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Western Electric theatre tube amps

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They'd be awesome with some Western Electric horns and drivers.

You should buy them. :)


I predict silly money being shelled out for these...
 
Wow! Those aren't that easy to find, and sell for some pretty serious coin around these parts. I'm curious to see what these end up going for. From the description, they probably aren't working, but it wouldn't matter much; they're restorable, for sure (I've seen worse brought back to life). And yes, you can make a very good home hi-fi system from those. :music: :thmbsp:
 
can we play the guessing game?I guess $7400 (not sure if this is allowed here but hey its all in good fun and they are not my amps)
 
I had a few of those in a theater I bought about 10 years ago. I spent about 30 or so hours bringing them back to life (variac, caps, resistors and what not) and they sounded....amazing! I was using them initially with the Shearer VOTT in the theater and then decided to take them home and try them with speakers I had there (JBL L200 and then my trusty Honkers). I can only say they sounded like no other amp I have heard before or since. The build quality was amazing and the way of building amps using the ear as a guide rather than an ocilliscope is magical.
 
Yggdrasill said:
What would these sound like? Would they make a kickass home stereo system? Look like KT-88 tubes.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Western...itu=UCC&otn=5&ps=63&clkid=1293010884154597921
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Wrong. They are 6L6G's, quite a far cry from a KT88. They could be 350B's though, but same thing as a "spec'd up" 6L6G really.

And yeah, they will bring crazy money. I don't think they would sound as good as their money would suggest- MOST WE gear is just rare, early, the first, and collectable.
 
I retract my former statement. After carefull inspection, they are junk. Ive never seen a we amp that didnt have potted transformers and oil filled caps. Here is a classic case of search manipulation, notice how there is a close up of all but the manufacturer. HHmm I hope someone can prove me wrong.
 
He clearly states "Western Electric licensed" and "Motiograph". I don't think this can be fairly described as search manipulation. I think he did an above average job of providing information.

(No affil, lest someone think I protest too loudly.)
 
Those are Motiograph amps, Lisenced by WE... I had one of those I sold this past year.. I gave up on the search for a second one..

I also had the power supply for the head unit of the projector, and the pre-amp for the volume control.. I had two of those cages.. The cages alone can go for $300 to $400 a pair...

Those are the harder to find 7505 A models.. I found plenty of B and a couple C's though...

You should hear that amp on an Altec A7... just incredible sounding..

I wish I could have found a second... There is a guy in the area I live in that has been listing a pair on ebay and CL for a couple years now, and won't take a penny less than $6500.. I've talked to him about it, and he just won't lower it.. and so far as I know, he still hasn't sold them..

BTW, I can't believe the guy doesn't have a picture of the inside of those amps.. they are laid out really nice on the inside too...

OH.. and until you see one of those in person, you have no idea how HUGE the iron on those things are.. by far the largest iron I've ever seen on a tube amp.. twice the size of the peerless iron on the old Altec tubes..
 
Motiograph was not just licensed from WE but designed with WE help and using their parts. When these were being built WE simply couldn't keep up with demand and that's why you find British, German and other nations using gear licensed from WE. If memory serves Motiograph was pretty much a company supplying what WE simply didn't have the capacity for. If you wanted the best you waited for WE or something like this or you bought RCA or a couple of other pieces, but that was it.
 
So I guess I was wrong. I have read online(never trust what you read) that all the WE liscensed products were only liscensed because WE owned the patents on over 10,000 audio designs. When a company owns a patent and another company wants to build a similar product they must provide the original patent owners name and location clearly on the product. This all made sense to me untill now. I have owned several langevin amplifiers liscensed by WE, they were not built by WE, but did have some superior products, like potted power, choke, and output transformers and all oil filled PS caps and vitamin Q oil filled elsewhere. It amazes me how much people will pay for paper caps and laminated core transformers. imo
 
So I guess I was wrong.
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Only slightly. You're correct that they're not WE. But, they're not junk either. My guess would be in the 2500-3500 range.

Motiograph was not just licensed from WE but designed with WE help and using their parts.
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Certainly in the early days, later(like in the OP) it's very dependent on specific models and time period.
 
Simi he does have them.You have to scroll to the next pics.
 

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