Just bought a leak stereo 20 (pics!)

[SHiFTY]

Well I found this stereo 20 in a local used hi-fi store, was pretty cheap and included a spare set of valves, the matching preamp, instruction manual and all cables. I also have 3 new telefunken EL84s and are looking for one more if anyone has any!

It has been serviced, but I still plan on doing some serious restoration- all power supply caps, connectors, maybe valve sockets, and any dodgy resistors. However I plan to keep it basically original- i have my diy amps for mucking around with.

Anyone got any experience with these amps? Any idea why is it missing the impedance selectors on the output transformers? Is there a good way to touch up the gold paint BTW?

[martinab2]

Maybe the impedance selectors were removed so someone could chance their arm on ebay - here I know about the supply and demand thing, but a £15 minimum bid for a couple of scraps of metal and plastic seems a wee bit over the top to me.
The Leaks are nice amps with all the main components being of good quality. I've seen one or two ropey mains transformers (usually obvious from all the wax dripping everywhere) but thats really about it. I'm not absolutely sure from the photos but it looks like someone has already replaced all the small electrolytics with newer ones. I reckon that some better quality replacements might be a good idea as the ones fitted look like bog standard tv / radio types. The main smoothing caps are more of a problem if you want to keep everything looking original. Modern capacitors are much smaller physically so you would either have to hide them in the original cans or mount them underneath the chassis. Maybe I have just been lucky, but in all the Leak amps I have owned, the original caps were still fine.
I would also leave the paint well alone unless it is really bad (looks fine from the pics) I have never had much luck trying to touch up scratches as the new paint makes them look more obvious somehow.

[rcavictim]

Perhaps the speaker impedance links were taken to plug another Leak!

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Nice find!

Perhaps you can make U-links with a short wire soldered between two pins removed from an octal tube base?

[GeirW]

Gday.

Is there a good way to touch up the gold paint

Don`t you wan`t to change the apperance ? (finnish)
I don`t care much for "Gold", brass is better, but it will be "to much". If it where me, i have sanded the shassis and painted
it with matt black, the trafo/cap coats, i would have sanded all down, to get back the "steel", or the other way around.
And as a last thing, got the logo engraved out of a steelplate.
Anyway, to repair the alredy used paint, the result is going to be 50/50, i don`t think this gold enamel color code, exist anymore.
Or maybe you get lucky.

[Shoog]

I had a Leak Stereo 20 at the start of my diy quest. I loved the sweet hang in the air sound. Couldn't live with the woolly bass and so in the end sold it on Ebay. Great amp, wouldn't mind having another one.

Shoog