Leak Stereo 50 amp?
- Thread starter nubrand
- Start date
guitbanger
Active Member
It's a 50 watt stereo power amp, cathode biased, with great transformers and capable of being the center piece of a very nice classic tube hi-fi. It is something of value because it was/is a high quality classic tube amp, it wasn't cheap then and it isn't cheap now and it's 50 yrs. old?
So it goes from your "source" then out to the speakers? Or from a source to a receiver to amp to speaker? Most of the stuff I have messed around with is your basic receiver to speakers and maybe a input (turntable, cd, ect) So I really don't have experience with this kind of stuff.
guitbanger
Active Member
It is a stereo power amp, your source (cd, turntable, tape deck) plugs into a pre-amp that plugs into your Leak and the Leak goes to the speakers.
NOSValves
Super Member
High quality.....more like one of the top 2 or 3 highest quality amplifiers of the entire golden age of tube audio! The wiring and build quality is a true work of art. The only real draw back to the Leak line is the designer built them as a very high gain solution that was to be controlled by a matching passive preamplifier. It is very popular today to lower the gain or raise input sensitivity to a much more reasonable level. Once accomplished properly you have a world class tube amplifier that will mate well with any quality tube preamplifier. I've rebuilt a few of them over the years. Not all that many of them made it across the pond. These are very popular in Europe. The Leak Yahoo list server is a very active and also a very interesting read.
OP is one lucky dog.
guitbanger
Active Member
In one of your Box pics, there appears to be a brochure that has a picture of the Leak pre-amp that would have been the corresponding Leak pre, a Point One? Any good quality pre will work with it.
NOSValves
Super Member
One more thing, I'm sure someone most likely already mentioned this but do not plug that amp in and turn it on. It needs a very slow start up via a metered variac over several hours (like 6 minimum) to try and reform all the capacitors and even then it should still be refurbished before being placed in everyday use.
NOSValves
Super Member
That is not true at all. The Leak amplifiers were setup for a very low signal level to full power, the specification is a poultry 125mV to full power. Most preamplifiers will be very noisy and have very little volume control usage with a stock Leak Amplifier. I mean the thing will be blasting with just a touch off zero of the volume control. The leak preamplifiers had a very low gain circuit and were rated for this 125mV rating. A leak Point one is just about useless to drive any other brand amplifier because it has so little gain you can not remotely get to full power. Then if you couple the fact that modern high level sources start out with 2V nominal output compared to the 350mV to 500mV that was the norm for sources in the 1960's you really have a mess on your hands. Even the point one has trouble with modern CD players. These amps require modification for reasonable results with anything other then the mating Leak One preamplifier. Heck these amps do not work optimally with todays sources and a passive preamplifier it is that bad. Sure you can adjust the input level controls but adjusting those to allow decent usage with anything but a Leak One preamplifier skews the frequency response and pinches all the life out of the sound.
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guitbanger
Active Member
I said it would work, I didn't say how well. Most vintage pieces usually require a lil nip and tuck to work optimally with other vintage makers or modern. Craig, I respect you, so don't think that I don't OK? btw paltry, as I cried fowl. lol
NOSValves
Super Member
Well I'm glad you respect me I'm not all that used to that 
I'm sorry if I might be ruffling feathers but I like to see folks telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth when advising folks. The fact of the matter is if someone took what you stated to heart they would end up with a broken heart really fast. Sure it would make sound...horrible sound
Yea you got me on the Paltry... brain fart
I'm sorry if I might be ruffling feathers but I like to see folks telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth when advising folks. The fact of the matter is if someone took what you stated to heart they would end up with a broken heart really fast. Sure it would make sound...horrible sound Yea you got me on the Paltry... brain fart
Ohm's Flaw
New Member
Go to ebay and put in "leak Stereo 50" and see what pops up. Amps from this British company are legendary. You will want to keep things looking original otherwise the value goes down. Type in the same thing in your search engine and you will find a lot on this amp. There will be some hints and warnings about how to keep this up to specs. Oh, you should probably never sell this. Most of their amps were called " Point 1" because that was the harmonic distortion figure that they were built to.
Ohm's Flaw
New Member
NOSVALVES, Thank you for your paragraph on Leak-preamplifier matching problems. I think that I will be getting a Leak Stereo 20 and I wonder, now, how to reconcile the mismatch between it and my American preamps. Any specific advise or suggestions?
