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Phase Linear - anyone experienced?

winters860

winters860

Super Member
For the last month, I've been working a job that has me driving around a lot. At every convenient garage sale, I ask if they've got any stereo stuff or old speakers. Today, I scored a Phase Linear 400 preamp, the 700B power amp, and a Technics SL-1300 turntable. The TT is going as a long-promised wedding gift, but I'm considering keeping the PL rig.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these two models? Should I be paranoid about the amp spontaneously combusting ("Flame Linear" and all)? How does the 700B compare to the Marantz 510M I've got waiting for service? Will the 700B push a 4 ohm load?

Pictures coming tomorrow... hold your horses on the TTIWWP emoticons... Both of them are filthy, but I think they'll clean up pretty much free of visual blemishes. I haven't so much as blown out the innards or plugged them in yet.
 
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Don't worry about the 700 blowing up, unless you are a rock band and you're going to run it wide open for hours at a time.
 
The derogatory name came from the fact that Phase linear amps all had wimpy heat-sinks (Bob C. is the king of cutting corners). So when pros purchased them to put into amp-racks to drive big PA systems, then tended to overheat, and fry their output transistors.

In home use, they will work just fine, unless you are driving some super power-hungy loads very loudly.
 
Will the 700B push a 4 ohm load?

I would look into the 700B's ability to push a 4ohm load. For some reason I think PL's and 4 ohms don't get along. Into 8 ohm loads they were fine. My brother had a 700B pushing AR 10pi's for years. I had a 400 and then a 700 Series II driving Allison One's for years.
 
I always thought Phase Linear looked like high-grade gear should look.
And it's a cool name. People will know you are classy when they hear you say, "Oh, yeah. I am a Phase Linear aficionado."
Nice score, Winters.
(and good technique, asking about audio equipment.)
 
LIARS !! LIARS !! DON'T listen to 'em !! You are imminent danger from that amp-Not only do they catch fire & start conflagrations, they will climb into bed w/you & smother you in your sleep !! You MIGHT be able to save yrself from a horrible fate if you PROMPTLY box that bad boy up 'n' send it to me...Unca Sandy, Box "U", Chattanooga 13, Tennessee...If I were you, I'd have somebody hold a SHOTGUN on that sumbich til you get 'er boxed up & sent away to me-They're THAT dangerous....
 
Should have seen all the stuff I left behind - a nice 70's Nak cassette deck, an Onkyo tuner, a Teac RTR, another RTR still in the basement that I didn't see, and just about every conceivable equalizer, noise reduction unit, Dolby unit, and spatial enhancer that BSR, SAE, DBX, and Teac ever made, some of them in multiples. Dude must have been big on his outboard processors...
Unfortunately, his kids are keeping the speakers, but I'm betting they were something decent.

I would have had the RTR, the cassette deck, the tuner, and at least one of the two DBX and one of the two Teac processor gimmicks, but the three pieces I bought cleaned me out. Most of it was stupid cheap, but not so stupid cheap that I could afford to haul home all of it.

Edit - Almost forgot: left behind electronic components in abundance. There was a big box of brand new resistors and stereo potentiomenters. They said it was a small fraction of what was in the basement. I would like to have met this guy...
 
i've had 400 mk II amp and matching pre for a long time. i think they are very cool. i have run it on 4 ohm infinity qb's without breaking a sweat. i love it. i think you made one hell of a score.
 
:lmao: :banana: :lmao:

Phase Linear, a classy classic:thmbsp:

doctorbongo said:
... it's a cool name. People will know you are classy when they hear you say, "Oh, yeah. I am a Phase Linear aficionado."
Click to expand...
 
Phase linears get bad raps cus pro people used to run them at shows at 2 & 1 ohm loads. They are great amps & if you run them at 8 ohms they stay cool. I've had mine running on 4 ohms before, & it would get rather warm but definetly not hot. It's just a bad rap based on people's ignorance/stupidity-- There's not many "home" audio amps you can run into 1 & 2 ohm loads without conseqences.
 
winters860,
They drive 2 and 4 ohm loads with ease. I have been collecting them and running them for 28 years, without a single failure. They are high current, very stable power amplifiers with huge heat sinks. I have 7 700's in service at the moment driving 2 and 4 ohm loads at extraordinary volume levels when desired. You did very well. Congrats.

P.S. They were designed and tested pre-production with Infinity 2 and 4 ohm loads.

Vito
 
PL 400's are great! Simple layout and a breeze to work on. PL later made optional fans that you could buy with a nice fitting shroud to fit over the fins.

Great score . . especially on that 700! I have the 400 but really hope a 700 finds it's way into my rack one of these days. :thmbsp:
 
I have two original 700's and I can make them get pretty warm, so that's why I put fans on them - they only get lukewarm at levels that most ears would not be able to tolerate.

We run one of them at relatively low levels (<125 watts/ch) into less than 3 ohm loads and the heat sinks get barely warm. I have a pair of CV D9's at 4 ohm and the Phase Linear will make them beg for mercy - actually I think the circuit breaker on the tweeters starts cutting out prior to blowing a fuse.

Anyhow, they can do virtually anything you want them to do, just check the heatsinks now and then, and if they heat up too much you may need a fan.
 
I had 4 of them in the 70's.Pushed 901's and AR 9's hard with them.Just keep them cool.Am thinking of picking up one to run some Klipsch KG4's with.Always had a neutral sound to me.
 
OMI said:
Do you remember the model number?
Click to expand...

Yep. I took careful notes in case I was able to scrounge up some more cash this week to see what she's got left.

Nakamichi 1000 cassette deck
Teac 3300S rtr
BSR EQ-3000 equalizer
Teac AN-300 noise reduction unit (x2)
dbx II 124 noise reduction system (x2)
Electrovoice Interface:A equalizer
Onkyo T-4055 tuner
SAE 5000 impulse noise reduction
unknown rtr
crapton of electronic components

edit: after looking up the ebay prices, guess I should have tried harder to acquire the Nak and the dbx stuff. The big teac noise reduction units looked like they were also expensive in their day.
 
For NAKS look here:

http://www.naks.com/

There were a number of the 1000 models. Click the NAK link on the left and then look for the 1000 model and click it to see the specs and pics of the versions. If it was a few $$$$ I would snap it up... A great cassette deck....

If it was a 1000 ZXL Limited I would run back and get it...
 
I've been running my very early PL 400 with regularity for a while. Nice amp, maybe a tad on the harsh side. Easy to work on. The one downside might be that it's engineered very close to the edge for cost saving. Many of the components are running close to (or over, in the case of the main filters) their specifications.

Actually, just yesterday it broke down when another AK'er was over to pick something up. I think one of the orignal driver board caps went, developed random static.
 
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