The Marco-boy main system, as of August 2020

[Marco]

For me, good customer service is epitomised far more by a seller offering to issue you with a full refund, with no qualms whatsoever (and without entering into the nightmare of claiming from the insurance), if what you've bought gets lost in the post, even when it's not his fault!

Marco.

[Marco]

Well, at LONG, LONG last my new cartridge and SUT are here!!!!

And they've arrived safe and sound and in perfect condition... The box for the cartridge still even has its original cellophane wrapping - it's untouched and PROPER NOS!

With the light fading though, it's a bit too late in the day to start fitting cartridges, so that'll be a job for tomorrow, but I'll be giving the SUT a spin later with my stock vintage 103.

More feedback later!

Marco.

[kininigin]

Nice one Marco, you certainly have been busy lately with lots of new toys to play with. Enjoy ��

[DarrenHW]

Woohoo

[The Black Adder]

Well, at LONG, LONG last my new cartridge and SUT are here!!!!

And they've arrived safe and sound and in perfect condition... The box for the cartridge still even has its original cellophane wrapping - it's untouched and PROPER NOS!

With the light fading though, it's a bit too late in the day to start fitting cartridges, so that'll be a job for tomorrow, but I'll be giving the SUT a spin later with my stock vintage 103.

More feedback later!

Marco.

Splendid... Can't wait for your opinion.

[Marco]

Cheers, Guys... As you may guess from the time of this post, I've been up late listening to music, so I guess that says it all!

Yes, the SUT is excellent and pretty much everything I'd remembered it to be. It doesn't trounce the Lentek, but simply presents an alternative 'take' on the music. It may not be just quite as ballsy and up front as the latter, but the midrange is more open and textured, and the bass seems to be a little deeper and more rhythmic, with increased 'boogie factor'.

It certainly allows music to motor along in an informative and fun way! I'm also finding that it gets better the longer a signal is running through it, which I've found before with transformers, in that they sound better after 'warming up', so yes I'm delighted with the SUT, and the good thing is that unlike with the Lentek you're not worrying about batteries!

Darren, I think you'll like it

Marco.

[Marco]

Ok, here's something you might not have considered me buying, but I'd always thought of having a compact, but high-quality SS power amp, as back up for the Copper amp, which will drive the Tannoys no problem, but crucially preserve valve life (also save electricity, as the copper amp runs hot operating in Class A), when listening to music for extended periods, especially during parties, etc...

So, I'll be welcoming this little chap to the fold soon, and what a nice clean example it is:







I note that there are a few mods that can be done to these amps, to make them even better, so will in due course be having a play with that. However in the meantime will just be enjoying it for what it is - it'll certainly be interesting comparing it with the Copper amp.

I'm not expecting it to compete with it, that would be ridiculous, but simply provide a more than adequate quality of sound to facilitate the occasions mentioned above, and I'm confident it will fulfil that role nicely... Full report when it arrives!

Right, folks, I'm off to bed...

Marco.

[struth]

Good amps the 306's. Geoff has a nice one too.

[walpurgis]

Good amps the 306's. Geoff has a nice one too.

It's a great choice as a back-up amp Marco (or as a main amplifier in many systems, as it's surprisingly capable).

[Marco]

Cheers, Granty. It'll be the first SS amp I've owned in about 13 years!

I've always wanted a back-up power amp, even should anything happen with the Copper amp, especially now, as Anthony's 170-odd miles away, and with lockdown restrictions, who knows how long it'd be until I can visit him?

Plus, a VERY long time ago (Darren will laugh here), he came round to mine and spent considerable time routing a dedicated pair of speaker cables from the hi-fi/music room upstairs, under the floorboards and down through the ceiling into the lounge, so that I could listen to my main system through the Celestions downstairs...

Remember that, Dazza? It'll be somewhere in the dusty recesses of your memory banks!

Therefore, I don't want to 'waste' the valves in the Copper amp, baring in mind that the driver valves along are £150 a pop, when listening to music in that way for extended periods of time, especially over Christmas. Yes, sometimes I will use the Copper amp, but not all the time.

So when I browsing ebay yesterday this 306 popped up, and looked minty (I only ever buy mint condition used gear, that's been well looked after) for £285, it seemed ideal for the job! And... It's tweakable!

Marco.