View Single Post
  #2   Report Post  
Posted to rec.audio.high-end
Peter Wieck[_2_] Peter Wieck[_2_] is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 137
Default Eastern Electric Minimax Pre and Quad 520f - a marriage made in heaven?

For that kind of $$, I would expect it to take out the trash each day and walk the dogs every week.

The bad:

a) 2V output, max. Sure most amps will deliver full power at 2V. Sustained voltage above 2V will cause clipping. But, if one listens to music with a P/A approaching 20 dB, you will be hard pressed to find a sweet spot between too loud and too soft. And if you by any chance have examples of 30 dB P/A (Saint-Seans Organ Symphony) it will be impossible. There is a much longer explanation of headroom, clipping a instantaneous peaks - but I will spare you.

b) No Phono stage. And...

c) ... only three inputs in any case.

d) Made in China.

Bluntly, I do not see any upside to this device, and pretty much any vintage but properly maintained Dynaco PAS device would run rings around it. And that is really diving to the bottom of the food chain. A fully tweaked PAS-3X would relegate this to a blacksmith shop.

Rule 1 of purchasing audio equipment: Unless you have the opportunity to listen to THAT item in your home for some sustained period of time, pay no more for it than you are willing to toss in the trash. And, if a device from an unknown (to you) supplier that comes from a long distance and has no live _LOCAL_ support, RUN, do not walk away.

Rule 2 - when in doubt, look at rule 1.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA