Vintage tube guys


I was an SS guy till not that long ago on vintage Klipsch Lascala's. (now with Duelund VSF and CAST caps)

After hearing a Fisher x101d and it blowing the doors off my SS pre and amp that was a $10k (new) combo. I kept the SS system for a few months thinking I would have second thoughts. Bought some more Fishers (after taking out the output transformer in the x101d) 500c x101st and x202 none have sounded as good as the x101d (do not know on the x202 as it is being fixed right now) but all better then my SS.

My question is you do not hear much from say Marantz 7c Fisher 400c guys etc. Are they happy? I was in Audio la la land till the output transformer went. Amp was so quiet I could hear around instruments!

The Marantz goes for big $ is that becuase collectible or sound reasons? Not much talk about them either? Is that because how can you be excited over 50yr old gear!

I am thinking about Fisher 400c or 400CX, CX-2. Any happy owners out there?
volleyguy
I do not consider myself a Vintage guy, but my refrence at the moment are a pair of monoblock LeakTL12 0.1 amps, I have tried a LOT and I mean a lot of tube amps, vintage and current. I cannot say vintage is always better but some vintage models are really hard to beat once they are brought to date.
They do need a lot of parts changed to start sounding properly. I have changed all resistors for Caddocks mainly and all signal caps for Mundorf Silver-gold. the Power supply caps are the original paper in oil.
I have compared these amps to a lot of current amps also and I always liked them better.
Designs in tube amps dont really change that much, the quality of parts is important and point to point wiring, etc.

I also have a couple of Fisher amps somewhere on my closet and have tired some others, let me tell you IMHO the Fisher X100 (or X101) with the EL84 tubes is the best one.

Check out Mapleshade Audio web page...
I have vintage amps in my system - but while I have worked on more vintage amps than I care to think about, I have really very little romantic attachment to them as collector's items, or because of their past. I use them because they're better than any of the modern amps that I've used with my system.

I will say that many times, the amount of effort required to make a vintage piece truly work as well as it when it was new . . . this can be a very tedious endavour, even for a skilled and experienced technician. For example, it was pretty straightforward to get my Marantz Model 2s to "work" again . . . but to make them really come alive required lots of time measuring (sometimes out-of-circuit) EVERY resistor and capacitor to make absolutely sure they were all within tolerance . . . many had drifted. Some irreplaceable switches and potentiometers had to be removed, disassembled, cleaned, and rebuilt, and then within the first 20-30 hours of operation some extremely subtle noises became audible just above the noise floor -- these turned out to be a few solder connections that had developed tiny cracks after 50 or so years of heat/cool cycles.

So when I hear people turn their nose up at the performance potential of vintage audio gear, it reminds me a bit of those who think that all 1950s and 1960s American cars handle poorly . . . you have to absolutely eliminate every trace of the decades of deterioration before making your conclusions - and there are lots of shiney hot-rods with rebuilt engines and beautiful bodywork . . . and old, worn-out vintage suspension.
Thanks very much Kirkus!

Kind of what I thought. I have wondered that with my 500c a tiny crack in the solder I expect. Just a slight noise above the noise floor.

I can understand the turning of the noses. Of the 5 Fishers I have all sound different if one had the worse one they might turn their nose. The best one just shocked me!

Give me a whole new appreciation of vintage.
I collect vintage have yet to find a old tube or SS amp as good as the ones built in the last 15 years or so. Owned a fischer 500c had the best tubes in it was completely rebuilt by a fischer pro sounded fine not great phone pre was lame. Cool stuff but if performance is your goal. I would look elsewhere. Still I use some vintage just for fun not because its the best choice for performance and yes the stuff I use is in working order stock or upgraded tried much. Have a marantz altec system I listen to have gear from 1895 up. Want some? Starting to pile up;)