Friday Update

  I've said it before, but I really am sorry that I haven't been posting recently (Lance Armstrong didn't count). I can't use the work excuse. The time I would ordinarily spend pursuing equipment to play with, photograph and write about has been spent listening to music on a system that's stayed pretty stable for weeks. The Marantz 1200 left the system briefly so I could check out the Sony TA-F6B (which is here and as good as I'd hoped). It's back (after having the relay replaced, the only component that hadn't been restored) and excellent. The Sony & the Marantz are both amps I could live with happily for a long time. The Technics SL-1400 has been reliable, rock solid and trouble free, and the SAE high output moving coil cartridge has continued to sound better (after the break in period of 40 hours, a friend told me I'd hear another improvement at around 150 hours, and he was right). I've been mostly listening to my Mission Argonaut Reference speakers, and taking my time deciding what might be next. Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience.

I took down Lance because I got tired of looking at his smug face. I'll have new equipment to tell you about soon, I think.

Ortofon 445s first photo.

  I've learned more about these wonderful speakers. They were top of the line when introduced (sometime between 1975 & 1977) in North America, and cost a staggering $700/pair back then (adjusting for inflation, they'd be over $2,500 today!). The woofers are aperiodically vented. The crossover and all drivers are by Scanspeak. The speakers were available in walnut or rosewood veneer. These are rosewood. Most file photos and descriptions I found suggest that the front baffles are simulated woodgrain. This pair has real rosewood veneer front baffles.   These are much nicer than yesterday's file photo, and sound very good.

Just revived! Mission 780s circa 2001

  I described and raved about these speakers last year, when I installed new woofers in a friend's pair.
  There was one huge problem with this speaker line when released. According to Frank Fabian at The Speaker Shop, the Keraform woofers were assembled with a poorly chosen adhesive that actually corrodes copper (leads and voice coils). The woofers had failed before I bought them, and if yours haven't, rest assured, they will! After much searching (and some blind luck) I found the correct replacements, made in 2011 with silver wiring, and heavier magnets. They're brand new, and sound fantastic.

The Sony TA-F6B is here!

Updated with better photo.    It sounds great. My pictures don't do it justice today (very flat light). It's a beautiful piece. Dark silver, with lighter machined aluminum knobs (all with set screws) and engraved white lettering. The VU meters work perfectly (everything works perfectly), but need bulbs (which, if they're the same type as in the TA-F5, will be very hard to find).
  This is a much beefier amp than the TA-F5, and quite heavy, despite the lightweight pulse power supply. I'm very happy.

   The Vintage Knob link here.

I've been looking for one of these since I had the TA-F5 in 2009, and the TA-F4 in 2011. In pictures, I don't find it as beautiful as the lower powered ones, with their centred VU meters, and silver faceplates, but it should sound even better than they do, and that's saying a lot!

Just arrived. NAD 3120. Harman Kardon Citation 17.

Update: NAD dead, returning to whence it came.
Further update: Ditto HK Citation preamp.

Denon PMA-830 photos.

From The Vintage Knob:

  Apparently, the looks of the series turned a few customers away... way too serious looking, especially considering the period during which these were introduced. But once you let any of these warm up - bang !... you'd almost wonder what hifi did do for the past thirty years to bring you a better music reproduction ; hook it to a decent LP turntable and you really start wondering.

I couldn't have said it better!

Check out the incredible history of Denon.

Just look at that transformer! The controls have that super silky (expensive) feel. It has a serious, lab equipment vibe that I find irresistible. In class A, driving the Mission Argonaut Reference speakers, with vinyl or digital, it's sounding very, very good.

B&W DM580 update.

The B&W DM580s remind me why older vintage audio gear makes me so happy. It's not that they don't sound good...they do. Compared to older B&Ws that I've enjoyed (these, these, these & these), they leave me a bit cold.

  I know, these are from the late eighties, but they're part of the continuum of B&W engineering and design that flowed through the seventies, like the Matrix series. It's my duty to check them out carefully, so I will. They've been sounding good since yesterday afternoon, but today I'm going to turn off the computer and spend time with my favourite vinyl, and try to really get a sense of them.

Referring to this incredible translation, I learned that the midrange dome is titanium, the tweeter aluminum.