Speakerlab Model 3

Another summer project that I finally got around to getting most of the work done is this pair of Speakerlab Model 3 circa 1975.

These units needed the woofers re foamed and the mids need to be done which I will do next.

Speakerlab was a California Seattle company that most have not heard of. the sold kits that you could build or have units built for you.

They still have a site up where you can peruse their catalogues of yesteryear.

 
This pair of Model 3's feature Peerless mid range and tweeters, I would also assume that this would be a 12'" Peerless woofer.

The cabinets are a beautiful walnut veneer that I will look into re finishing when the weather gets nicer. Although there is a tiny separation in the mid range surround I have found that it has not affected the sound at all. This will be fixed in short order

Very similar in size and bass as the Altec Model 9's this pair is a bit more refined with the same efficiency that pairs well with the tube amp. I had these speakers at the same time as the Altec's so it was an easy decision to let the Altec speakers go to the same person that bought the Cerwin Vegas.

I have been running this pair of speakers with the Magnavox Push/Pull tube amp and the sound is pure liquid gold to my ears. Extremely full bass, lush, lush mids and sparkling highs. The sound stage is deep and wide.

This pair of Speakerlabs are going to be around in the listening room for some time.

Electro Voice 12 TRXB speakers

Oh my god, these Electro Voice 12TRXB triaxial showed up this week and WOW.

We were so excited to get these up and running we just mounted them in open air and sat back and listened in amazement.

These units are going into an Open Baffle that we at Speakerholic are going to start to design. These units will be awesome for our venture.

A bit more can be found here.

Beautiful on a single ended tube amp, just beautiful!!

KLH Model 21 table radio

Effectively a speaker box with a radio inside this super cool Henry Kloss Model 21 table radio arrived today.

This unit has a wonderful walnut veneer case with super cool Bakelite plastic knobs. These units were well known for their tuning sensitivity and great sound for late 60's gear.

Inside is a small full range driver with a massive magnet that produces great sound. There is even a bass and treble adjustment, that is how good Henry wanted these to sound.

There is plenty of information on these radios and from what I gather the value of these are going higher in terms of collectables.

I will take this unit apart and clean up the case and front grill along with a good cleaning. This is one of the better sites for a write up.

This is a super cool thing to add to my collection.

Vintage Receivers for under $50.00, not any more!

I had a funny conversation with a Craigslist lowballer today that figured that silver faced vintage Radio shack gear was worth $45.00.

I usually sell my gear for a reasonable price and I attempt to repair stuff that is unique and worthy of repairing, which brings me to a pretty rare Realistic STA-111 receiver or for that matter a Realistic System 11.

I opted to not send this unit to the landfill and spent the money on getting it repaired locally, it is worth saving the Made in Japan stuff from the 70's and 80's as opposed to the Made in China crap that is made to the lowest price point only to end up in landfills in about 5 years.

So here is my conversation.

Here is an Angry Bird Bluetooth speaker that people that have no sense of value probably think is cheap.

$66.00 will get you this future piece of landfill junk but $45.00 for something made well and sounds great when people actually cared for those qualities is insulting, now it could be that this CL Lowballer is financially embarrassed.

I had a quick check on CL to see what was available in receivers for sub $100 locally, outside of plenty of Black Plastic Crap and HT 5.1, 6.1. 7.1  I found two that where of the Silver faced type, both I would pass on, but my new found ex friend figures he can do better.

I did offer up a nice Yamaha HT unit for $50.00 but I guess that was $5.00 out of his price range too.

Harman Kardon The Lute A220

This Harman/Kardon A220 "The Lute" has been on loan to me this week, a little wonderful 12-15 watt push pull tube amp.

This unit was brought up from the USA and has gone through a full refurbish locally.

A beautiful sounding unit that oozes all the goodness of tubes that I often write about on this blog. This unit is in exceptionally good condition.

Marantz Model 28 update

I just got this lovely Marantz Model 28 back from Pure Sound locally and this little unit sounds absolutely wonderful for 20WPC.

This is a late 60's early 70's model that came out before the 22XX models. I like this era of solid state receivers as I find they are modeled closest to a push pull tube amp and this unit has that sound. Under normal listening conditions the bass is full, mid range is smooth and the highs are not as crisp as a single ended tube amp but pleasant just the same.

Imaging in the mid range is pretty nice with this unit, with a nice deep three dimensional sound stage.

This unit was noisy in the right channel when arrived and it has since been serviced at Pure Sound, a few transistors had to be replaced. All capacitors checked out to be fine. This unit still has minimal noise but it is very low and I will accept that given the age of the unit. The noise does not interfere with the music at all.

November update:

Since buying a Magnavox push pull tube amp, I would put the sound of this receiver near to the sound of the Magnavox. Not as lush in the mid range and a little brashy in the upper mids to low highs but a real solid sound stage that sounds magnificent. this unit matches well with the more efficient speakers that I own. this piece will be staying in the collection.

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.