CaptnBob

Sherwoods of that vintage were well thought of at the time. Not as flashy as the Marantz 22 series, or as over the top as Sansui or Pioneer offerings, but good solid performers. Main drawback, as I recall, was a somewhat noisy phono section. For fifty bucks, how far wrong can you go? Around St. Louis, you'd have to figure on $85 or so for a routine cleaning and checkout, with maybe some tuner alignment thrown in.

JBL Paragon - it made a bit more of a statement than other family members were ready for. Electro Voice Patricians - I didn't even try. Klipsch Belles - In my 13' x 12' office. Actually sounded quite nice. Only regret was office was on second floor...

The father of the guy who introduced me to Klipsch (thanks, Mr. Bob!) had Shorthorns driven by a Sherwood tube integrated. He lived in Wellesley, and said Bill Bell, if customers couldn't swing both Klipsch and Mac or Marantz, would steer them to the better speakers and a Sherwood amp. Good advice. For some reason - probably the real dated styling and the knobs that change color with time - Sherwood doesn't seem to get its "props" these days, which actually might make them a good value. They could certainly "shuffle and cut" with contemporary Scotts and Fishers, and for the most part were considered better than Pilots and Eicos. I don't think they ever made a "statement" product, either, nothing to put with the big 6-CA7 based Scotts, Dynas and Fishers, which probably doesn't help their reputation.

I wonder what the electronics were (and where they are) that drove these guys. Being in Wellesley, the Klipsches probably came from the legendary Music Box, and they seemed to usually pair their big systems with McIntosh or Sherwood.

The problem with the counter is probably the belt has disintegrated. It's shouldn't be that hard a fix. Do you have a head demagnetizer and cleaning supplies? You'll need to invest in those before you go too much further.

Yeah, what Don said. Lots of weird phasing effects. There are reasons people stopped using them for home applications, besides size. True fact. Back in old days, a way to control dispersion with one of these things was to stuff the cells pointed in the wrong direction with towels or rags.

I was going to say TubeDepot too - they say they have the 7044s, but are reticent about the brand name. Vacuumtubesinc.com lists 7044s for $15 each. They're out there.

Should you really buy stereo stuff as an investment? You should buy it because you like the way it sounds, because it "speaks" to you. One of the reasons I sold my Marantz amps was I got convinced they would never go any higher ($800 for 4 2s, 2 1s, and a 6) and I was more than doubling my money. Sheesh! I really wish I'd listened to my heart instead of my pocketbook (and my friends!.) Of course, this doesn't apply to "targets of opportunity" like the $30 McIntosh at the auction, or the $20 Cornwalls at the yard sale ...

The meter, besides looking way cool, was to let you adjust the tubes. One position let you to set the bias, another the AC balance, and finally DC balance. A nice feature, as it let you use mismatched tubes, and would give you a heads up on imminent tube failure, as would hearing the amp mechanically hum when it was warming up. When I first got mine, I'd adjust the bias every day. Not really necessary, but fun, kind of like tuning up your new sports car. The adjustment points originally came with little plastic caps, but they tended to melt. On the 8 and 8b, the adjustment points were moved a bit farther away from the tubes. The Marantz 2 is a fine amp, but I think nowadays, as far as sound quality goes, well, you can buy a lot of first rate amplification for $7,000 that's not full of half-century old components.

You dream proper. I used to have four of them - two with white meters and two with gold. Selling them, along with the matching One preamps and Six sidecar was the biggest audio mistake I ever made. But hey, it was the eighties, everyone was telling me parts and tubes would be unavailable, the caps were a quarter century old and not available at the time, and the only repair guy I knew who understood them was getting out of the business. Plus, with the Dahlquists I had at the time, the Audio Research D-75 seemed to sound better. They were great amps - headroom for days, a little soft on the top end, but loads of punch. The 8b (and presumably the 9a) seemed more detailed but the 2 sounded more "real." A great match for Klipschs. If you didn't mind the loud pop, and could keep from getting burned, you could switch between triode and ultra-linear on the fly. I could never tell much difference on the variable damping, so I usually just left it bypassed. The three inputs were nice, too. The "Preamp" had lower gain than the other two, and had a high-pass (20 hz.) filter on it. With the test input, it was more or less flat down to 2 hz (!) It could actually throw good two hertz square waves, if you didn't mind the loud clicking noise coming from one of the transformers and the way the amp slightly hopped. There hasn't been a week that I haven't regretted selling them. Oh, yeah. The 1974 prices - Marantz 2 = $60 each, Marantz 8b = $100, Marantz 1 = $50, Marantz 6 = $20. At least I was smart enough to keep the Marantz 7 and the Scott 330d with the Marantz faceplate.

