synthfreek Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 My ST-70 has served me well for the past 4 years or so but I'm starting to blow tubes more frequently and I occasionally get some hissy noises so I wanna get something a little more reliable. I do like the sound a lot and have no complaints when it's working. I want something that I can turn on, bias & forget about for a long time. I can spend up to $1,000 tops and that would have to include shipping. I'm open to new or vintage but anything vintage will need to appear like new to please my wife. The vintage pieces that I could probably get in that budget would be: Harman Kardon Citation II or V Dynaco MK III monoblocks Another ST-70 but with all the bells & whistles(mine was mostly stock) I'm more in the dark about new stuff and would like to hear some input. I may be able to check out Jolida amps here in Austin but not much else. Another dealer has Mcintosh which is obviously out of my price range and another dealer specializes only in polite British SS gear. Feel free to email or post anything you may have for sale that may fit the bill. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 These look pretty nice... http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstube&1141840842Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synthfreek Posted January 31, 2006 Author Share Posted January 31, 2006 Wow! Those look great. I've only been pulling up the amps in such a way that I only see what has just been posted daily. I wonder why they're still there after 3 1/2 weeks? I see pretty crappy looking stocks go for close to that on eBay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 eric, assuming your st-70 is basically stock you might be better off spending $500 on a rebuild/mod on your existing amp. upgraded caps in the PS and signal chain + upgraded input board could give you an amazing amp for half your budget. If you can stretch your budget just a bit and are patient you could lick up a marantz 8b, that owuld be a clear upgrade form the st-70, otherwise you may be hard-pressed to find something better for only $1k. regards, tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 My $1,000 recipe: QSC 1202 power amp (2) Teac L700P's one active crossover You will not regret it! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago_Pete Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 For $1000 you could get a pair of rebuilt ST70's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranjith Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 heres an st-70 with some bells and whistles I ran across while surfing ebay, though I'd pass it along http://cgi.ebay.ca/DYNACO-ST-70-TUBE-AMP-NEW-REBUILD-MODS-UPGRADES_W0QQitemZ5860750570QQcategoryZ71545QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemnot affiliated to the seller Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgeraci Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 eric, assuming your st-70 is basically stock you might be better off spending $500 on a rebuild/mod on your existing amp. upgraded caps in the PS and signal chain + upgraded input board could give you an amazing amp for half your budget. If you can stretch your budget just a bit and are patient you could lick up a marantz 8b, that owuld be a clear upgrade form the st-70, otherwise you may be hard-pressed to find something better for only $1k. regards, tony What Tony said. Carl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 eric, assuming your st-70 is basically stock you might be better off spending $500 on a rebuild/mod on your existing amp. upgraded caps in the PS and signal chain + upgraded input board could give you an amazing amp for half your budget. If you can stretch your budget just a bit and are patient you could lick up a marantz 8b, that owuld be a clear upgrade form the st-70, otherwise you may be hard-pressed to find something better for only $1k. regards, tony What Tony said. Carl. I'll third that notion. The ST70 itself done up properly could be a major upgrade and leave you plenty of money to spend on other things. Mark III's would be a nice upgrade but hard to find in like new condition/upgraded within your budget. Most of the new amp in the 1K range could not compete with the ST70 upgraded with the right parts in the right places. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 eric, if you save up a bit more, like $1,500-2,000 a bunch more amp posiblities are available. The marantz 8b I mentioned often goes in that range on ebay as does the Citation II you mentioned (though I am not a big fan of that amp personally). You also have Dynaco MkIII and MkIVs (my favorite dynaco!) you could pick up at that level fully modded. Lastly, but not leastly (lol), you have the McIntosh MC240 at that level. I think that choosing between an 8b and MC240 is perhaps the best kind of "problem" one can have... I say enjoy the ST-70, spend some money to upgrade it ( have you bought mullard EL34s and rca 7199s yet?)...and when you upgrade take the biggest leap possible, starting with these vintage choices and if possible wait until you have $2,500-4,000 to get into the big leagues. Best regards, Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 Buy a Super T digital amp for 139$, wait for it to arrive, then send your St-70 to NOS Tubes for upgrades. When the ST-70 returns, swap between the two as your heart desires enjoying that you have two examples of amplifiers that each do somethings better than just about any amplifier out there, and that no one amplifier can do it all, and that you have for around 700 bucks all in achieved what many audiophools spend 10 times trying to re-create. Then again, that is just my 2ct. Peace, TommyK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRBILL Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 Listen to TONY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago_Pete Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 Up the budget to $1200 and consider a Mac 225. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerin Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 rebuilt my st-70 2 weeks ago, spent $65 for a reproduction driver board w/all new cap's and resistor's, $74 for an upgraded power supply, 80 bucks for new tubes and checked out and made sure all other resistors were up to grade. To me i now have one of the best sounding amp's i have owned to date.so for around $250 bucks you would have a very nice amp It put me where i want to be as far as amps go, now i want to play around with different sources and speakers[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synthfreek Posted February 1, 2006 Author Share Posted February 1, 2006 I'm waiting on a second response on my offer on the MK III's. I already have a few tri-paths and for what they are they're great but I don't want them for my main amp(s). To be honest I just want a different amp than the ST-70 I already have. Did anyone check out these MK III's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 I've been looking at them (and they are stunning), and that's why I gave you the link. I'm also looking at his ST-70 which he now has up for sale on eBay. http://cgi.ebay.com/DYNACO-ST-70-TUBE-AMP-NEW-REBUILD-MODS-UPGRADES_W0QQitemZ5860750570QQcategoryZ71545QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem He's asking $650 on Agon, but would have sold it to me for $600. I told him I would take my chances with the auction on eBay. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 A little out of your budget Mike but somebody might like these: http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstube&1143912149 Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 Jeez... I sure would like to have those... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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