Allan Songer

Hey Mr. Mobile! I have always loved Rhode's furniture. I think Gilbert Rhode's designs for Herman Miller in the 1930's are every bit as exciting and fresh today as they were then. I actually find Rhode's designs far more livable that the George Nelson era products that followed. But that's just me. Lost in the 1930's. My house is beautifully decorated and my wife had (almost) nothin' to do with it. I'm probably the only guy here who knows his Heppelwhite from his Chippendale and his Bertoia from his Platner, his Nelson from his Eames and his Regency from his Louis XVI. What do think? Who here knows damask from moire? And I an NOT gay (even though I watch HGTV)!

Now I have to go out and buy an HF-81!!! Why not? It's been a long time since I've heard one and even then I admit I didn't pay THAT close attention to it! It was wrong for me to reject an amp that I never took all that seriousoly when I had one some 25 years ago. And I haven't owned a 299 Scott in about ten years either! Maybe I'll start messing around with this stuff again as I approach 50! My workbench is clean and just waiting for company. Plus I have a stereo in the garage: A Fisher 500C and a pair of old Altec Monterry Jr.s! I did like the HF-22's a LOT--are they similar in any way to the HF-81? I remember the HF-22s sounding a lot like the old Quads I had around the same time, but then I've got an irrational love for the KT-66 and EL37!! But my second fave has always been the EL84/7189 family of amps with the revered EL34 and forgotten 7591/7868 right behind. Again, this is a general rule for me, not hard and fast, that's for SURE. I have never designed an amp--I am not an engineer. I have jokingly called myself a "hack with a soldering iron" and that's not far from the truth. I can read a schematic and do basic diagnostics and repairs, very slowly and VERY carefully! But most of all I love listening to my LPs late in the evening. Last night I went through all of my Red Garland LPs with Coltrane (Soul Juction, All Morning Long, High Pressure, Traneing In)one right after the other and the whole debate about which amps make these guys sound "right" became totally unimportant. I'll go over to ebay now and try to dig up an HF-81 and when I find one and go through it, I'll try it out and then offer an INFORMED opinion! Thanks for the inspiration.

No, I do not have a good HF-81 in my system now. Nor do I have a cherry-pie 299 or 299B. But I have owned both. Between 1973 and about 1990 I bought, sold, traded, restored and (ahem!) GUTTED just about every piece of vintage tube hi-fi gear you can name. Bogen, Pilot, Scott, Sherwood, McIntosh, Marantz, H-K, Fisher, etc. I had limited expereince with Leak (one mono amp) and Quad (a pair with a pre) as well. I never said that Eico was crap. I had a pair of HF-22s in one system for at least a year, maybe longer. But it is OBVIOUS to me that the Scott 299 front end, espeically the phono sounds BETTER than the HF-81. You don't agree. Let's leave it at that. No need to get all defensive and nasty about it. Here's some more heresy for you: I owned a pair of Marantz 9's for several years and I am CONVINCED they sound much better in pentode mode. I'm probably one in a hundred who feels that way, but I do. We have different ears, you and I. I like beam tubes and you like triodes. I like SPUs and rim drive tables--you probably have never heard them nor would you care to. (I think stereo is over-rated too!) Anyway, if you get a chance listen to a 299 and tell me it's not a KILLER for the money (as is the HF-81). Cheers, AS

The only Freed-Eismann stuff I've ever come across are 1920's and 1930's radios. I guess they survived into the 50's and made some amps, but I'll bet these amps are from console units that had "preamp-tuners" and amps as well as turntables. Probably late 1940's and I'll bet they are nothing special. But they might have some killer tubes in them!

Dirt Cheap. And unless the guy who did the work was a real butcher and/or the cosmetics are for **** , then you can always DOUBLE your money if you decide do dump it on ebay. The is the best of the vintage integrateds (blows the Eico stuff being touted here into the weeds--ESPECIALLY if you listen to LPs--the phono section of the Scott 299 is really exceptional). Just buy it.

One item you might want to pick up is a the "test record" from HiFi News. If have found this to be ESSENTIAL over the years for dialing in a cartridge. It's about 30 bucks, but well worth EVERY penny. Enjoy the 3009--it's a hell of a tonearm and still an excellent choice--remarkable for something that's been in production for about 40 years!

What cartridge are you using with the 3009? If you are using something like a Shure or Grado that tacks at 1.5 grams, then that is your problem. The 3009 needs something like a Orotofon SPU or Decca London to work properly--otherwise you'll be let down and will be chasing your tail forever. By the way, I've use and SME 3012 for many, many years and I love it. In the late 70's I owned a SOTA with an SME 3009-III and then moved "up" to a Linn LP-12 that was my main deck until about 1988 or so when I came across my current Thorens 124/SME3012/SPU combonation that made EVERY LP I owned sound like MUSIC. I tend to wax poetic about the SPU the same way SET guys drool over old 2A3s and WE 300B's. I know it's "antique" and tracks at three grams and needs a monster like the 3012 to work, but DAMN if it isn't the best sounding cartridge I've ever heard!!! If you haven't lived with an SPU, you don't know what you're missing. I have five of these cartridges and keep two "retipped and ready to go" at all times. I'm surrently looking for a SPU GT mono that has proven to be impossible to find!

