A vintage system in a cellar
Just for your curiosity, here are some pics of a vintage system(s) that I came across during last weeks of 2011. The system was hidden in a mysterious - sort of - old cellar, more suitable for a wine cellar than for an auditorium. Or so you might think.
The system comprises several vintage loudspeakers, a couple of classic tube amps, and a solid state preamp& couple. Plus a plain CD player, on which nothing else.
I gathered that the first acquisition was Sharp Optonica pre/power amp. Not an inferior combo by any standard. Optonica was to Sharp what Elite was for Pioneer or ES for Sony. Optonica was launched in the 1970s and had a quite good reputation at the time.
After the Sharp combo, a pair of refurbished Quad II mono blocks took over. These amps need no introduction. Apart from a few connectors, all is as it used to be including the original KT66s.
Quite recently the Quads have been fighting for a place in the sun with small power vintage Siemens 6S Ela 2427 mono amps from 1959. Not much is known about the history of these particular amps. They are push-pull amps with two EL84s on the deck, and have probably served in a movie theatre at some point of their existence. Both units had been modified by someone earlier. With all the knobs et cetera they look terrific! (pictured here on top of Sharps)
The funny looking cellular loudspeakers sitting on top of big Beomasters, is Mercuriale FC 413 from France (1970s). The white balls in between are original Grundig Audiorama 7000 (1971) with four mid/woofers and eight tweeters. However, the loudspeaker we were listening were rarely seen Henry Kloss KLH Ten Model CT-38 featuring two 8" mid/woofers (bearings repaired) and two 2,5" paper cone tweeters. These 1970s speakers were connected to Siemens amps and the programme material was jazz and classical.
A really delightful sound! No sonic artificialities of typical modern HiFi playback systems. The two tweeters produce smooth but not dark or dim treble questioning the current dominance of domes, whether textile or metal. The midrange drivers did good for human voice, and the bass didn't color the performance unduly. Apparently the walls of the resonant space were sufficiently far from the loudspeakers in order not to disturb the direct sound providing a truly pleasant under-earth listening moment.
I saw many other vintage audio objects hanging around, eg. stunning Siemens-Klangfilm 14" widebandwidth loudspeakers. More of those, later. Many thanks to the owner for making the visit possible.
All images by Kari Timonen.