Magnavox 9302-00 EL84 tube amplifier

Another win on Ebay is this top of the line Magnavox 9302-00 push/pull EL84 tube amplifier. This unit will run around 15WPC when completed. These were units pulled from console stereo units from the mid 60's. This unit will get all the capacitors and resistors replaced along with a whole new tube set.

There is lots of support for this amplifier over on AudioKarma discussion boards with David Gillespie leading the forum.

This is my third vintage console push/pull EL84 amplifier with the first being the Electrohome Lorainne 40.

And this RCA RS-177J push/pull EL84 tube amp. 

Although this is a speaker blog, I have enjoyed working and learning about tube amplifiers. Tubes are my preferred way to enjoy the music and these older tube amps are easy to work on since they are point to point wiring and really basic in their layout. Schematics are easy to find as are the parts.

Advent/1 Speakers

A recent trip to Vancouver yielded this pair of Advent/1 speakers from a local thrift store. I have had many Advents Speakers come my way including the Advent 5012, the New Large Advent, the Smaller Advent, the Baby Advent, the Advent 2002 and a pair of Advent 2W that were in my possession before the birth of this blog. Needless to say I have been a big fan of Advents along with EPI speakers as both are well designed 2 way acoustic suspension speakers.


This pair is a later version with the metal woofer basket but still with the fried egg tweeter. New foam surrounds were needed after 40 years. The cabinets are real wood veneer and I would rate them a 7 out of 10 at this point. These definitely needed some serious dust cleaning at this point.

 I really like  this set of Advent/1 speakers and they remind me of the New Large Advent I had but the cabinet is not as nice and the bass extension is close but not as deep as the New Large Advents, the rest of the speaker has the same acoustic signature as its' big brother.

I am currently running these off my Electrohome Push/Pull tube amp and I am really pleased with the detail of the sound plus the warm deep bass that these are known for. Although I am a big open baffle fan I will keep this pair of speakers around for a bit, these are easily my favorite 2 way 10 inch speaker that I have come across. Just to note that the EPI 100 are my favorite 2 way 8 inch speaker.

There is plenty of opinions on how these speakers won accolades in the 1970's as one of the best speakers for the money. I would tend to agree that these are great speakers and I am pleased as punch to come across a pair, Way to go Henry Kloss.

Electrohome Lorainne 40 Push Pull EL84 tube amp

Another piece of fine audio equipment came home from the same place as the EMI 630 speakers, this 20WPC Electrohome Lorainne 40 push/pull tube amplifier.

This unit has had some previous work done to it with separate volume pots, handles on the side and feet attached to the bottom.

The 12AX7 tubes are Mullard/Amperex tubes that flash upon start up.

So I now have the best of both worlds with an Electrohome Marseilles Single Ended tube amp and this Electrohome Push/Pull.

On first impressions the Electrohome P/P is much louder and can drive all my speakers to a pretty decent decibel level where as the Electrohome SET can only push my most efficient speakers to the 98-100db level, which is plenty loud.

I was expecting more bass from the  and the bass that is there is well controlled, the mids and highs are clean and transparent along with the imaging. Where I find the biggest difference is the open and luscious mid range and highs that the Electrohome Single Ended offers up, it just can not be beat. Once the mids and highs are this good the three dimensional imaging is spot on with a single ended tube amp.

There is a fantastic write up called "Single Ended vs. Push Pull: The fight of the Century" by Eddie Vaughn, it is a good overview of both amplifiers.

Just like the analogue vs. digital, New England vs. West Coast, solid state vs. tube and single ended vs. push pull you will get diehards defending either argument.

So, where does my bias lean towards? I seem to like the pure Class A sound of a single ended tube amp more than the Class A/B of the push pull, both are great but the Single Ended just nudges out the Push/Pull with the open mid range and sparkling highs.