View Full Version : Ear 509 Mk2
Central Audio
21-04-2011, 15:36
http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww245/prutton/001-20.jpg
http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww245/prutton/003-10.jpg
RRP £9000 now £1695
Rare copper chassis version with full Tim de Paravicini service and upgrade,WBT/Siver wire/Vishay
www.centralaudio.co.uk
Cheers Tony
Wonderful amps - someone's in for a real bargain!! :)
Marco.
Reid Malenfant
21-04-2011, 16:28
Apologies if this is a daft question, but it's a monoblock so is there a second power amp?
It's a single amp chassis. I'd be delighted for someone of the price was for a pair, but I very much doubt it.
For those lucky enough to be able to pay the deliberately excessive UK prices for EAR gear, can I just conform that every model in the range has a glorious "classic valve" sound - I don't mean thick, closed in, stodgy but sweet in the mid, but gloriously expansive, sweet, warm-in-tone with NO harshness AT ALL and excellent reliability.
When I was in the market for and could afford a pair of 100W valve mono's, I really should have bought some 509's, as they're just so safe to use for years and problem free..
if there's a second one of these for the same price, £3800 the pair is still a bargain in my book.
Reid Malenfant
21-04-2011, 17:38
I took a look on their site & only one was pictured so i guess you are correct Dave ;)
Ah well..
Could you even get another identical one??
Er... I just presumed the price was for a pair but Tony was only showing one as a sample....
Don't see the point in selling a single monoblock - what good would it be, unless you're into mono? :scratch:
Marco.
Reid Malenfant
21-04-2011, 18:48
Er... I just presumed the price was for a pair but Tony was only showing one as a sample....
Don't see the point in selling a single monoblock - what good would it be, unless you're into mono? :scratch:
Centre channel in an AV system? :)
Central Audio
21-04-2011, 22:03
The price is for a pair of monoblocks.
Cheers Tony
OMG Please national lottery Saturday. 8, 13, 14, 23, 32 ,39
Central Audio
22-04-2011, 07:16
List of upgrades done by Tim De Paravicini
WBT input connectors
WBT speakers connectors
Vishays resistors on the volume
Pure silver wirings around volume control and speakers outputs.
Silver plated sonic link mains cables
Volume control upgraded
Gold plated volume knobs
Elvis's last movement
22-04-2011, 14:01
I use these and they are superb!!!!
I wish I had a Granny left to sell :( I would love these...
My goodness would you look at that . . .
http://www.soholaunch.com/images/worm_on_hook.gif
The price is for a pair of monoblocks.
Ah, thanks for clearing that up, Tony. I thought so! ;)
Well that defo makes them a SERIOUS bargain.... Can't see you having these for long. If I didn't already have my Copper amp, I'd snap 'em up like a shot!!
Marco.
PLEASE someone ALEX(UK) - buy them!!!!!!!!!!!
In 1998, a standard pair cost £2500rrp. I shudder to think how much they cost new nowadays (HiFi Dave?) - I suspect £7500 or so..
Superb amps and a steal at that price. If I wasn't so happy with the Chord I'd buy them without a second thought.
I've emailed one chap and left a phone message on the second (I'm trying, honest :))
Gawd, I'd love these now and feel such a knob for not getting them at the time. Back in 1978 when I first heard them, I "just" preferred the bolt-up Naim 250, as overall the early 509 amps were similar with a touch more bass warmth (an EAR characteristic) - Tim was NOT amused!!! Had I first compared the EAR's with a CB NAP250 a couple of years later, there'd be no contest, so harsh-toned was the Naim at this point..
Tim was NOT amused!!!
Tim seems to wear that expression at every show. He was especially not amused when I asked him to change the music so that I could properly evaluate his speakers. I can't stand that big band stuff he listens to :(
Reid Malenfant
23-04-2011, 15:38
Rats, looks like they're spoken for :(
Oh well i'm third in a queue so still some hope yet :eyebrows:
I think I can fairly say that anyone looking for utter neutrality should look elsewhere, but my Gawd, do these amps draw you in to the music and hold you there. PERFECT for Tannoys and any other speaker in need of refinement with grace and depth.
Reid Malenfant
23-04-2011, 18:24
Good with Ditton 66s then :) I was too late :doh:
Techno Commander
24-04-2011, 10:48
I must admit that my resolve was crumbling a bit and even the missus thought they "looked good". :)
It's so long since I last heard Ditton 66's, but the flapping baffle (apologies, ABR) may need a bit of extra control from the driving amp, and this is something a transformer coupled valve amp may not be able to provide, due to the inevitable high output impedance and the 4 Ohm load of the 66's themselves - possibly... As I said, it's decades since I last heard them :)
I would have loved 'em - but other priorities at the moment would have ended up with me having nice amps, but an even more expensive divorce! Hope whoever bagged them is happy with them.
