M Jarve
Audio Geek and NGE Freak
I'll just do the most interesting trade through here, on how 1/2 hour of my time eventually became my Kenwood L-07M amps.
I used to do some repairs on defect stuff for the two local pawn shops, always in exchange for something that may have caught my eye. One day, 3 or 4 years ago, I was working on a computer system for one of them; installed a new modem and PSU.
When asked what my fee would be, I told them I would take that shiny Onkyo A-7 integrated amp they had on the shelf, which they had priced at $30.00.
I had the amp for a few months, and it was a marvelous piece. A friend of mine who I was trying to get into audio was so taken with it, that he offered to trade me his new (at the time) Sony TOTL HT receiver. It was not really a top of the line Sony, though it was the best you would find at Best Buy; a model STR-DE945.
The Sony was as fine as a HT receiver as I could want, but it was musically challenged. I remedied that to some degree by modifying the power supply and installing high-grade electrolytic caps. This helped, but it was still not as good as a h/k 730 or something like that.
Another friend, who was into electronics, saw what I did to the Sony and decided he would have to have it. So he traded a much more musical Pioneer VSX-9300 for the Sony. The Pioneer was an excellent musical receiver, and redeemed 1980’s BPC receivers in my book by a lot. However, it had problems with elements in the power regulator circuit de-soldering themselves (a problem with the Nakamichi SR-4A, I may add) and again it went on to the bench for modification.
Meanwhile, yet another friend had a Pioneer SX-3900 he was using at his video production company, and it was having problems. Scratchy controls and sound cutting out. I agreed to clean it up, and gave him the VSX-9300 as a loaner. When I came back to drop off his amp and pick mine up, he had decided he like the VSX-9300 more, with its video switching capability and more inputs, so we swapped receivers.
I then had a SX-3900. An excellent 120-WPC receiver, and arguably the last of the so-called “Silver Iron” age. It also happened to be the TOTL fluoroscan receiver. About this time, I started in on my h/k kick after listening to a 330c I had repaired.
I posted on some forum that I was looking for a h/k 930 receiver, and was contacted by a gentleman in North Dakota who had also happened to see that I had a SX-3900, which he needed to complete his fluoroscan receiver collection. We agreed to exchange the SX-3900 for the 930 (which had been recently re-capped and calibrated).
The 930 was an excellent receiver. So excellent, that I bought two more. At this time, I was mostly frequenting the Audio Asylum BBS, and a fellow there, David Debertin (I think) had just gotten a couple of McIntosh MA-5100 integrated amps, but he was having problems with one producing severe, occasional DC offset in one channel. I mentioned in a post that if he could not get the one to work, I would buy it off him as a project unit, wanting at that time to expand my horizons into the Mystical Realm of Mac. He counter offered, saying he would take a h/k 930 as a direct exchange, and two weeks later I had a McIntosh MA-5100.
The DC offset issue was due to the (in)famous Sprague caps on the driver boards. The 5100 was amazingly well built and a tribute to industrial design. The very construction made one proud to own it. Especially when you had the original double box, owners, and service manual. After re-capping the 5100 was an admirable amp. Very clean, but it did not have the dynamics or headroom of a h/k 730 and would clip very hard when pushed. It also did not appreciate 4-ohm loads, despite its rating. In my case it turned mostly into a conversation piece about the incredible build quality of old-world gear. It got some play time, but it was not quite what I was looking for.
So, again, I post to a forum that I have a very good condition MA-5100 for sale or trade. I was contacted within weeks by a fellow that wanted it and he offered a pair of Kenwood L-07M monoblocks. I was really timid about this. My experience with Kenwood to that point had been that they were nothing more than a pretend high-end company used to fill up space at Best Buy. Even their TOTL Sovereign gear was only of so-so quality. But, in the end, the little voices in the back of my head told me to go through with it (they’re usually right about these things), and after a week, I had the Kenwoods, and I never looked back. Indeed, now I actively seek Kenwood, where before I would have passed a KR-9600 in the freebie pile at a rummage sale.
Half an hour of time changing into Kenwood L-07M’s. So now you know the rest of the story.
