Eico St-40 fetching lower price than HF-81
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ekmanning5
Time has told me...
Better press?
willyrover
Super Member
The HF-81 is a damn good amp and seems to fetch upwards of $300 last time I checked. I've actually never heard anything negative about the HF-81.
The HF-12 is essentially half of a HF-81. Put 2 HF-12's together and you basically have an HF-81 with the bonus of dual power supplies. I have a pair of HF-12's and they are a very fine sounding amp.
The HF-12 is essentially half of a HF-81. Put 2 HF-12's together and you basically have an HF-81 with the bonus of dual power supplies. I have a pair of HF-12's and they are a very fine sounding amp.
Stereophile did an article on the Eico HF-81. That may be the cause.
ekmanning5
Time has told me...
See what I mean?
Brian
An Old Geezer
The later ST series is not the same quality in parts and construction as the HF series. EICO was trying to make them better looking to appeal to a broader market but trying to bring their costs down. By then, the market was changing and EICO was losing market share and audio was becoming a smaller and smaller % of total revenues. While they are probably easier to rebuild and mod because of size and layout, the major components that even the most extreme modder would want, the chassis, transformers and some controls just are not the same in terms of desirability. All that said, the ST series is still a very good series.
Lman
Active Member
I have both amps and the HF-81 is, in my opinion, more attractive. The beige and brown knobs on the ST-40 are just plain ugly and the styling is ordinary.
NOSValves
Super Member
Well since technically IMHO they are much better circuits maybe they should
. The Iron for the ST series was made in the same manor/quality as the rest in fact all the parts selection was similar. It's really to bad they are so god awful ugly. Craig
reggaenaut
Addicted Member
The 81 is not served well with its undersized power transformer. That unit runs very hot. Still It had good press and it is cute looking.
soundmotor
super modified
Enjoy that the ST-40 is underpriced and overlooked.
Lman
Active Member
True, the main reason I got the ST-40 was because it is underpriced. I got my non-working ST-40 from that auction site for $101. Turned out that one of the large resistors had cracked. I replaced the resistor as part of the restoration of the amp and, paired with Genesis V8's, it presents a smooth, detailed and uncolored sound.
I still need to overhaul my HF-81, which I got for $5.00 at an estate sale.
I am curious to see how it compares to the ST-40.
I just fired up my ST-40 for the first time last night. I did a recap of of the electrolytics and coupling caps. She is a very sweet sounding unit. Now I am going to replace the all the ceramics with Polystyrene and Silver Mica caps to see where that leads me.
mhardy6647
Lunatic Member
7591 vs. EL84 outputs.
I found an ST-40 at the dump two weeks ago
EDIT: Both the HF-81 and the ST-40/ST-70 are butt-ugly; let's be honest with ourselves here
Both the HF-81 and the ST-40 (and ST-70) have very good output iron.
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Lman
Active Member
The ST-40 seems to get more unattractive the more I look at it. it is now officailly butt ugly.
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