It's so long since I last heard Ditton 66's, but the flapping baffle (apologies, ABR) may need a bit of extra control from the driving amp, and this is something a transformer coupled valve amp may not be able to provide, due to the inevitable high output impedance and the 4 Ohm load of the 66's themselves - possibly... As I said, it's decades since I last heard them :)
Or possibly not? :lol:
Dave - you defo need to hear them again to reprogram your memory banks! :eyebrows:
The ABRs do anything but "flap" on the end of the Copper amp, nor does the latter in any way lack control when used with the 66s. It (being a transformer coupled valve amp) drives them solidly and cleanly to deafening levels......!
I think anyone who heard them at Scalford Hall, on the end of the AoS system, would agree :cool:
Marco.
Reid Malenfant
24-04-2011, 18:43
I think anyone who heard them at Scalford Hall, on the end of the AoS system, would agree :cool:
Marco.
Yep, & i'd bet that 100W monoblocks would seriously kick some :booty:
:lolsign:
No doubt, dude. Next year we'll be using Martin T's solid-state Chord behemoth (250 WPC, I think?), so that should be a giggle!! :eek: :eyebrows:
Marco.
Reid Malenfant
24-04-2011, 19:13
No doubt, dude. Next year we'll be using Martin T's solid-state Chord behemoth (250 WPC, I think?), so that should be a giggle!! :eek: :eyebrows:
Marco.
My 66s are powered by a B & K ST2020 & they appear to love 200W RMS of solid state power so i can only attempt to imagine what a Chord amp would do with them as it's vastly better quality wise :eyebrows:
Flappy ABR’s! Wash your mouth out sir.
Yours may flap Dave but mine are as firm as a …….well, perhaps I wont use that description :eyebrows:
Got to be better than farting through a tube stuffed with straws :lol:
In short, utter nonsense.
Actually not, if you ever read reviews and scientific buff at the time sir.. ABR's can and did flap about if they weren't under proper control. Why do you think only a very few people used this technology?
You don't get owt for nowt and the phase situation was a "joy" I understand, although sonically not too much of an issue (driver goes in, ABR pumps out and there'll be a frequency when they sort of blend and the ABR stops working)
Reid Malenfant
24-04-2011, 19:29
That'd be below the ABR tuning frequency Dave & in the case of the 66 it's very low (near 20Hz) so the only thing that'd excite it as you point out will be infra bass on CDs & phono stages with no high pass filter at the same time as speakers sitting on suspended floors with footfalls :eyebrows:
As witnessed at Scalford, though people were paying attention to this & using their heads & being careful when vinyl was spinning ;)
I never said I didn't like them (quite the opposite :)) and I'd love the chance to one day hear them again, but I do remember the heartbeat on DSOTM on vinyl being a bit "pungent" at the time (pre LP12 era), in the way the old IMF mk3's used to in the mid 70's (the RSPM IV's were much tighter in the bass and offered further damping if necessary) :)
Reid Malenfant
24-04-2011, 19:37
Yes, the Reference Standard Professional Monitors were very happy damping that Kef bass unit down to 17Hz though ;) Different enclosure design all together & a damn sight bigger to boot :eek:
Using test tones, the mk3 would do 14Hz quite nicely and the doors would buzz along too.. They really did need beefy high-damping-factor amps to control the excesses, a "bolt-up" Naim 250 being totally inadequate at control I remember.
Dave, me old mucker, you're letting your 'old memories' cloud the current reality again! :doh:
READ MY (virtual) LIPS: 66s (with their ABRs) do NOT sound how you describe on the end of my copper amp!!
Therefore, you do not necessarily need "high-damping-factor amps to control the excesses". Quite simply, when 66s are driven by a properly designed amp (valve or SS), on the end of a decent system, there are no "excesses".
Capische? ;)
Marco.
No doubt, dude. Next year we'll be using Martin T's solid-state Chord behemoth (250 WPC, I think?).
350 Wpc. :)
Ha - even better!! :wowzer:
Marco.
Dave, me old mucker, you're letting your 'old memories' cloud the current reality again! :doh:
READ MY (virtual) LIPS: 66s (with their ABRs) do NOT sound that way on the end of my copper amp!!
Therefore, you do not necessarily need "high-damping-factor amps to control the excesses". Quite simply, when 66s are driven by a properly designed amp, on the end of a decent system, there are no "excesses".
Capische? ;)
Marco.
OK, OK, don't get so defensive :D
The last I heard was the 662 in the late eighties (we had some 552's as well later). Both had a blown tweeter or two and we had the last "modules" from Celestion's service stock. They sounded very good indeed for £50 the pair traded in and with the same money spent on the tweeter modules. Sadly, they reacted unfavouably with the fruitbox of the period and the boxes didn't seem that good, but there was potential on these I remember and I'd have liked to have spent more time with them, looking back.
Good lad! You know it makes sense ;)
Marco.
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