What's an MP3?

Nixon, Reagan, and Hoover (in that order) were the WORST Presidents of the 20th century.

I have been avoiding this one like the plague because I AM a "liberal," a card-carrying member of the ACLU and have NEVER voted GOP and consider the leadership of the Democratic party to bee WAY TOO CONSERVATIVE. I worked for Barbara Boxer's first campagin for Congress and I was a guest at both Clinton innagurals (even though I think he is WAY too conservative)and . . BLAH BLAH BLAH But I am also a devout and active memeber of my local Episcopal church. I guess I'm not a good enough Christian for most of you GOP bible-thumpers (or is that "humpers?"). Anyway, I also thought you'd like know that SOME of our founding fathers were NOT Christian--the two most notable being Jefferson and Franklin. But I suppose they don't count either . . . . Ah, to HELL with it!

Kenratboy-- The snobby answer was brought on directly by the tone of your questioning. You were, after all, making fun of the whole notion of an $1150 power cord, the whole notion that cables matter at all! So he attacked back and trashed Klipsch as well--but YOU were the one that opened that can of worms. By the way, power cords DO make a difference. I made up several of the "asylum cords" for my vintage MAC gear and Thorens 124 turntable and FOR SURE the background got WAY quieter, "blacker" if you will. I think all of the cords (four of them) cost me about 200 bucks total and were worth every penny. Now, would $1150 cords be better? Not in my modest little system with all that tube noise, Thorens rumble and Doppler distortion(?), but who the hell knows? Not me, that's for sure and not you either! And if anyone has the background and experience to know, Mr. Marks is probably the guy. I used 12 guage zip for years and now use Nordost Blue Heaven speaker cable. It makes a HUGE difference as well, but there's no use arguing about that on this forum, is there? Let's stick to Klipsch worship!

The first SET amps I "auditioned" in my home were the Moth 2a3 amps set up as mono-blocks--(I think these can be had as Stereo amps as well)--I think the retail price on these were about $3000 for the pair. The second set of amps were the Cary SE300B monoblocks--these were WAY more expensive if I recall--somewhere around $7500/pair maybe? As you can see, my experience is rather limited, but this is what I remember hearing. The 2A3 amps had the most lush midrange of any amp I've ever heard--TOO lush for my tastes, overly romantic. The bass was simply NOT THERE when compared to the McIntosh MC30s. I loved the sound at first but after 3-4 days I switched back to the old MACs and is was like going home--everything sounded "right" again--crisp clean upper mids and trebles and a rock-solid bottom end. The Cary amps were another kettle of fish altogether. These amps had all of the Set "magic" the true believers have been screaming about for the last few years. The were fast, CLEAN, transparant, lush (but not bloated), had adequate bass and PLENTY of power-- they were the best amps I've ever heard in my system. BUT THEY COST OVER SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS! They weren't THAT MUCH BETTER than the MC30's in which I have about 6 hundred dollars INCLUDING the GEC KT-66s and U52s! So, if I had a pile of money for new amps I'd really have to consider the Carys (or maybe something like them), but for now I'm happy with what I've got! By the way, have you ever really done any careful listening with the MC30? It's the real cream of the vintage McIntosh crop. I suggest you give them a serious listen with KT-66s and U52s if you get the chance. You might even like them!

I've used MC240s on and off (right now: off) for about 25 years and they CAN be terrific amps. They demand first-rate output tubes (GEC KT-66 or Mullard EL37 are the best) and at least one kick-*** 12AX7 (the rest of the tubes don't matter as much). I have listened to high-dollar 300B and 2A3 SET amps in my system and even though they were terrific, I don't think I could be happy forever with them (both lacked a certain "authority" in the bass and a lack of crispness in the upper-midrange). I'm a die-hard MAC fan and have probably just grown to accept their sound as my "standard" and can't really seem to break away. I don't really WANT to break away! All I know is that I just listened to the Paul Chambers Blue Note LP "Whims of Chambers" and his bass was RIGHT THERE in front of me! I've never heard jazz bass sound more real than with McIntosh tube amps and Klipsh Cornwalls. If you can get the amp for 800 bucks or so, just go for it. If you don't end up loving it you can spin it on ebay for a quick profit!

NO NO NO Collect LPs!

Is it hum or is it rumble? If you have tone controls, try backing off on the bass and see if the noise goes away. If it does, we can talk about RUMBLE--I might have a few ideas for you.

