Audiohead84
Active Member
So have you ever walked into a store for one thing and get blown away by what you find in the back room, or just like it was ment to be the thing you have been searching for just happens to be there...
So to give this some back story last month I was having issues with my athena technologies p3 sub and In my small city there are absolutely zero repair shops within a 200km radius but somehow I heard threw the audiophile grapevine that the local vinyl shop might be opening a repair shop inside, so of course I give them a call and talk he tells me yes they are and he will have his tech call me back. Now already I wasn't expecting much luck, my sub has micro circuit boards and didn't look fun to repair, not to mention parts are hard to find in my area let alone a tech lol. Although to my surprise when he does call he proceeds to tell me he had the exact speaker/sub combo i have and he has the exact parts I might need to get my sub running again. Even more convenient is this record shop is one of my favourite local stops and it's only 3 blocks from my place.
Now iv been to this store numerous times before and never seen a back room, I guess the door was always hidden away and they just opened it to stereo repair, but when I walked in to drop off my sub THERE IT WAS!! in all its glory & in mint shape too the A402. It was the first thing I saw and I forgot all about my sub. So I haven't been into vintage equipment for very long but what I do know so far is I really like the older h/k sound and have been ogling this preticular amp for some time now, not that its overly great or anything but it definitely hits that 70s sweet spot in all its areas, and are kinda rare. I mean who can hate those led view meters and that silver faceplate?
When I asked about it they told me it only had one owner was bought locally in 74 and still had the box and manuals. They had it playing at low volume but I could tell it sounded pretty good and seemed to be in good working order so I asked if it was for sale and very hesitantly the guy said yeah, I guess they had just set it up that day to test and play with. I told him that I couldn't buy it right there anyways, that I had to figure out my sub first but that I needed to take it home and he agreed he would sell it to me. I didnt even asked a price I just said I'd buy it (I'm not a very good negotiator lol).
Anyways to my surprise the tech reassured me that he would be able to restore my sub with no problem and after talking with him about the 402 he seemed to gain my confidence so I decided to leave it in his hands and take the chance. I came back a few days later to figure out a price for the 402 and he gave me bad news that threw the testing they found a dropped and scratchy right channel. In my head that ment two things, a drop in price but also a whole new repair cost. The tech told me what his thoughts on the problem were. It was dropping out in the phone section so he figured it was the selector switch, told me the best way to repair it would be to take it completely apart and clean the connections and reassemble but that would get it back to 100% so I agreed. We did manage to come up with a fair price for the unit and the repair although your not reading a bargin bin find story lol.
Three weeks latter iv paid off the sub and bought the 402 I get the call its ready to come home I race down to pick it up, pay the repair cost and get it home but I still haven't heard it play aside from the low volume display at the store. Too bad I had to go straight to work. I did however get 30 mins of light listening in and I was impressed. It was quite a bit brighter in presence then my h/k 75+ quad and a bit more detailed but not as loud, however I did find the next morning that when I even remotely tried to push the volume dial past half it would distort and start to clip.
I immediately messaged the tech and said something was up and I'll be dammed if he didn't come straight to my house to identify the problem. He told me he would have to take it back to the shop and go threw it a bit more, I guess in my rush to buy it they never got to fully test it, they just assumed because it was a one owner lightly used amp that it would be fully functioning and if they actually had the time to go threw it would have found those problems....who knows hahaha.
The tech was really good he figured out the issues right away and got it back to me the brighter and louder then when it left with no clipping this time. Now Im certain I have a solid lightly used and well maintained piece of 70s nostalgia to enjoy for years to come.
So to give this some back story last month I was having issues with my athena technologies p3 sub and In my small city there are absolutely zero repair shops within a 200km radius but somehow I heard threw the audiophile grapevine that the local vinyl shop might be opening a repair shop inside, so of course I give them a call and talk he tells me yes they are and he will have his tech call me back. Now already I wasn't expecting much luck, my sub has micro circuit boards and didn't look fun to repair, not to mention parts are hard to find in my area let alone a tech lol. Although to my surprise when he does call he proceeds to tell me he had the exact speaker/sub combo i have and he has the exact parts I might need to get my sub running again. Even more convenient is this record shop is one of my favourite local stops and it's only 3 blocks from my place.
Now iv been to this store numerous times before and never seen a back room, I guess the door was always hidden away and they just opened it to stereo repair, but when I walked in to drop off my sub THERE IT WAS!! in all its glory & in mint shape too the A402. It was the first thing I saw and I forgot all about my sub. So I haven't been into vintage equipment for very long but what I do know so far is I really like the older h/k sound and have been ogling this preticular amp for some time now, not that its overly great or anything but it definitely hits that 70s sweet spot in all its areas, and are kinda rare. I mean who can hate those led view meters and that silver faceplate?
When I asked about it they told me it only had one owner was bought locally in 74 and still had the box and manuals. They had it playing at low volume but I could tell it sounded pretty good and seemed to be in good working order so I asked if it was for sale and very hesitantly the guy said yeah, I guess they had just set it up that day to test and play with. I told him that I couldn't buy it right there anyways, that I had to figure out my sub first but that I needed to take it home and he agreed he would sell it to me. I didnt even asked a price I just said I'd buy it (I'm not a very good negotiator lol).
Anyways to my surprise the tech reassured me that he would be able to restore my sub with no problem and after talking with him about the 402 he seemed to gain my confidence so I decided to leave it in his hands and take the chance. I came back a few days later to figure out a price for the 402 and he gave me bad news that threw the testing they found a dropped and scratchy right channel. In my head that ment two things, a drop in price but also a whole new repair cost. The tech told me what his thoughts on the problem were. It was dropping out in the phone section so he figured it was the selector switch, told me the best way to repair it would be to take it completely apart and clean the connections and reassemble but that would get it back to 100% so I agreed. We did manage to come up with a fair price for the unit and the repair although your not reading a bargin bin find story lol.
Three weeks latter iv paid off the sub and bought the 402 I get the call its ready to come home I race down to pick it up, pay the repair cost and get it home but I still haven't heard it play aside from the low volume display at the store. Too bad I had to go straight to work. I did however get 30 mins of light listening in and I was impressed. It was quite a bit brighter in presence then my h/k 75+ quad and a bit more detailed but not as loud, however I did find the next morning that when I even remotely tried to push the volume dial past half it would distort and start to clip.
I immediately messaged the tech and said something was up and I'll be dammed if he didn't come straight to my house to identify the problem. He told me he would have to take it back to the shop and go threw it a bit more, I guess in my rush to buy it they never got to fully test it, they just assumed because it was a one owner lightly used amp that it would be fully functioning and if they actually had the time to go threw it would have found those problems....who knows hahaha.
The tech was really good he figured out the issues right away and got it back to me the brighter and louder then when it left with no clipping this time. Now Im certain I have a solid lightly used and well maintained piece of 70s nostalgia to enjoy for years to come.
That's a quite highly regarded vintage integrated. My hi-fi journey started as a teenager when I bought its little brother, the A-401, from a friend in 1977. (He had "upgraded" to a receiver because he wanted FM.) I enjoyed it for a number of years before foolishly getting rid of it. Yours should be a pretty significant step up from the entry level 401, thanks to the dual power supply and increased power output. It also looks pretty cool IMO. Paired with good quality, reasonably efficient speakers and decent sources, the A-402 should give you excellent sound.
