...in the early days because I was an idiot ;(
In the summer of '86, I acquired my first Thorens TD124 equipped with the above tonearm at an estate auction for $1!!! I kept and used the turntable but the plastic cover of the counterweight was cracked so I replaced it with a Sumiko MMT. I eventually sold this tonearm for $10. I didn't know what an Ortofon SMG212 was then.
I purchased a box lot of tubes and parts for $5 at a hamfest which contained one of these. Later that day, I accepted a $15 offer for the transformer. I've been looking for another one since...
Found one at a flea market for two bucks and flipped it at a hamfest for $20. I didn't know it was an Altec 3000B, the phenolic horn looked too cheesy.
My first foray into tubes was a Dynaco Pas3 for 75 bucks in 94. I had never realized a preamp could transform the sound of a system so much. It was like nothing I had ever heard. Coming from my solid state amp.I looked inside and the tubes said Dynaco West Germany. I thought, old 1960 german junk, probably worn out. So I sent for 4 new 12ax7 tubes that said RAM on them, expecting even more sonic bliss. It sounded like crap. Unfortunatly I had tossed the , probably Telefunkens,, in the garbage and they were gone. Live and learn.
ReplyDelete