Hello from Montr(é)al

[henri]

Hi everyone,

I am located in Montréal, the french province of Canada, Hence as a "Clin D'oeil" the opening the title with the (é) in Montreal, for Scotts Independent nationalists members. No politics here ! "We all know that we have found the foe , and that the the enemy is us" ....

I fiddle around with vintage hi-fi for quite a moment. It all started about 435 or 440 full moons ago...I was about nine years old and could not keep from pulling out the glowing tubes that were in my father Heathkit williamson amp...And yes... I got burned...

While it seems like a joke, it is not far from the truth.

I have a small collection of vintage gears collected over the years from french and british origins manufacturers. and americans as well for obvious reasons.

I am very fond of them all.But strangely I am getting rid of quite a few of them just now.

I got into joining this group while I was searching for informations related to the Leak troughline tuner. I have one which is giving me headache most possibly beacause of a ground problem... Still investigating-

These days I am more into building from scratch. I have build an amplifier following an encounter I have made with a French tube lover, who sadly past away since, using voltage pass regulator double triodes in SRPP configuration as output devices...

I am using just now, as I wrhite a set-up made of Quad 303 & Esl's, it is in used since about three month. I am satisfied with it. Th truth is that I've not got the chance to sit a full day (a few hours) in front of it to appreciate it.

Someone will be picking-up a pair of sad looking Radford MA-12 amplifier ( I may the only Montrealer with these) bound for rebuild, and while I do take a lot of pleasure in this hobby, I am leaving them go as I have no time to take care of this project.

I will, However, keep my André Charlin PP EL34 amplifiers.

Enough of this.

Glad to join you all.

Henri.

[Spectral Morn]

HI Henri

Welcome to AOS

I use a few bits of French Canadian kit i.e Oracle Delphi MK4 turntable and a Moon Andromeda Cd player + I love Canadian music Kim Mitchell,Max Webster, mid period Rush, Monte Nordstrum etc.

Enjoy the forum :)


Regards D S D L

[henri]

Thank you Neil,

It was actualy trough the reading of some of your threads regarding the Leak tuners that I decided to register to this forum. Nice to hear that some of our audio industrial flagship products are appreciated abroad. I beleive Oracle are gratefull to Asia as well as it was (Is ?) a great part of their market.

[Spectral Morn]

Thank you Neil,

It was actualy trough the reading of some of your threads regarding the Leak tuners that I decided to register to this forum. Nice to hear that some of our audio industrial flagship products are appreciated abroad. I beleive Oracle are gratefull to Asia as well as it was (Is ?) a great part of their market.

Thank you...

Leak tuners are not much known about outside the UK, even tuner information centre hasn't much to say about them. I am working on a comparison review of Japanese tuners which will eventually compare the top of those, with the Leak, just to see how good it actually is. A few items will be hosted here but the majority will appear on my on-line magazine
www.adventuresinhifiaudio.com

Its been a long process so far and to be honest, I can't say exactly when the first reviews will be published but I am aiming for sooner rather than later. Problem has been that the number of tuners keeps growing, thus its been a bit of a moving target as to when I start. The photography side is done (bar a few new additions) but I want to do the audio side of things as much as possible in blocks, either by year or make.

However while I started recently to do the Kenwood 5020 and 3050 this has been interrupted by the arrival of a Cd player which I will only have for a few weeks and another Cd player is coming in directly on the heels of it and then the matching amplifier, then a nice European valve amplifier :doh: So the tuner schedule is in a state of flux at the minute.

Anyway once again enjoy the forum.

Regards D S D L

[henri]

"Leak tuners are not much known about outside the UK, even tuner information centre hasn't much to say about them."

-And thanks to that , I mean from where I sit

Neil,

I happen two have two Leak tuners, both the tube and the less considered Stereofetic ss one.

I got them both from the local dumpster recycling plant, paid 10-$ (canadian dollars)
while I am missing the tuning knobs on the troughline, both did worked as soon as they were pluged. But as I indicated in my presentation the troughline has the habit of drifting as soon as I fiddle a bit with the unit (just moving it a little or using the switches will do). I am about to unsolder and redo all the chassis direct ground to find out if I can solve this.

I have visited you web page. Congratulation, it seems promising.

Henri.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Henri.
Welcome to the Art of Sound.
The drifting is likely a capacitor losing it's value as it warms up. I have a MkII Troughline that suffered this problem. I gave each capacitor in turn a blast of freezing spray until the station it had been tuned to came back. This, I was told, is how to identify the offending capacitor. Before I got around to changing that component, it became obvoius that the unit was no longer drifting, so I left it as it was. That was about 10 years ago - it still holds its tuning to this day. No-one has ever been able to explain to me why this should be the case.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your time here at the Art of Sound. What sort of music do you like?

Cheers
Chris
(owner of Canadian speakers!!)

[henri]

Thank you Chris,

I never thought of using freezing spray, you actualy use it with the tuner in function, Isn't there a risk of slight humidity related problem? Is this spray sold in electronic component store ?

I was told that the piggy back capacitor and resistor in the tuning section, I can not remember precisely which one, do actualy need the heat raise by the resistor attached to it to function properly . I may just have read this actualy , was it on Keith Snook web site ?

My tuner will function properly and remain tuned as long as I do not activate either of the two switches ie. sensitivity or afc function switches. with the upper cover off, should I apply even a slight pressure with my finger on one end of the tuning ganged capacitors...It will go out of tuning. Then if I apply pressure back the station where it was previously tuned will comme back in tune.

Hence the reason for me to think that it is a ground related problem.

That does not rulled out any of the possible capacitor problems you suggest howerver.

Thank you again for this whorthy suggestion.

Henri

[The Grand Wazoo]

Henri,
An electronics engineer friend told me about the trick of using freezing spray. I got it from Maplin - I should think Radio Shack would stock it in Canada though.
Yes, the unit was switched on when I did the spraying. One cap at a time with a respectable delay between each one.

You're welcome!

[henri]

Chris,

Radio Shack no longer exists under that name here, it was changed a while ago to The Source, cleverly renamed in the french province where I live by : La Source...

There are other electronic specialised stores that may have this spray.

As for the music I am into these days, I did not replied to this question in your earlier message, because my actual set-up in operation (303 & ESL's) confines me to soft classical chamber music...Now that was an easy one I know !

More seriously, I am more into Bill Frisel, John Scofield..., any modern (and not so modern) and mostly soft (but not always) jazz music. A good deal of classical music as well,

I am discovering with pleasure the new and mostly unknown West Canadian jazz artists as well.

While my french compatriots artists are interesting for a few of them (this does not include Celine Dion, sorry) I do not listen to them much, I have realised lately that I am listening more and more to instrumental music, with very little or no sung parts. Don't know why.

What surprise me most lately, being a valves affictionado, is how right this paleolithic amplifier can sound. It's realy a sad that is so badly regarded.

Henri

[aquapiranha]

Hi Henri, welcome!

Steve