Lafayette LA-64 ?

Ohighway

Ohighway

Wannabe Minimalist
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Just back from Ohio and this guy followed me home. A Lafayette LA-64 quadraphonic integrated amplifier.

Nice and heavy unit. Must be pretty packed inside.

Anybody have the skinny on this thing? I tried searching here and on google but came up with very little....
 
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Love to see a picture(s) of it. Have you fired it up yet? Let me re-phrase - have you carefully added AC power to the unit and slowly brought it up to an operating condition?
 
peterfranks said:
Love to see a picture(s) of it. Have you fired it up yet? Let me re-phrase - have you carefully added AC power to the unit and slowly brought it up to an operating condition?
Click to expand...

I'll fire it up this week. Normally I bring items up on a variac, but the last I saw there was a thread or two about that NOT being the thing to do with solid state equipment.... ??

I'm wondering why there is such a vacuum when it comes to information on these?
 
peterfranks said:
Love to see a picture(s) of it.
Click to expand...

front controls.jpg

back connections.jpg

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Found it!

It's in the 1973 Lafayette catalog.

"Our best amplifier features advanced SQ-Logic decoding circuitry for outstanding playback of 4-channel SQ discs"

RMS power: 130 watts (32.5x4) @ 4 ohms, 94 watts (23.5x4) @ 8 ohms
THD: 0.8%
Power bandwidth: 15-25kHz
Frequency response: 20-20,000 +/- 1.5dB
Channel separation: 60 dB
Semiconductors: 4 FETs, 62 transistors, 19 diodes, 4 thermistors

All for the low low price of only $199.95.
 
Don't see much Lafayette at all.

First I've heard that variac is not recommended for SS.
Do you remember why?

I would certainly use a 40w dim bulb to check for shorts.
 
Loke the Realistic stuff Radio Shack sold, it was contracted from a larger manufacturer. On a guess, I would say the output transistors are likely to Be Hitachi.

The buttonl ayout is also a clue to it's heritage. I will not go on reord to suggest there is a similar Harmon Kardon, but it does ahve that general look to it.

It is likely one reason for the information void is the tight nature of the manufacturers not releasing sertvice data widely. Sams Company often bought the items and de-constructed them meticulously. Much of their data is still under copyright protection, and Sams still does have some of that information available for a price. The other problem was Sams went at a lot of those thinkgs with a shotgun approach and often picked up the cheap off brand thinking it was going to be popular and wasn't. Because it was an expensive way to do things, they did not reach everyone.

Lafayette lasted to about 1975 and just closed it's doors. There is some service data out there, but difficult to find without a price tag attached to it. THey did sell decent equipment. They also sold a Quad Adapter. Convert your existing stereo to a quad system.- they were just a 2 channel amp with a decoder.
 
1tumbleweed said:
It's in the 1973 Lafayette catalog.

"Our best amplifier features advanced SQ-Logic decoding circuitry for outstanding playback of 4-channel SQ discs"
Click to expand...

Thanks for looking that up... appreciate the information !!

blhagstrom said:
Don't see much Lafayette at all.

First I've heard that variac is not recommended for SS.
Do you remember why?
Click to expand...

Seems there was a thread or two very recently about this. Honestly the last time I fired up a solid state piece that had been dormant for awhile I used a variac. Did it do any good/harm?? Who knows? Seems to work fine now. Might have without the variac.


Trio said:
THey did sell decent equipment. They also sold a Quad Adapter. Convert your existing stereo to a quad system.- they were just a 2 channel amp with a decoder.
Click to expand...

My first experiences with Lafayette go back to the late 60's. My dad , who was a bit on the 'thrifty' side, bought a couple pieces from the local Dayton, OH Lafayette store. He bought himself a LT-425T tuner and it was a -very nice- piece indeed. Still performed flawlessly the last time I fired it up. He bought me a modest little "Stereo 25" amp and while not exciting, that too works just fine.
 
Ohighway said:
My first experiences with Lafayette go back to the late 60's. My dad , who was a bit on the 'thrifty' side, bought a couple pieces from the local Dayton, OH Lafayette store. He bought himself a LT-425T tuner and it was a -very nice- piece indeed. Still performed flawlessly the last time I fired it up. He bought me a modest little "Stereo 25" amp and while not exciting, that too works just fine.
Click to expand...

As an ex-Marylander, I remember three local Lafayette stores not far from where you are now. The biggest was in Hyattsville, on Queens Chapel Rd. near Chillum Rd.; another was in Marlow Heights on St. Barnabas Rd., and one in Rockville on Rockville Pike. Most of my "hanging out" was at the Baltimore store; I even went to college with the owner's daughter. Being around all that stuff helped make me the audiogeek I am today.
 
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