Jimbos Audio ramblings

[Jimbo]

My very first interest in hifi and indeed my first actual hifi system started in 1976-1977. I had until that date been using the family all in one Bush record player which must have destroyed every single I played on it as I can never remember the stylus ever being changed! I was still at school at the time and getting more and more interested in music. Any of us around at that time were indeed lucky as the music coming out in the early to late seventies was just fantastic. My first singles were usually from bands like Mud or Showaddywaddy, how embarrassing but it was in 1976 I first got to hear a Pink Floyd record. Wish You Were here. I heard it played on cassette outside the school canteen and my life changed forever.

At that time I was becoming aware of audio equipment as I saw advertisements in magazines. It all looked super cool gear but I didn't understand it or what it did. I knew what a pair of speakers were and I understood a turntable but what did and amplifier do. What was a switch that said Aux/Tuner/Phono mean and what did it do. I understood bass and treble as we had those on an old radiogram but how a separate amplifier worked was beyond me. However all was soon to change when I bought my very first amplifier off a friends dad.

It was a Prinzsound SA 1001 Solid State Integrated Amplifier. This was the coolest thing I had ever bought but I wasn't sure how it worked or what you hooked up to what. My Hifi journey started with this one piece of kit even though I did not own any speakers or a turntable at the time but my days as an audiophile had begun. And this amplifier is still going strong and is used by another member of the family.

Prinzsound SA 1001 Integrated amplifier sold by Dixons UK and I think as a Monach amplifier in Europe. It was built in Japan between I think 1969 and 1976 and produced 10 watts into 8ohms.

07152951-0183-40BB-8491-25A45212D93A by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/162281319@N03/]

[Firebottle]

Ooh the mix of rotary and slider controls never really did it for me.

Looks old fashioned now, though I do still have an amplifier from that era, an 'Albany House' AM-108 with a slider balance control.



All of 16W at 1% distortion!

[Jimbo]

I like the fact that amplifiers from this era still distinguished themselves as Solid State just so you knew you were getting all new technology and not those old fashioned valve things!

[Macca]

Prinzsound - yes, I used to have this one



solid state y'all

[struth]

dixons??

[Jimbo]

A few users on the net think they sound pretty good. I am not so sure.

I think they did a Prinzsound SA 5001 with massive 30 watts per Chanel. Original selling price was £34. I bought mine for £14 second hand but it was still fairly new back then!

[Macca]

dixons??

Yes but I got mine from Richer Sounds second hand for twenty quid. Sleeve was knackered but I sanded it and stained it dark oak, looked a lot better than with the stock light colour wood. Sleeve is actually veneered chipboard IIRC.

[Jimbo]

Yes but I got mine from Richer Sounds second hand for twenty quid. Sleeve was knackered but I sanded it and stained it dark oak, looked a lot better than with the stock light colour wood. Sleeve is actually veneered chipboard IIRC.

I didn't know Richer sounds went back that far?

[struth]

I didn't know Richer sounds went back that far?

late 70's

[Macca]

I didn't know Richer sounds went back that far?

I bought it late 1980s but as I said it was second hand. Back then Richer did trade in and had a second hand section. Or at least the Liverpool one did.