Valve experiences (1976 to 1987) The golden years? Err no, not necessarily!

[Neil McCauley]

Following a kind invitation by Marco, for which I thank him …….

A potted history of my exposure to, and my reactions to various valve amps between 1976 and 1988.

First exposure:

1976. Dave Berriman’s house. QUAD 57’s propped up on chairs, driven by a Radford ST-25 with a Linn / Grace / Supex. Probably a Radford pre too. Can’t remember. Heard Joan Armatrading singing ‘Willow’. Truly thought I was going to faint with the sheer majesty of the sound. She was in the room singing to me. Couldn’t see her though.

Me selling my first valve amplification:

Met the mercurial Antony Michaelson and his then business partner Mr. Austin. Attempted a hard sell on me. No need though because the majesty of the TVA-1 spoke for itself. Not the first time Mr. Michaelson misread me. Odd for such a perceptive man. Concluded I must have been giving out odd signals.

Soon became his UK #1 retailer. Noted that no two units sounded identical – but they all sounded great. Sold the TVA-1 Export too. Can’t remember if there was any true improvement over the standard version. Reliably was intermittently bad, or intermittently good – depending on your standpoint.

Started selling the TVA preamp. Dreadful. Build quality was shoddy. Relationship now coming to its inevitable end.

Enter please, Mr. Bill Beard:

Terrific power amps. Selling 3 a week at one point. P100 Stereo a minor classic. P100 monos a bona-fide full classic. Wonderful sound, beyond my powers of description. Stood comparison with anything from ARC and CJ at that point. And reliable too. The baby Beard P35 was just great.

Start using his pre amp. History repeating itself I think. Not very good at all. At least it didn’t fall apart! Seem to recall Mr. B and his company selling out to one of the McAlpine directors from the construction company of the same name – pending a re-launch. Can’t recall what happened after that.

Concluded that UK makers knew sod-all about designing state-of-the-art valve preamps. Power amps though, an entirely different situation.

Morning Crescent becomes a battleground, and me an unwitting pawn.

My shop Subjective Audio (2 Camden High Street) becomes the chosen site for repeated duelling between Absolute Sound (importers of Audio Research) and Automation Sciences – importers of Conrad Johnson. Ricardo really doesn’t want me to sell CJ. “It’s sheeeeet my friend” I believe Ricardo said. Jakob (Jacob?) Zelinger of Automation Sciences appears unconcerned at this point.

Position complicated by me being for Ricardo, Europe #1 for Krell, Magneplanar and Apogee and for Zelinger, Europe #1 for Burmester.

Considerable initial unreliability with ARC and CJ catalyses a cynicism re the benefits of selling (as distinct from listening to) valve gear from the USA.

Sell Douglas Adams (Hitchhikers Guide …) a £56k system in 1987. Magneplanar Tympani driven by ARC M-300 monoblocks and SP11. After hernia-inducing struggle with monster power amps (£10k the pair), they blow up as soon as they are switched on. Douglas very gracious. Me seriously pissed off, wondering why I didn’t sell him Meridian instead. Got it sorted eventually. Truly outstanding sound. Despite this, faith in valve gear not restored at all.

CJ versus ARC part #2:

Through my adored Magneplanar MG3a speakers and the respected rather than loved Apogee Scintillas, quickly discover that the mid range via the CJ units driven by CJ pre amps are greatly superior to ARC, but the CJ bass is soggy compared to the ARC. Zelinger agrees. Ricardo doesn’t.

Quickly discover the ARC SP11 is the most musical satisfying preamp I had ever heard, other than the Mark Levinson ML6a.

The die is cast. I give up selling ARC power amps and simultaneously give up selling Krell preamp because an ARC pre (any of their range) into any Krell power amp is instant and consistent magic. Ricardo seems perplexed. Wants me (naturally) to sell Krell preamps and ARC power amps. I resist. He seems happy with the increasingly massive payments though.

CJ limps on with me, but I sense Jakob is loosing his grip and/or enthusiasm. Eventually CJ sales dwindle to nothing with me.

Enter stage left, Mr. Tim Paravachini

I never dealt with this unusual individual. However to my dismay I discover that when up against his EAR mono valve power amps (509s I think) my Krells just don’t do it. They are more powerful, certainly – but they just don’t ‘communicate’ like the EAR amps do.

Err, now what?

CJ is now a non starter, no confidence in ARC power amps, Bill Beard is somewhere on a boat (apparently) in the Bahamas, and I have no valve power amps in my suite of tools. Oops. Antony Michaelson at this point is no longer in the valve business. Musical Fidelity is starting to get into its stride, so I go with that. Still no valves though.

History repeats itself – checkmate:

For some reason I neglect on this occasion to find out, prior to visiting a potential customer’s home, what equipment he was using. Stupidity or oversight. No matter though, because the experience proved pivotal re my valve retailing experience. Off I trundle to Putney Hill, Cortina Estate loaded to breaking point with allegedly state-of-the-art pre and power amps.

Entered the house and truly thought there was a string quartet playing somewhere in the house.

I enter the room. Quads and Radford, just like Dave Berriman’s set up all those years previously. And a Linn too. this time with a Mission arm with a wooden arm tube and a Supex SD-901 (surely one of the World’s great cartridges?). I don't even bother to unload my gear. No point at all. I explain why. The majesty of sound cannot, through what I have to offer, be improved. Customer, and not for the first time, seems amazed by my candour. Why lie, I wonder? Checkmate.

Which means that …

I , in 1986 face a dilemma. From a reliability standpoint, and a product inconsistency standpoint, I’ve had enough with valves. I’ve had it up to here (visualise my hand as far above my head as I can reach) On the other hand, done right, the quality of sound via valve amps is unsurpassed. Unusually for me, I fudge it.

I retain the SP11 for demo purposes, and everything else is either solid state or active speakers. And I check every customer to see if they are using a QUAD / Radford combo, or EAR power amps. If they have, then I politely decline the invitation to a home demo. And then I wonder what happened to Radford.

I then go into audio retailing limbo until 2005. My valve experiences after that, will follow on this forum in due course. In a nutshell though, my cynicism re valves is slowly but surely confounded, rather than compounded from 2005.

Hope you enjoyed that!

I'm off to Fairford Air Show on Saturday. Planes to carry weapons designed to kill people. That's really what it's all about.

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[NRG]

And this (IMHO) is the answer to the 'Why buy Vintage' thread....

I enter the room. Quads and Radford, just like Dave Berriman’s set up all those years previously. And a Linn too. this time with a Mission arm with a wooden arm tube and a Supex SD-901 (surely one of the World’s great cartridges?). I don even bother to unload my gear. No point at all. I explain why. The majesty of sound cannot, through what I have to offer, be improved. Checkmate.

[John]

Great piece Howard. Notice you just sarted selling valve based equipment again. Do you think reliability issues sorted I got a SAC Glowmaster and had no issues accept at start which was due to me and not the amp
Ps great story about the late Douglas Adams

[Neil McCauley]

Great piece Howard. Notice you just sarted selling valve based equipment again. Do you think reliability issues sorted I got a SAC Glowmaster and had no issues accept at start which was due to me and not the amp
Ps great story about the late Douglas Adams

As for reliability, too early to tell for me. Just re-entered the valve world by taking on Manley. Considering they picked me rather than anyone else in England, I'm rather pleased. Nothing gone wrong so far. Terrific sound. So i've invested a few grand in 2 more pieces, the 300B preamp and the Steelhead.

Re reliability, back in the 1980s I looked at valve amps like I looked at the Lotus Esprit Turbo. Great performance, but not every day! Better own two, if you can afford to, rather than one!

Looking back on the great sounding and unreliable valve amps of years gone by caused me to remember my own experiences with an Alfa 166 Super. Why the f**k didn't Alfa get Toyota to build the damn thing?

Bye for now.

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[Mike]

Fascinating and entertaining stuff - Brilliant!

[Ali Tait]

Howard,interesting stuff! Relevant commentary on great-sounding commercial stuff that costs a bloody fortune and lasts five minutes.Yet another reason to DIY IMHO.I built a 300b PSE WAD kit amp several years ago,and it gave totally trouble-free service all the time I had it,despite all the tweaks I did.I now have a commercial Chinese 845 amp,which again has given trouble-free service despite all my tweaking for over a year now,and sounds superb.Your comments on the Alfa 166 confound me however.I had a 166 Lusso for several years.I can honestly say it was the best and most reliable car I've ever owned,and I've owned a few makes. Given I average around 50k a year,I reckon I've a good idea of which make of car is reliable.I bought it at four years old,and eventually scrapped it with just over 250,000 miles on the clock.It was still in excellent nick and ran just fine,and still had it's original exhaust and clutch! All the electrics still worked,and amazingly it had no rust at all.It was in need of a new clutch unsurprisingly,and a few other things which came to more than it was worth.So I scrapped it.No-one would have bought it with those miles on.I still miss it though.It was a superb driving machine IMHO.It put a grin on my face every time I drove it.Clarkson had it right in this instance,in that you can't call yourself a petrolhead until you've owned an Alfa Maybe I just got lucky?

Regards,Ali.

[shane]

I'm just waiting for the day when Peter C gets round to reviving Radford.

[Neil McCauley]

I'm just waiting for the day when Peter C gets round to reviving Radford.

BUT ........ Can a revival really, really recapture the original magic?

Dr Bews (LFD), who knows a thing or two about this told me that in his view, based on observation and experience, the original sound of any amp, including his can ONLY be totally recaptured if the components used are the original ones rather than modern replacements. He includes even the solder in this observation. IMHO - a guru devoid of bullshit.

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[Mike]

A fascinating observation Howard, BUT, if I was wiling to put money on anyone reviving a brand with some success, it would be on Peter C.

On the few occasions I've dealt with him I can certainly say he is nothing but a true gentleman. I cannot imagine for a moment that he would revive the name of Radford unless he was able to do true justice to the name.

Just MHO of course.

[Mike Reed]

I echo Mike's comments, Howard. Wonderful brief history of early hifi retailing.

You mentioned T. de P. and his 509, but did you sell it, or simply audition it against Krell? They do have a reasonable reliability record, I believe, c.f. the other (U.S.) stuff you mentioned.

You stir my memory banks with 'Mornington Crescent' and 'Camden Town'. The latter, Chalk Farm and 'Appy 'Ampstead were where I lived in the sixties, during which period I worked for Laskys, and bought a Heathkit 12 inch speaker kit from nearly opposite in Tott. Ct. Rd. Great times.