View Full Version : Wanted - Single Mono Power Amp
Hi folks,
Due to something of a calamity involving my Good Lady Wife, the stored location of my Townshend Glastonbury Tor speakers, and a long object she was carrying, one of the speakers now has a destroyed Bass/Mid driver - a severe dent in the spun aluminium cone, and a rubbing voice coil.
So, I have decided to make the worlds best workshop/garage sound system (possibly!).
I'm looking for a good, but cheap!, Mono Power Amp.
Anybody have anything to fit the bill??.
Cheers, Mark.
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Lawrence001
21-12-2016, 10:42
Or a cheap bridgeable stereo amp?
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I'm not sure how that works. Can you get amps the allow the outputs to be connected together?
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What I'm really hoping for is that someone out there used to have a pair of really high end Mono amps, and one went bang, leaving them with a single amp in the loft that they don't use!!!
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I'm not sure how that works. Can you get amps the allow the outputs to be connected together?
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You do, yes. My monos are stereo power amps with vc. A button on back turns them mono. Very good for money they were and i have 4, although 1 is out of commission awaiting a looksee when i can be bothered. Plenty pro amps around that can be run mono and are very good, certainly for a garage system
montesquieu
21-12-2016, 11:16
My experience with the Glastonburys is that you need a whopping great lump of solid state power to get the best out of them so a bridged stereo amp might well be a good move.
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Lawrence001
21-12-2016, 11:31
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Marantz-MA500-Monobloc-Mono-Block-Mono-Power-Amplifier-/122274194653?_trkparms=aid%253D222007%2526algo%253 DSIC.MBE%2526ao%253D1%2526asc%253D20150519202351%2 526meid%253D12728949eb8f4eb290b03c643026ef87%2526p id%253D100408%2526rk%253D1%2526rkt%253D25%2526meho t%253Dlo%2526sd%253D112220263973&_trksid=p2056116.c100408.m2460
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Lawrence001
21-12-2016, 11:32
Don't know why my copy link function has to be so long... Anyway, are these the £20k version? Surely there must be a way to get a spare driver for them Max is still around you could ask him.
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Thanks. I drove them with my Grant G50A Valve Power Amp.
But, they will likely stay in storage forever if I don't use one in my garage (my circumstances have changed a lot, and I don't have my HiFi set up at home anymore - I have loaned out my Townshend Rock TT, my Musical Fidelity Phono Stage, my Conrad Johnson PV4 Preamp etc etc)...
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Lawrence001
21-12-2016, 13:31
If it was me I'd get them repaired and sell them on so someone else could use them instead of me but if you're attached to them I can understand. I held on to a pair of Kef Ref model 3s for a year after I could last use them. Using one mono seems to be a suboptimal use of a great pair of speakers.
You're right of course. But, a new driver would be £300 (or more now, I had them replaced many years ago), and I have no idea what they are worth - they are undoubtedly the best speakers I have personally ever heard, but they are as ugly as homemade sin!
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Lawrence001
21-12-2016, 19:25
Maybe they're not the model im thinking of them, £300 to get these working would not seem a big deal given their RRP.
http://www.audioaffair.co.uk/townshend-audio-glastonbury-tor-speakers-pair
Lawrence001
21-12-2016, 20:01
Are they the original non tor version?
http://www.seehere.com/listing/85131482/
had maxs original Glastonburys for years
there still within easy reach as my friend still has two pairs.
anyway the old spun cones use to crease if you sneezed anywhere close to them,or gave them to much power and the protection circuit use to cut in,use to get them reconed for around £30 at a place in bognor regis,cant remember the name of the company,and proberly long gone by now as im going back awhile.
but maybe its worth ringing around afew driver repair places and see if theres anything that can be done,thats how i originally found the company i used.
£300 is a joke,but the speaker warrants repair....not many speakers out there being made with metal frames,alloy,carpet and plaster these days:D
if you enjoy those,try and find some s/h sir Galahads line array that he use to make,spent a day at his place with them and the rock turntable...that sound and event sticks with me to this day!!!
regards
smithie
They are the original Glastonbury Tors - very similar to the original Glastonburys, but way uglier.
They look similar, but they are upholstered in thick black felt instead of skinned in painted metal - they are still made from plaster or Paris, and weigh as much as a small car! But they're UGLY! Cost was about £1,800 new.
Sound amazing though...
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MrRadish
22-12-2016, 13:29
What I'm really hoping for is that someone out there used to have a pair of really high end Mono amps, and one went bang, leaving them with a single amp in the loft that they don't use!!!