NAD made some very cost-effective gear "back in the day." As a matter of fact they still do.

Well, "No" was one of the words I used. There were several others, too, mostly of Germanic and Anglo-Saxon derivation. The amp seems more or less, ok, by the way - unlike my knee, which broke the fall a bit, or the speaker, which the 275 landed on after deflecting off my knee. Or the cardboard box it finally came to rest on.

I can bring a Marantz SA8260 if we need it. It usually plays cds ok, unless they're by Neil Young. I can also bring the Hadley 601 and the Mc-275, if it's out of the shop. (That's right, ol' butterfingers gave it its second free-fall experience...)

The Aristocrat was a rear-loaded corner-horn, nominally designed by Paul Klipsch, and like a Shorthorn, really only gives its best when tucked into a corner. You can see some of the flare going backwards in one of the pictures. The Aristocrat was in EV's line for decades, and could be fitted with anything 12 inch - I've seen them loaded with JBLs, Altecs, Jensens and the occasional Japanese speaker. The "full dress" version came with a 12W, a T-25 and a T-35. There was also a non-corner version called a "Marquis," designed for people who didn't have opposing corners. You don't see many Marquis these days, for some reason. The Wolverines were EV's entry level speaker, and quite a value, then and now. The tweeter in the middle there is a T-35w, which was a lighter and less efficient version of the T-35 and T-35b. The big thing to watch with the Wolverines is they have very limited power handling capabilities (20 watts or so) and are hard to get fixed these days. Congratulations on the purchase - you'll be happy with them.

Marantz 2 with the amber meter. Elegant and business like at the same time. SAE Mark III - So it didn't sound so great. Proof that "Handsome is" is not necessarily the same as "Handsome does." McIntosh MC-2125 McIntosh MC-2505 Everything just looks right on these two amps. McIntosh MC-2300 Sits there and seems to say "Myself am POWER!" E. H. Scott put some chrome plated beauties in their consoles in the forties and fifties. I forget the model, but Grommes has a little tube amp with a chrome chassis that looks like a baby Mac. Marantz 9 Doesn't look particularly dated when it's forty years old. From the "Golden Glow of Wretched Excess" department - Gold plated Mc-275 Golden Tube Audio had some nice looking amps too - too bad they were roaringly unreliable.

Figure on that "per each." Also allow for a through refit.

My first "serious" preamp was a C-20. I took it a Mac clinic and Mr. O'Brian said (and this is a quote - it's been over thirty years but I can hear it like yesterday) "We're not too proud of that one." (After testing my brother's Marantz 2270, he said "They have some real engineers over there." but I digress...) The C-20 was IMHO a quantam step above the Dyna PAS 3, and is still the most flexible preamp I've ever used -if you are getting into old, pre RIAA records the C-20 is the unit to get. Equalization curves galore. The bass trims on the back are nice too, as is the variable loudness control. The things to watch out for are the volume control, which has been known to not track well after so many years (the left and right channels change volume at different rates as you turn the knob up or down) the phase switch, which for some reason increases distortion when engaged, running too long a cable run between the C-20 and whatever power amp you're using. As for the other Mac tube preamps, the C-22 is reportedly much better sounding. The C-11 is not as flexible a unit, but as a simpler design, is probably a bit cleaner. If I was grading a C-20, I'd say flexibility A, sound C-. I'd also have to say, at going rates, it's probably over-priced.

I had a similar unipivot in the late seventies, when they were the "cat's meow." It had 4 mercury (!) baths for four pins on top of the arm to rest in and carry the signal from the cartridge to the base of the arm. The idea was that the mercury would help damp the arm and at the same time eliminate any problems caused by the wires twisting. People were a little vague about chemical hazards in those days...

Radio Craftsman? (Or Craftsman for short.)

The Patrician IV was a scaled up Klipschorn with an 18" woofer. It's only vaguely similar to the Pat 700. The Pat II and Pat III were actually closer, in that they shared the SP-12 mod for the upper bass. This question always comes up. The woofers alone can bring up to $800 if you're lucky - the tweeters go in the $200-400 range if they are in good shape. The SP-12 and T-250 maybe $100 each. A full pair, in nice shape - anybody's guess, but $6,000 would not be out of line. Some pairs may reach for 5 figures. Except of course for that plutonium business.

