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Thread: Radford STA100 Monoblocks

  1. #1
    Join Date: Oct 2016

    Location: London

    Posts: 313
    I'm David.

    Default Radford STA100 Monoblocks

    It's been a while coming but I took a week off my regular audio work to build myself a Radford sta100 as a pair of monoblocks. These are signature amps with a lot of foo inside including Black gate capacitors and Audyn true copper caps. They are point to point wired and the transformers are specced to take KT150s or KT120s, both of which thrive off the high HT of 630v and high screen voltage. The KT120s sound much better to my ears, suiting the output transformers better.

    So how do they sound? I'm fortunate enough to own a pair of Silvercore 833 monoblocks and my wife has a pair of Mastersound 845 monoblocks and this amp shows both of these a clean pair of heels. It's got effortless scale and majesty, and sounds very sweet across the whole frequency range. I'd like to thank Will at Radford Revival for help and advice along the way and for speccing and supplying the transformer sets. The output transformers are rated at 100 watts continuous output. Now here's a pair of amps that will drive any Tannoys! I'm open to building some more of these or even a stereo version......

  2. #2
    Join Date: Nov 2013

    Location: HAMPSTEAD

    Posts: 1,156
    I'm brian.

    Default

    Nice one David. Sure looks splendid and I m sure sounds the same. You could even rename it the A D Ford

  3. #3
    Join Date: Oct 2016

    Location: London

    Posts: 313
    I'm David.

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    Quote Originally Posted by tapid View Post
    Nice one David. Sure looks splendid and I m sure sounds the same. You could even rename it the A D Ford

  4. #4
    Join Date: Mar 2016

    Location: Barnet, london UK

    Posts: 2,146
    I'm Adam.

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    Had the pleasure of a dem on these yesterday.
    I run an STA25 at home and these have the sweetness of the original STA range but have the power and
    effortless push in abundance. These are very exciting amplifiers indeed.
    Well done David a real accomplishment.

    options, options....

    "lack of passion is fatal"


    Vinyl: Thorens TD-124mk2 / SME-312 Aluminium 'special' / SME M2-9R / STEREO: Etsuro Urushi Cobalt / Shure M3D / Ortofon SPU A95 / Cartridge Man Music Master / Shure - SC35C (US) / SAEC C3 MC MONO: Miyajima Zero B 0.7mil mono / Miyajima Premium 1.0 / Amps & SUTs: Radford STA25 mk3 / AD Audio 'Satchmo2' pre & LCR phono / Hashimoto HM-7 SUT / ETR-MONO SUT Digital: Audio Note 4.1 (with DAC5 upgrades) DAC / Roon / Tidal Speakers: Tannoy 12" MGs' in RFC custom 'Rutland' Cabinets with RFC crossovers / Tannoy ST-100 Super Tweeters Cables: LFD Grainless phono / RFC Mercury / Duelund DCA16GA tinned copper / Kimber 12TC / SW1X Audio Design USB-SPdif / Duelund DCA20GA interconnects / SW1X Audio SPDIF Aero 6 / Mains Power Conditioner / Box Furniture rack / Audiodesk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner / a very beautiful & understanding Wife!

  5. #5
    Join Date: Oct 2016

    Location: London

    Posts: 313
    I'm David.

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    For those who like to look under the boinnet. This was before a wiring tidy up but you'll get the picture.......
    The amps are completely silent in operation.

  6. #6
    Join Date: Jun 2010

    Location: London, UK

    Posts: 391

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    Looks very interesting David. If you ever decided to tri-amp the speakers you could retire your Central Heating boiler.
    Paul.

  7. #7
    Join Date: Oct 2016

    Location: London

    Posts: 313
    I'm David.

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    Quote Originally Posted by flapland View Post
    Looks very interesting David. If you ever decided to tri-amp the speakers you could retire your Central Heating boiler.

  8. #8
    Join Date: May 2016

    Location: Notts

    Posts: 2,741
    I'm Geoff.

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    I am sure that these sound awesome but is there a reason for one of the transformers being at a slight angle? It seems that you have a nut under the flange of one transformer.

    Out of interest, what would a pair of these cost?

  9. #9
    Join Date: Oct 2016

    Location: London

    Posts: 313
    I'm David.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sherwood View Post
    I am sure that these sound awesome but is there a reason for one of the transformers being at a slight angle? It seems that you have a nut under the flange of one transformer.

    Out of interest, what would a pair of these cost?
    The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed there's no knobs either at that time The transformers are mounted on silicon blocks. Cost is really determined by the chassis. I used my last Cannonball chassis from that production run for these but think around £4,500 and it won't be far out.

  10. #10
    Audio Al is offline Pishanto Specialist & Super-Daftee
    Join Date: May 2012

    Location: Dagenham Essex

    Posts: 11,215
    I'm Allen.

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    Quote Originally Posted by AD Audio View Post
    The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed there's no knobs either at that time The transformers are mounted on silicon blocks. Cost is really determined by the chassis. I used my last Cannonball chassis from that production run for these but think around £4,500 and it won't be far out.
    I'm here

    Serious amp building going om here
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