I've no idea who built your amplifier but there were a few ccommercial units on the market. The one I'm familiar with is the Heathkit AA-1800 which was an amplifier with excellent performance.
Leach Super Amp
Good evening.
A friend of mine has recently inherited a pair of mono power amps, almost like rack mountable, with a big heat sink in the back and measuring 4-5in. tall. They feature a black faceplate, wooden sides and have TheLeachSuperAmp written on the face plate.
I did a little research on the Internet and found that this is a DIY design of professor Leach at the Georgia Institute of Technology, but the pieces I saw look like they were made by a company and definitely not in someone's garage. There are also no reviews or consumer information that I was able to find.
If you by any chance have any information that you can share, I would be grateful.
Thank you and best regards.
A friend of mine has recently inherited a pair of mono power amps, almost like rack mountable, with a big heat sink in the back and measuring 4-5in. tall. They feature a black faceplate, wooden sides and have TheLeachSuperAmp written on the face plate.
I did a little research on the Internet and found that this is a DIY design of professor Leach at the Georgia Institute of Technology, but the pieces I saw look like they were made by a company and definitely not in someone's garage. There are also no reviews or consumer information that I was able to find.
If you by any chance have any information that you can share, I would be grateful.
Thank you and best regards.
7 responses Add your response
As you've probably seen from his profile at Georgia Tech's website, Professor W. Marshall Leach, Jr., is a highly distinguished academician in the field of electrical engineering. Around 1980 he had his own company, "LSR&D, Inc." which manufactured The Leach Superamp monoblock amplifiers ($1598 per pair, at that time), and also a lesser stereo model. They were reviewed by Peter Aczel in "The Audio Critic" vol. 2 no. 3, Spring through Fall, 1980. That was well before Mr. Aczel went over to the dark side and adopted the belief that all amplifiers meeting certain basic criteria sound the same. He named the Superamp "the best-sounding high-powered amplifier tested so far, regardless of price." If you wish, contact me through Audiogon and I'll email to you a scan of the review. Regards, -- Al |
Thanks Al for sending me the review. It was pretty interesting. Does anyone have the Leach Superamps still and care to share their thoughts about them? I believe I found a pair by me and am considering them. I've always been curious about vintage or higher end monoblock amps for 2 channel music enjoyment but I currently have a newly restored Threshold 400A and my system sounds good to my ears. I'd have to part with the 400A for the Leach power amps. I don't know if I want to do that. Thanks and advise when you can. |
Not sure what you have , but i have heard leach based amplifiers before and the sound and stability was fantastic for the era. Since it was an open circuit, available to DIY , most builds are not the same so I'm not sure my comments would be the same for your amplifier. I would give them a shot !!!!! |
Many thanks Rleff, Don_c55, & Weseixas for your thoughts. I'm definitely going to audition the Leach LSR&D monoblocks in the store and even push for an in home audition. The seller wants $975 for the pair since they are in near mint condition with newly installed teflon RCA jacks and speaker terminals. I really don't want to buy them and end up not liking the sound. They are quite heavy and I'd have a hard time selling and shipping them. I'm pushing my luck. I purchased a Sumo Nine + for my 2nd system from this same store without an audition. Luckily it integrated well in my 2nd system. I'll try to haggle on the price if I decide to buy the Leach super amps. Thanks again. JD |
