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Hafler preamps - good, not so good, and history?

Been away from audio for some time. Pretty well missed the 80s. Been intrigued by just hearing that there was a Hafler company (RIP Mr. Hafler) after Dyna went out of business.

I've been Googling in vain for a concise history of the company's home audio days. I found their current website and downloaded all the PDF preamp manuals they had, but it is not complete.

Is such a history available? Is there a consensus on the "best of Hafler" especially preamps (I'm thinking of getting one since the prices are so attractive). There's a few for sale here, and an Iris on eBay I'm watching.

My own Dyna Stereo 120 finally gave up the ghost (replaced w/an Adcom 545 mkII), and my PAT 4 preamp is showing signs of terminal illness. I'm both cheap and sentimental, you see...
bcoppola

Showing 2 responses by james_edward

james_edward
125 posts
 
I have had a Hafler preamp, amps (DH... & DH...), and I loved the sound, but would never buy a Hafler preamp now.
After a short period (1 year and on), every Hafler preamp in my circle of friends ( 3 or 4 of us) developed noisy, damn near explosive switching.
If you forgot to turn the volume down when engaging the various switches, you would be reminded in a noisy, kaboom, pick your adjective kind of way.
In my somewhat limited opinion, they had good sound, but lousy switches, pots, etc.
james_edward
125 posts
 
I guess I should also add that I owned the Adcom 565, and it had none of the issues I talked about regarding the Hafler preamps. I recently sold the 565 and at 14 years old, still had no switch or other noise.
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