I went shopping for a cheap CD player for my "second system" (breakfast room) back in '98 and came across the Ah! website and ordered one of the hot-rod tubed cheap-o Marantz players. I think is was about $400 including shipping from Europe. It's been in this system (with a Fisher SA-100 amp, T-100 preamp/tuner and a pair of Tannoy 12" Monitor Golds in factory cabinets). It's a fine player for the money and has been trouble-free. In my main system I have a BAT VK-D5, a tube player that is FAR more expensive (I think it retails for $5000 now). Last year the transport crapped out and I sent it to BAT for repair and had to use the Ah! Tjoeb while it was gone. It sounded TERRIBLE in the main system (where I do all of my "critical" listening) when compared with the BAT--lifeless, thin, shrill. But this is a really unfair comparison--the BAT cost more than TEN TIMES as much! All I know is that the Ah! Tjoeb pretty much sucked in my main system, but is just find for non-critical music to read the newspaper by. But then again, I really hate CDs for the most part--I listen to vinyl about 85-90% of the time in my main system, so you'll have to take my comments with more than just a wee bit of salt.

Zerostats, once marketed by Discwasher and now by the British firm Milty are on ebay every day. They seem to sell for about 20-30 bucks.

I was never so apprehensive about any "high end voodoo" purchase in my life than when I bought the Ringmat and had it shipped over here from England about 3 years ago. Man oh man--EIGHTY BUCKS for a piece of paper with some cork rings glued to it. I felt so ripped off when I opened the package. BUT! Then I put in on the Thorens, popped on a Jimmy Smith LP (still remember the one--Blue Note #1551) and almost fell over with how crisp and clean and SNAP! right-on everything sounded. Worth every penny (at least on the TD-124).

Ok. The most versitle "low price" cartridge I know of is also a HO MC one--the Dynavector 10X4, but it will set you back about $250 on sale. My favorite cheap MM is the Goldring 1012--you'll like it--almost everyone who tries it does. And the Blue Point is a helluva deal--I totally agree with Mobile on this one.

What table? What tonearm? What kind of music do you listen to? It's hard to give you an opinion unless you tell us more! Personally, I have had nothing but misery with Grado cartridges over the years--not becasue they don't sound terrific, but becasue I have used AC-synch turntables and Grados hum like a banshee in this application. And I'm a freak for Ortofon SPU moving-coil cartridges. Anyway, let us know and I'm sore a lot of us can give you some sugggestions about cartridges!

Bought a pair of Belles from a frat-house at USC in the mid-90's for $300. They were pretty beat, but I refinished them and sold them for $1200 for the pair.

Ah, the debate between full-featured preamps and those with few or no functions! I use a McIntosh C-22 which has more features than you can shake a stick at. Do I use them? Sometimes. I have a lot of jazz 78s in pretty marginal condition--most not done on an RIAA curve- and I find that using tone controls and filters makes these records COME ALIVE. Without them I would be not be getting the COREECT information out of the grooves. I just got my vintage MONO 78 Ortofon MC back from being retipped and it sounds AWESOME! Teddy Edwards never sounded better on Dodo Maramrosa's "Up in Dodo's Room" on that Dial 78 this morning! This old, scuffed 78 sounds ten times better than the same cut on a CD I bought only 2-3 years ago! And I couldn't do it without the tone controls! I also find the mono-switch on the C-22 to be ESSENTIAL! Listening to mono LPs with a Stereo Cartridge and pre makes for REALLY noisy listening! Flip the mono switch and POOF! all the noise goes away like MAGIC! I can't believe that modern, mega-buck phono stages don't ALL have mono switches in them. Geeesh! When I listen to Stereo LPs or Compact Discs, I generally leave all of the controls flat. Maybe I'm not getting the BEST sound possible out of the gooves, but it sounds DAMN GOOD to me, and that is all that matters!

Oops! It's a 222C! I misread you and thought you said 299C! 222C is a nice little amp. Sort of a 299 on a budget--lacks some of features but the sound is VERY similar. $250 with a case is a REAL good price these days! It's better than the 299C, but still not as nice as a 299/299B. Anyway, the rest of my post is still vaild. I hope. *hic!* One too many Carlsberg Elephants this afternoon I guess . . .

I've owned TONS of Scott gear and I think anyone intersted in getting into Scott should hold out for the 299 or 299B--they are far better than the C or D and have the same value. And I say that being a BIG fan of the 7591, especially in Fisher and McIntosh gear of the same vintage. But somehow the magic of the little 299 was lost when it was beefed up from the "B" to the "C." Plus, the 299 and 299B have THE BEST phono section of any vintage integrated amp I have ever heard--PERIOD! If you like LPs, Scott is one of the best ways to go if you're on a budget. I never got into the Eico fray on this board but was more than a little stunned that everyone was jumping on the bandwagon. The Scott 299 kicks Eico *** all up and down the block as far as I'm concerned. Anyone out there owned both (in good condition) and REALLY think that the Eico sounds better than the EL84/7189 based Scott?

However! My HiFi is downstairs in the living room. My computer is upstairs in my office. I use a stand-alone Marantz CDR-615 pro CD recorder in my main system for copying LPs for the car and Airstream. I burn copies of CDs on the computer upstairs. In other words, I need both. I think the Marantz is fantastic for making copies of LPs--reminds me of my youth when I did the same with cassette tapes.