Nice score - The Pat 700 was EVs top speaker during the early sixties - extremely big and heavy, close to 300 pounds. But you know that already. As I recall, starting at the bottom, there's a thirty (!) inch styrofoam woofer facing backwards into the corner. This woofer goes incredibly deep, but be careful - it does not handle much power, and repairs are prohibitive. It hands off at 100 hz to the SP-12 variant you see in the front. At 800 hz. the T-250 takes over and, on most examples is topped off with a T-350, a giant version of the T-35 used in the Klipschorn. I've heard of some Patricians being found with Ionovac or other tweeters as well. According to the spec sheet, the frequency response is 15 - 23,000 hz, power handling is 70 watts. Works best in a corner, (natch!) but can "be placed in almost any room location." I've gathered they're often found with the tweeters blown. Luckily, they use the same diaphragm and voice coil as the T-35 (and T-35b and ST-350 for that matter.) Reviews of the time called them "stupendous" but not as detailed as more modern designs. Because of their size, they were often sold as singles with a "Stereon," which was a smaller, near Cornwall size, cabinet without the 30 incher. The idea was the bass was non-directional, and so could come from the big speaker for both left and right channels. I hope this answers most of your questions. You should be warned, however that, because of the plutonium used in the magnet structures, the Patrician 700s have been reported to cause tooth decay, premature balding, nervous twitching and insanity. I strongly suggest you send them to me for proper dispersal. Let me know and I'll have the hazmat division of "Freighters and Craters" there as soon as possible!

University was one of the big names in the primeval days of hi-fi - pitched probably a bit lower than Altec and JBL in build quality, but certainly on a par with Electro-Voice and Jensen. Their larger cabinets - the Dean, in particular, a folded horn comparable to a Belle, is well thought of. Their "Cobra-Flex" horn has many adherents too, although PWK was not among them. He did use their tweeter (he called it "sad") until EV could perfect the T-35 and the SA-HF midrange driver up until the early sixties. At some point, they were bought out by LTV - the same guys who bought out Altec - and University drifted out of the home audio market to concentrate on industrial and school applications. I'm not sure, but I think the name is still out there somewhere. Check hifilit.com and see if any of the illustrations there look familiar. Bob A.

It was very important to Mr. Klipsch that any Klipschorn with a serial number above 14 be easily upgradable to close to current performance. The tractrix would have required an unacceptable amount of woodworking. That may have been part of his thinking - plus he seems pretty heavily invested in the exponential horn in his technical papers.

Back when dinosaurs and optical soundtracks ruled the earth, theater speakers - the ones actually in movie theaters - had a very uneven response - big peak around 5 khz, and another around 100 hz or so with very fast rolloffs above and below those points. They were designed that way to counteract deficiencies in optical sound, the amplification of the time, and the fact that the speakers were behind the movie screen, effectively firing through a perforated blanket at the audience. When everything was working, the result could be very impressive, and since the speaker was not especially wide range, you couldn't tell that everything above about 8 k was distortion and below about 80 hz hum and noise. The descendant of this kind of speaker equalization was the "West Coast Screech-Boom" of the sixties and seventies, speakers by JBL and Altec which came on a direct line out of the theaters. Nowadays, (boy, I'm sounding like an old-timer!) most of the problems have been addressed - except for the screen, of course - and the difference is not so great. So in answer to your question, I'd say a good audio speaker should work well for a home theater set up. I've been less enamored of "home theater" speakers" I've heard, as they still seem to have that vestigal "screech-boom" going on.

The 8 also had a power socket on the back so it could be used with preamps like the Marantz 1 or early Macs that needed an outboard power supply. The "preamp" input has a high pass (20 hz or so) filter to weed out turntable rumble and other power-robbing, large cone excursion causing artifacts. I don't remember how my 8b did, but I know the Marantz 2s I had would make it down to 2 hz (!) through the "test input" and would produce admirable square waves as well - albeit while creating audible clicks from somewhere inside. You could feel the amps jumping slightly too. The 2s didn't get along with Dynaco tube preamps, for some reason - probably some form of impedance battle. You might want to watch for that with the PAS-2 / 8 combination. I'd leave in triode unless you really need the power. To my ears, the triode was just a teensy bit softer, the UL a bit punchier.