Bill Ferris
Lunatic Member
Yes Sir.
I agree. I never sold any as I wasn`t in retail, but very few of their products ever graced my benches during my 40+ years repairing audio gear.. Take care Harryconover Sir. Kind regards, OKB
Audio Research D 76...thoughts?
- Thread starter mikeNC
- Start date
I agree. I never sold any as I wasn`t in retail, but very few of their products ever graced my benches during my 40+ years repairing audio gear.. Take care Harryconover Sir. Kind regards, OKB
arts
Addicted Member
I`m a big fan too ARC gear too arts.. And you can better utilize the waste heat than I can. I put my rotational tube amps in my unused fireplace when I run them...
I even used my D76A in 1978 for, believe it or not, as a HF amp in a crossed over at 1000 hz. Bi-amp`d PA(modified EV Eliminator cabinets while running sound for a local rock band while living in Miami, FL. 6 nights a week for 2 months !!!
I guess you might believe that that was a crazy application for such a high quality tube amp !?
Well here`s a more bazaar statement..
The D76A was a upgrade in the PA system after using my Mac MC 225 for a few weeks prior !!
And I don`t have to tell you how smooth the high frequencies sounded through those EV horns with a Phase Linear 400 taking care of the bottom end..
I had a lot of compliments about the SQ from well to do audiophile UM students at the club..
I had already read your D76 rebuild whilst lurking some time back, and enjoyed it, but thanks for including it here..
All I had to ever do to mine was replace the 6550 screen regulator and a 10 k resistor connected to it when my stupid friend was using it for HF bi-amping my Large Advent speakers in his home recording studio and decided to place his condensation dripping cup on the amps cage !!
During a mixdown whilst I wasn`t present !!
After I fixed it he didn`t do that again, as it`s hard to mix to bi-amp`d speakers when you kill the HF amp and no spare amps are about..
That repair and I finally replaced the factory original GE`s with a quartet of Groove tubes(I was a dealer at the time for my audio repair shop) matched # 10 GE`s in the early nineties.. She`s been very good to me for all the years of ownership.
Take care Sir. Kind regards, OKB
Great stories Bill,thanks for sharing
These certainly are very tough and reliable pieces of equipment,despite their sophistication.I've seen people bash them,claiming ''too much circuitry to sound good'' or ''needlessly complicated'', but the results speak for themselves. I have always used GE 6550's in mine,but have found that the ''original'' Svetlana 6550's are also excellent choices.
Speaking of weird band related electronics/sound experiments,back in the day I always had two Ampeg SVT's (6x 6550 @ 300w) on hand,a main and a backup.One night (there may have been alcohol involved
) I decided to give them a shot as power amps in my stereo setup,which at the time was turntable+Conrad Johnson PV5+KEF 104/2's. I wired in the SVT's by using their dedicated power amp input jacks,which allowed me to bypass the preamp section.Well,they could certainly supply the power,but they did not sound very good.These amps are meant for live use,and are biased very close to class ''B'',so at anything less than ear-splitting levels they have a fair amount of notch distortion.Listenable,but not pleasant.That,and the cooling fans make a heck of a lot of noise
Bill Ferris
Lunatic Member
Great stories Bill,thanks for sharing
These certainly are very tough and reliable pieces of equipment,despite their sophistication.I've seen people bash them,claiming ''too much circuitry to sound good'' or ''needlessly complicated'', but the results speak for themselves. I have always used GE 6550's in mine,but have found that the ''original'' Svetlana 6550's are also excellent choices.
Speaking of weird band related electronics/sound experiments,back in the day I always had two Ampeg SVT's (6x 6550 @ 300w) on hand,a main and a backup.One night (there may have been alcohol involved
Your most welcome arts, glad you liked my unusual applications for some classic tube amps...
Though I can`t physically play a note, I have a dining room full of vintage guitars and tube amps, in which in the bass department is 1 SVT, 1 Fender PS 400, and 1 V 4 & a real 59 Fender Bassman, but of course everybody that counts knows that amp is really a great sounding guitar amp with a mislabeled name !!
All these and the other 20 + tube instrument amplifiers in my collection have been carefully electronically restored by me decades ago when brought to me for rework by their owners.
Who then often a couple of years later offered me to purchase at very attractive prices when they for whatever reason needed money, or their playing tone/style tastes changed..
Also I told them that to make sure that they really wanted to sell, because once it joins the collection it won`t be sold as long as I`m alive.. They also liked the fact that they could stop by and visit and play their "baby" if they wished..
No SPL level restrictions imposed in my house !! Just play good enough to entertain me and I`ll provide the beer or whatever other libations I have to offer for the visitation.
Kind regards Sir. OKB
Bill Ferris
Lunatic Member
Hopefully Clever-- but you probably missed the boat if it was going to sail..Geez, I never noticed the original post date and was going to suggest that maybe the amp was too far gone and that he should maybe sell it to me as a parts unit.....
I have perfected "Missing the Boat"!Hopefully Clever-- but you probably missed the boat if it was going to sail..
