Well, what to say? Some months back I took a chance and bought a non working SX-1980 off Ebay and had it shipped to Echowars. He took the job on, on the understanding that he was up to his eyeballs with work, and mine would take as long as it takes. Two days ago, courtesy of FedEx and some excellent packing it arrived. Where to start? Frankly I cannot; I don't understand the technical stuff as well as I should, but the end result sounds superb. Clean, clear sound; like it says on the jar "nothing added, nothing taken away". The quietness of the receiver is outstanding; with inputs connected but no signal, there's no sound. No hum, no hiss, no crackle; nothing. Turn the source on, be it vinyl or CD and I'm hearing bits of the music that I didn't hear before. I guess they were there, but not `there' if you know what I mean.
Like I said, I don't understand electronics half as well as a lot of the members on this forum, but an example of what was done was a neat modification to the power supply to not only repair what had gone horribly wrong, but to reduce the chances of it happening again. PLUS, he wrote down what he did complete with circuit diagram. Excellent :yes: :yes: :yes:
Ok, enough colorful blobs bouncing around; the main point is that Echowars did a first class job. The result is just good to listen to; not just at window rattling volume (which it will do without breaking a sweat), but quietly, with a clarity that is a sheer joy to hear. I know from previous threads that for a variety of reasons not everyone likes these big receivers. I can't join in this debate as this is the only piece of vintage equipment like this that I've ever heard, let alone owned. All I can say is that having had these speakers (CS99A's) for a few years driven by a couple of good quality modern receivers, the SX-1980 is bringing out sounds and detail I've not heard before, and I think this is due both to the basic quality of the receiver, and VERY MUCH due to Echowars workmanship. Thank you Glen.
Jim.
Just a quick bit of background. About a year ago, FedEx (or more precisely, their local sub contractors; Business Post) `lost' some musical box cylinders belonging to a customer of mine in Houston. Despite picking them up from me, they swore blind they didn't have them. This went on for three weeks, with my customer alternately tearing his hair out and threatening dire retribution against anyone he could get hold of, including me. Eventually, simply by banging on with `phone calls two or three times a day, FedEx sent a team of their own people up from London to the BP depot in Edinburgh, and found the cylinders. They were there in plain sight, but the delivery label was missing! This despite the fact that the BP manager had told me personally on three occasions that he had searched the depot himself......................... Long story short, FedEx gave me three `free' deliveries, so I took advantage of this and bought the SX-1980.
.................... Jim.
