[Audio Empire]

On Sat, 26 Mar 2011 12:56:28 -0700, Harry Lavo wrote
(in article ):

"Audio Empire" wrote in message
...
We all assume that today's new equipment is so much better than
yesterday's.
New materials, improved technology, better components; all conspire to
give
us levels of performance unheard of a generation ago. Certainly that's
true
with speakers, today's CD players certainly outperform those of the mid
'80's, Today's phono cartridges are better than those of vinyl's heyday,
as
are arms, and to a certain extent, turntables. But what about electronics?
Of
course they're better, they just have to be. Better circuits, better
capacitors, better resistors, modern output devices etc. Well, I had that
smug conviction badly shaken recently.

An audiophile buddy of mine called to say that he had a couple of "new"
acquisitions that he wanted my opinion of. When he showed-up, I was
somewhat
amused. His "new" equipment consisted of a pair of MONO Eico HF-20
integrated
amplifiers from the 1950s.

snip

I could happily live with them as my main system if
coupled to a decent pair of high-efficiency speakers. My friend plays them
through a pair of recently acquired Warfedale W60Ds with a vintage Thorens
TD-150 turntable/arm and a Sumiko Blue-Point Special cartridge. I'll bet
the
combo sounds marvelous. I almost envy him.

Ah, memories! This was the first kit amp I built, and the one that got me
through my last year of high school and four years of college. In those
days it drove at first an EV SP-15 in a bass reflex cabinet and later a
Jensen 15" Tri-Ax in a corner horn (both cabinets hand built). Coupled with
an Eico FM Tuner and a Garrad changer with an (exotic) Norelco mono
cartridge, it was a pretty decent beginning to my audio involvement.


Yes, it would have been. What model Garrard turntable did you have? Mine was
a "Type A" with a Pickering Cartridge. I also had an Eico FM tuner (HFT-90)
and it was an excellent performer as I recall. It didn't have AFC, and yet it
didn't drift appreciably. I didn't need really high sensitivity because I
lived in the "prime reception" area in the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC.
And because FM stations were much further apart geographically then than they
are now (and there weren't so many of them), selectivity wasn't of great
importance either. But I do recall that the thing had very wide bandwidth
(designed for SCA) so that when stereo FM came along in '62, the addition of
a Knight-Kit stereo demodulator kit gave excellent stereo performance. That
tuner and Multiplex "adaptor" lasted me through high-school, college and I
probably used it up until long after I had moved to CA and started my career
( I replaced it with a Pioneer TX-9500 IIRC) . I especially remember this
tiny little vacuum tube that rode on the dial string carriage and moved
across the dial when the tuning knob was turned. It's green glow was the
station 'pointer' and it contracted from a line to an exclamation point (!)
when you were tuned right on the station. I always thought that was clever.