Why buy Vintage?

[lurcher]

I can't remember the exact weight, but its only just a one man lift. they was built for a chum with large electrostatics (er audio kits) and his surname was Topps, hence the name. He did the woodwork and metalwork on that one, and I did the design and build.

More pictures here

http://www.lurcher.org/nick/images/gm70/

They sound good on the statics, a bit of an overkill for normal speakers that would be used with SETs (they produce about 40W) . Marco heard them on Colins statics at Owsten I think.

[purite audio]

Nick Hi, I ask because my speakers need a bit of current to sound at their best, I am just waiting for these to arrive,

These are 50 watt double parallel single ended, it would be interesting to hear yours.

[Filterlab]

Nick Hi, I ask because my speakers need a bit of current to sound at their best, I am just waiting for these to arrive,

These are 50 watt double parallel single ended, it would be interesting to hear yours.

Now that is one heck of an amplifier.

[Mr. C]

Nice construction and use of material Nick, makes a pleasant change to see some-one who actually thinks out the WHOLE project from start to completion.

[RobHolt]

The problem I find with SS driving statics is unless the amp has a very refined top end the panels will reveal the hardness in the top.

Only applicable to SS amps with a distortion problem, crossover usually, or poor HF stability.
Most SS amps don't suffer from these problems and shouldn't sound hard.

[purite audio]

I agree it's not the hardness of SS it's the dullness .

[Togil]

Do you mean dull as in lack of treble or as in lack of excitement ? ( or both ! )

[purite audio]

If you have efficient speakers, a good valve amp has life , dynamics and presence that solid state cannot come close to, my ASR Emitter for example wasn't harsh or strident but with the horns it just sounded so dull and lifeless.

[greenhomeelectronics]

Ok, I am going to be Mr Predictable here and say categorically that vintage wins nearly every time (Rob's point about synthesised music is a good one, you can't expect 30 year old speakers to handle modern day 20 Hz bass)
The thing is manufacturers now build down to a price where they used to build up to a standard. Consumer demand, in the mainstream at least, drives prices down. People now live in smaller houses, this demands smaller units. You can't have top notch hi fi at under 100 quid where the whole lot fits in a shoe box. That leaves the specialist kit that few people can afford, unless you buy older stuff. As you know, we sell a lot of older stuff, mainly from mainstream manufacturers. It never ceases to amaze me how good some of this stuff sounds when you get the combination of input device (cd,turntable orwhatever) amplifier, speaker and room right. Given that you can get so much more for your money, vintage gets my vote every time. Except I would sell one of my kidneys to get hold of one of those Allnics, looks stunning :-)

[Beechwoods]

Boards Of Canada on a Nagra R-R sounds fantastic. How it should sound in my opinion! Some electronic music works well with old gear I think