I've got a pair of Jeff Rowland Model 3, one of which blows its output fuses after a while (anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours depending on which way the wind is blowing). The other one works fine fed a balanced signal but both amps suffer from crackling through the single ended inputs. I've been hanging on to them on the assumption I'd get them fixed at some point, but I just don't have the space to use them even if I did. I don't know what you consider cheap but I'd be looking for £400 the pair (I've no idea if they're worth that). I can include an Audio Synthesis ProPassion with them that would give you a balanced attenuator, but its single input / single output and balanced only. I've got some old budget TEAC and Cambridge DACs with balanced outputs too if you want to complete the set, but I'd need to charge £50 extra for one of those. Or an old Micromega T-DAC that's a bit rusty if you want multibit.
itskeith
22-12-2016, 16:08
Hi Mark,
PM sent. Best wishes.
Keith
these could be worth a shout regarding sorting the speaker
http://www.audioloudspeakers.co.uk/boultons.shtml
never used them,but they talk the talk and prices look good
regards
smithie
Thanks MrRadish, but I'm only after spending a max of £100. Cheers...
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I don't seem to have a PM Keith?
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Thanks Smithie, but I won't be getting this fixed - they'll only stay in my loft for ever!
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itskeith
23-12-2016, 21:30
Hi Mark,
PM resent.
Cheers.
Keith
Anyone got any experience of Rotel RB-850s? They can be bridged Mono, and there's some cheap on eBlag at the minute...
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Arkless Electronics
27-12-2016, 19:18
Rotel RB850.... decent amp of very conventional design and good reliability. There's really not much more to say about them.
I'd get those speakers fixed personally... fond memories of the original Glastonbury's here... Superb sounding speaker!
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170101/b8f85e0c0de2fff43d06634608c21e5d.jpg
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170101/9de53b73282d7eafecdee9cc97e4b126.jpg
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170101/170788df4c113952110c51bc5a1597c8.jpg
putting the Crimbo tree back up in the loft, the sad sight greeted me again...
Stay Away From the Guard Rails!
Firebottle
01-01-2017, 19:11
I would think that if you can get your fingers to both sides of that cone you can probably straighten most of the bends.
Nothing to lose trying it?
You might be right. The voice coil is binding though, so I think the damage is too extreme. I'll probably give it a go though...
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Geoff101
01-01-2017, 23:10
I've got an 850 for sale if you still want one.
What sort of money please???
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its usually the foam behind the driver that decays and crumbles,and that foam helps keep the movement of the driver linear and straight,so could be worth looking at that to while trying to straighten the ali cone as that can seem like binding.
i dont think your have much joy trying to get those kinks out as ted and max at that time believed in natural cone breakup so never treated or coated there ali cones with anything to toughen them up,so there very fragile,but as said,certainly nothing to lose by trying:)
also check to make sure the fly leads from the cone are not catching the cone on movement,that can seem like binding to,and pray they where not like mine,max must off been against the clock when he built mine as i dont think the plaster had completely dried out when made and sold,so when the day came to pull the main drivers i was greeted with one hell of a red rusty mess on the drivers:D
still for all that....ill always love those speakers,interesting that the tors dont seem to have ports like the massive spun ones on the Glastonburys ,are they a sealed design? never ever seen them before,make the glatonburys look like oil paintings:D:D
Geoff101
02-01-2017, 19:03
What sort of money please???
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I'm asking £80 for it.
Geoff
its usually the foam behind the driver that decays and crumbles,and that foam helps keep the movement of the driver linear and straight,so could be worth looking at that to while trying to straighten the ali cone as that can seem like binding.
i dont think your have much joy trying to get those kinks out as ted and max at that time believed in natural cone breakup so never treated or coated there ali cones with anything to toughen them up,so there very fragile,but as said,certainly nothing to lose by trying:)
also check to make sure the fly leads from the cone are not catching the cone on movement,that can seem like binding to,and pray they where not like mine,max must off been against the clock when he built mine as i dont think the plaster had completely dried out when made and sold,so when the day came to pull the main drivers i was greeted with one hell of a red rusty mess on the drivers:D
still for all that....ill always love those speakers,interesting that the tors dont seem to have ports like the massive spun ones on the Glastonburys ,are they a sealed design? never ever seen them before,make the glatonburys look like oil paintings:D:D
Thanks Dude.
They are indeed ported, behind the cover at the bottom of the unit - it's not finished as prettily as the ally ones on the Tor, hence it's hidden!!!
Stay Away From the Guard Rails!
mark
dont give up on them....your kick yourself,trust me,no rose tinted ears here,if there anything like the Glastonburys then there still sound good by todays standards with the correct equipment,those tonigen ribbons are wide band width to and little gems,even if they do beam like a torch light:D,still wish i had my "glastos" and miss them loads:cool:
regards
smithie
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