Sherwood S-7100A Receiver

Another amazing low wattage amp arrived this week, the Sherwood S-7100A receiver. This unit has a beautiful walnut veneer case. The unit is rated at 18 watts per channel and is quite highly regarded.

Under rated to the Pioneer's and Marantz of the same era but an absolute great sound receiver. The bass is full and the sound stage is spot on. I had this unit powering the Visonik Euro 7's and I am impressed.

I cleaned the pots and need to replace the bulbs.

The Classic Receivers site has a good write up on this unit as does Seventies Stereo.

Along with the Yamaha CR-400 I am really enjoying the low wattage receivers.

Creek 4040s2 Integrated Amp

I came across this mid 80's Creek 404s2 amp yesterday on my way to work. I did not know anything about Creek but realized that this little amp was designed and built in England. I knew it would be worth while.

The 4040s2 is rated at 30 watts per channel into 8 ohms and 40 watts per channel into 4 ohms, there is a large toroidal transformer with two 6800uf caps, this unit states that it has 11 amps of back up power for peak music.

I have only had about 30 minutes of time with this unit playing through the Visonik Euro 7's, Tannoy Oxford Gold's and the B&W D5's and wow! does this little unit sound open and transparent.

I will run this unit soon with the Mission 770 Freedom IV's and the Celestion Ditton 110's soon.

There will be more to come in the future on this amazing little amp.

Sears Professional Series AM-4657 Amp

Just for fun I picked up this well built by today's standards and probably by the mid 80's standards this Sears Professional Series amp.

Sears always had a audio and TV department and they produced only a few decent products some of it on par with Radio Shack stuff.

This amp, although it is built to look like a Sansui was actually built in Korea by AGS, who also made Audio Reflex products. This amp is also known as the Audio Reflex A-120.

The build quality is pretty decent and uses silicon transistors on the output stage, it has a fairly heavy transformer, two 4700uf  caps and really nice machined controls.

My bet is this unit is around 45 watts per channel, I have had this unit running the Celestion Ditton 110's and the sound is very neutral, bass is nice and tight and the mid range is pleasant with nothing missing in the high end. It is a pretty clean amp all around.

Sure this is no Sansui or Pioneer from the same era but like Radio Shack units probably do not get any respect, which is too bad. 

Single Ended Tube Amp

A little update on the Electrohome tube amp that I recently picked up, first off it is a Single Ended tube amp as opposed to a Push/Pull tube amp. There is a tone of debate on which sounds better and for the price I paid for my amp there is no debate.

The 6BQ5 tubes run around 5.7 watts per channel of pure Class A power, plenty of power for very efficient speakers at a normal to semi loud listening level.

I have run the gauntlet of speakers through this amp and only two pairs really shine and bring out the best in the audio signal and believe me this amp is extremely revealing, open and absolutely clean and clear, so much I hear things I never heard before.

So, which speakers sounded best with this amp?

Tannoy Oxford Gold, hands down winner....

There is something about the horn loaded tweeter that is spot on with this amp. The Oxford Golds are 93db efficient and the 10" woofer rounds out the solid bass perfectly. The tweeters are nearly time aligned with the woofer, so the sound is great. The highs sparkle, the mid range is spot on as if you are in a studio with the musicians and instruments right in front of you, it really is amazing to listen through these speakers. When listening to my audio sources through solid state equipment, the Tannoy's do not shine as well as they do with tubes.

Another great speaker to run with the tube amp is the Sound Dynamics 10S, once again a very efficient speaker at around 96db, the bass is much fuller with the Sound Dynamic but the overall sound is more like you are at an 1000 seat concert room.

The recessed horn loaded tweeter throws out a wider sound stage and is not recording studio precise as the Tannoy's. These speakers are time aligned due to the recess of the tweeter, smooth across the mid range and deep in the bass. Like I said these are like you are at the concert where as the Tannoy's you are in the studio.

I am absolutely  awe struck in what I am currently listening to and feel that I have reached a peak in performance and I will find it hard to top this set up.

Akai AM-2450

Another great little amp fell on my lap recently, this Akai AM-2450 amp.

A very solidly built 45WPC amp from the latter 70's, I have spent a bit of time with this amp and was very impressed with the sound.

Electrohome Marseilles tube receiver

My first tube receiver was found today inside a console stereo, an Electrohome Marseilles unit.

When tested it fired up in the store and it is a stereo unit so I was in luck.

I see there is a growing trend in some areas in restoring old console stereos but locally there is not.

I managed to safely remove the receiver unit from the wood coffin, the turntable did not look worthy of saving.

I do not have the space for a full console stereo and if it was more of a mid century piece perhaps I would refurbish the unit.

The receiver is out and resting on top of the Marantz 2270 and now I know what tube sound is all about...smooth, detailed and warm.

This unit is currently powering the Braun L830's.

This unit is missing a few knobs so I moved the knobs from the tuner section down, I do not plan on using the tuner portion of this unit.

Marantz 2270 Receiver

I came across a surviving Marantz 2270 Receiver today, which will need a fair amount of restoration work.

This beast weighs in at 40 lbs. and is rated at 70WPC.

This is my first step into the cult of Marantz outside of the later year Marantz SR-1000. No comparison in build at all.

This unit needs new bulbs, feet a power button and probably needs a full cap replacement.

So far the unit powers up without the on/off button, I have yet to attach speakers and a source, that will be next.

It would be worth the money to restore a receiver of this vintage, given the following it has.