Macca's Lash Up 2: Lash Harder

[Barry]

Good review Martin.

Philips have always been the 'poor sister' when it comes to their high end gear - and were usually looked down upon by the magazine reviewers. But Hell, what do they know?

By the looks of things your power amp is 2U in height - I can't imagine Philips deviated from the usual 19" rack mounting specification. Just check that the overall width is 20" wide, with the fixing slots on a 19" pitch.

[Macca]

I've got a rack mount Teac that came out of a studio, I'll check it against that. By eye it looks to be standard but I'm not a hundred percent.

[Made in 1968]

No Barry 19" width is the standard rack Faceplate not 20"

[Barry]

Yes - you are quite correct: 19" wide with the fixings 18.3" apart.


(I was thinking of the original British GPO racking specification, which used 20" wide panels attached to the uprights using 0BA screws on a 19" pitch.)

[Alex_UK]

Wow, looks an amazing beastie - proper hi-fi with a schematic and graphs on the top cover!

[Marco]

Bought a Philips 22AH380 / DC380 ‘Black Tulip’ Power Amplifier last week with the vague aim of collecting the full set for no really good reason other than I like how it looks.

Here's what the full 'Black Tulip' system looks like, in its own matching rack mount stand thingy for those who have never seen it:



This was Philips last foray into the high end back in 79 or thereabouts, at least under their own name. They sold some in Europe but the British hi-fi mags crucified it and dubbed it 'Black Turnip'. But they were all into Naim, Exposure, Linn and so forth in in those days...most foreign gear was suspect - most of us remember it well I guess so no need to elaborate.

Anyway although I know it has been re-evaluated in more recent, less partisan times, my intention was to collect it all over time and use it as the TV system. So absolute sound quality not a priority. It's just my favourite looking gear of all time. Yamaha NS1000M are what speakers should look like. Phillips Black Tulip is what electronics should look like. For me at least.

This is the pic of the actual amplifier from the sale thread as my camera is not cooperating right now. I took some photos of it myself but they are crap.



On connecting it up to some sacrificial speakers just to make sure it was okay I got hum on the left channel. I've bought a few bits of faulty kit recently so my first thought was 'Not again!' But after some tedious trial and error I won't go into, it turned out it was some sort of ground loop. Swapping pre-amps from the DCB1 to the pre-amp section of an XTZ integrated sorted it.

It's only for the tv system and I intend to get the matching pre, but I thought I might as well hook up my proper speakers and see what it was like in absolute terms. I've tried the XTZ pre amp with a fair few power amps and concluded it is not much cop. But it's the only pre-amp I have right now beside the DCB1.

Well knock me bandy this XTZ/ Phillips combo is outstanding! I actually prefer it to the DCB1/Krell KSA100 combo that has been the daily driver for the last 6 months or so.

See the previous ten or so posts on this thread where the matching of pre and power amps is said to be a black art....

Although don't get me wrong I think a lot of people would prefer the DCB1/Krell 100 combination. That's big, warm, a little bit 'valvey', whereas the XTZ/Phillips is far more forensic although without losing the 'sweetness'. But not as forensic as the DCB1/Krell KSA50S combo which is still the best I've ever had. Although the 50s is still U/S unfortunately. This Phillips is close, although not quite as good in the bass as the 50S, or the 100Mk2 for that matter.

Having said that I am having to use thin speaker cable to hook the Philips up instead of my usual hosepipe stuff so maybe that will have some bearing on things. I was going to keep it original but I might get some proper binding posts fitted as I can't see this leaving the main system until the Krell 50S gets sorted.

But anyway - it's close in the bass. And like all the best power amps it does the harmonics right, sounds like guitar chords ring out like chimes, they don't go all grainy as the sound peaks and decays. Likewise with female vocals. There's lots of highly regarded amplifiers that can't do that.

I'm after the matching pre-amp now so if anyone has got one in a cupboard or whatever, let me know.

Good stuff, mate. You can't beat a bit of VU meterage!

Given it's provenance though, I'm not surprised it sounds good, and yes, as ever synergy rools!

Enjoy....

Marco.

[Made in 1968]

Certainly looks cool in a late 70's kinda way.. I always like the Techy 9000 series jobbies

[Opti-cal]

I'm after the matching pre-amp now so if anyone has got one in a cupboard or whatever, let me know.

Hi Macca,

wonder if you have an eye on this?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-P...8AAOSwXSZeGsWI

[Macca]

Hi Macca,

wonder if you have an eye on this?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-P...8AAOSwXSZeGsWI

Yes I do. Although closed my ebay account years ago as my vintage tat buying was getting out of hand. But will get someone to bid on it for me

[Jimbo]

You bought that for the VU's didn't you?