Deaf Row!

[Barry]

Used one in the late '60s before I acquired a TD124/II. Yes the arm is good enough for medium to high compliance cartridges. The one I listened to had a Shure M32E cartridge fitted. The arm was later replaced with an SME 3009HE.

Well worth keeping Geoff.

[walpurgis]

Tonight's project.

A pair of Mission 762 speakers with completely rotted foam cone surrounds. Got some rubber (not foam) surrounds that don't fit due to the originals having a very narrow roll so I've trimmed about 4mm off the cone all round to make them fit. It'll work and I'll have these up and running soon.

Don't care about originality on these as long as they work.

[walpurgis]

Well worth keeping Geoff.

But will I end up with two? I have two of everything else. A pair of Toshiba SR-370's and a pair of Connoisseur BD1's plus two Pioneer PL-12D's.

[Barry]

But will I end up with two? I have two of everything else. A pair of Toshiba SR-370's and a pair of Connoisseur BD1's plus two Pioneer PL-12D's.

Why not? You have three Mission 774 arms and AFAIK two ADC 10Es.

It's good to have 'spares'; I have two of several items: ADC 10E Mk. IV; ADC 25; EMT TSD15; EMT XSD15; Ortofon SPUGE; Ortofon SL15E Mk. I; SME 3009 S2; Quad 50E; Quad 405 and three Thorens TD124/IIs.

[Macca]

I can believe it! It is embarrassingly good. I thought I might try one for myself, so ordered one on the fly for £19.99 inc postage from China.

Didn’t really have a chance to listen until I plonked an old NUC system power supply into it and plugged in the Allo Boss and MS 400’s expecting a fairly ‘meh’ sound.

Even on the short listen (30 mins) to a variety of ‘usual suspects’ tracks, it is astonishing value.

Enough to make me want to explore routing more sources through it.

Wondering what would be the least expensive/disruptive option to connect more than one source, a simple RCA switch box maybe?

Geoff kindly sent me one of these little things to try and I've just got round to plugging it in. Early days yet and I'm not going to pass a final verdict until I've run the gamut of my testing but I've got it playing The Cult 'Love' right now and this thing is good! Okay so you have to account for the fact that it is tiny and costs so little that it is practically free and so expectations are not going to be as high as if I was trying out a five grand pre-power combo. But even so! Something quite odd about seeing large speakers being driven by an amp the size of a Sony Walkman (although the power supply is a separate unit about the same size again) but it works and it works well.


Instant criticisms: it is slightly soft-sounding and the gain appears to be set way too high, presumably to give the impression of more power. Barely need to move the volume knob off of zero to get adequate levels. But yeah, I'm impressed.

[jandl100]

Hmm, yes, they are good.
Somehow I've ended up with 3 of them.
One in use in my 2nd system and a couple spare.

If anyone would like to borrow one and already has a 15-25V psu, let me know!

[walpurgis]

I wondered if you'd got around to trying the TPA3116 amp Martin.

The volume advance is not so pronounced in my system, could be highish output from your source.

As I suggested, for some people and in some systems, it could be all the amplifier that's needed. It's certainly capable of showing up some respected alternative amps and more able to drive 'proper' speakers than one would expect from looking at it.

Total bargain really!

[Macca]

It's quite sweet-sounding until it starts clipping, very easy on the ear. I like that. It's my main criteria for a good amp. So far I've only played old stuff like Steely Dan and Bozz Scaggs. I'll try it with something that was digitally recorded and see if that bit of softness is actually just tape compression. Although I don't think it is.

[Macca]

Okay so on further listening it isn't a recording thing, the slight sheen of softness appears to be the 'character' of the amp. But it isn't unpleasant. I've had a million budget amps over the years, this is up there with the best of them.

[walpurgis]

It's quite sweet-sounding until it starts clipping.

Not had clipping driving the Tannoys and I've had it up loud. Maybe I'm not trying hard enough?