7. #7
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

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    Really looking forward to seeing how those turn out.
    It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!

  8. #8
    Join Date: Oct 2012

    Location: The Black Country

    Posts: 6,089
    I'm Alan.

    Default

    Given the age I'd say they are still in good condition.
    Admittedly the old components are ripe for replacement but the important bits, perhaps irreplaceable, are still there.

    Interesting to see Will.


  9. #9
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: South West of England

    Posts: 263
    I'm Will.

    Default

    Thanks for the comments everyone. There has been a lot of interesting progress since those pics were taken, many more pics to come!
    Radford Revival
    www.radfordrevival.co.uk

  10. #10
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: South West of England

    Posts: 263
    I'm Will.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Arkless Electronics View Post
    Especially those heavy old output transformers.... Drool....

    You've got your work cut out there! I'm envious of their new owners before they're even finished!
    It's a big job that's for sure - a LOT of planning and effort has gone into these so far - in some ways they are being improved on quite significantly. This will become apparent with the coming updates!
    Radford Revival
    www.radfordrevival.co.uk

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