My only regret, and it is a mild one, is the loss of the Onkyo A-7. But that is what ebay is for.
I used to do some repairs on defect stuff for the two local pawn shops, always in exchange for something that may have caught my eye. One day, 3 or 4 years ago, I was working on a computer system for one of them; installed a new modem and PSU.
When asked what my fee would be, I told them I would take that shiny Onkyo A-7 integrated amp they had on the shelf, which they had priced at $30.00.
I had the amp for a few months, and it was a marvelous piece. A friend of mine who I was trying to get into audio was so taken with it, that he offered to trade me his new (at the time) Sony TOTL HT receiver. It was not really a top of the line Sony, though it was the best you would find at Best Buy; a model STR-DE945.
The Sony was as fine as a HT receiver as I could want, but it was musically challenged. I remedied that to some degree by modifying the power supply and installing high-grade electrolytic caps. This helped, but it was still not as good as a h/k 730 or something like that.
Another friend, who was into electronics, saw what I did to the Sony and decided he would have to have it. So he traded a much more musical Pioneer VSX-9300 for the Sony. The Pioneer was an excellent musical receiver, and redeemed 1980’s BPC receivers in my book by a lot. However, it had problems with elements in the power regulator circuit de-soldering themselves (a problem with the Nakamichi SR-4A, I may add) and again it went on to the bench for modification.
Meanwhile, yet another friend had a Pioneer SX-3900 he was using at his video production company, and it was having problems. Scratchy controls and sound cutting out. I agreed to clean it up, and gave him the VSX-9300 as a loaner. When I came back to drop off his amp and pick mine up, he had decided he like the VSX-9300 more, with its video switching capability and more inputs, so we swapped receivers.
I then had a SX-3900. An excellent 120-WPC receiver, and arguably the last of the so-called “Silver Iron” age. It also happened to be the TOTL fluoroscan receiver. About this time, I started in on my h/k kick after listening to a 330c I had repaired.
I posted on some forum that I was looking for a h/k 930 receiver, and was contacted by a gentleman in North Dakota who had also happened to see that I had a SX-3900, which he needed to complete his fluoroscan receiver collection. We agreed to exchange the SX-3900 for the 930 (which had been recently re-capped and calibrated).
The 930 was an excellent receiver. So excellent, that I bought two more. At this time, I was mostly frequenting the Audio Asylum BBS, and a fellow there, David Debertin (I think) had just gotten a couple of McIntosh MA-5100 integrated amps, but he was having problems with one producing severe, occasional DC offset in one channel. I mentioned in a post that if he could not get the one to work, I would buy it off him as a project unit, wanting at that time to expand my horizons into the Mystical Realm of Mac. He counter offered, saying he would take a h/k 930 as a direct exchange, and two weeks later I had a McIntosh MA-5100.
The DC offset issue was due to the (in)famous Sprague caps on the driver boards. The 5100 was amazingly well built and a tribute to industrial design. The very construction made one proud to own it. Especially when you had the original double box, owners, and service manual. After re-capping the 5100 was an admirable amp. Very clean, but it did not have the dynamics or headroom of a h/k 730 and would clip very hard when pushed. It also did not appreciate 4-ohm loads, despite its rating. In my case it turned mostly into a conversation piece about the incredible build quality of old-world gear. It got some play time, but it was not quite what I was looking for.
So, again, I post to a forum that I have a very good condition MA-5100 for sale or trade. I was contacted within weeks by a fellow that wanted it and he offered a pair of Kenwood L-07M monoblocks. I was really timid about this. My experience with Kenwood to that point had been that they were nothing more than a pretend high-end company used to fill up space at Best Buy. Even their TOTL Sovereign gear was only of so-so quality. But, in the end, the little voices in the back of my head told me to go through with it (they’re usually right about these things), and after a week, I had the Kenwoods, and I never looked back. Indeed, now I actively seek Kenwood, where before I would have passed a KR-9600 in the freebie pile at a rummage sale.
Half an hour of time changing into Kenwood L-07M’s. So now you know the rest of the story.
My only regret, and it is a mild one, is the loss of the Onkyo A-7. But that is what ebay is for.
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The attachments are some not-so-good pic of my ML-3.
