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I love looking at these old parts, they don't even need to work. I would really like to get my hands on an old valve B&W TV set. I used to 'take them apart' when i was a kid, so for nostalgic reasons alone I'd love to get my hands on one - a non-working one preferred to avoid 'collectors' premium.
I was well aware of this, and have owned and worked on many "legendary" pieces. Just because some
musicians will pay ridiculous prices for crap parts to put in their guitar amps doesn't make them any better.
Home audio equipment is supposed to be transparent, not affected.
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Well put, I couldn't agree more
!Polycarbonate capacitors are out of production worldwide nowadays, 'cause no one produces polycarbonate film anymore.
After having learned to make plastic film capacitors, WIMA became a well regarded manufacturer. Anyway, their paper capacitor lines Tropydur and Durolit these days are unreliable simply due to their age.
Best regards!
No, they are not simply unreliable because of their age. I can show you different Wima lines of capacitors which are still reliable after many decades. Thats what I meant with simple paroles about the reliability of components without the background knowledge why they are unreliable.
Tropidur are unreliable because they are paper caps with a housing that is determined to store humidity and is prone to become defective.
Durolit can stay healthy for a very long time but as they are paper caps, too, they tend to become defective.
Some other foil caps are not prone to be defective because they are build in better style.
Thats knowledge about components structure instead of shouting paroles without depper understanding.
Tropidur are unreliable because they are paper caps with a housing that is determined to store humidity and is prone to become defective.
Durolit can stay healthy for a very long time but as they are paper caps, too, they tend to become defective.
Some other foil caps are not prone to be defective because they are build in better style.
Thats knowledge about components structure instead of shouting paroles without depper understanding.
My home audio is supposed to create a certain sound.
Shindo Laboratory use the slogan "sound create producer" as well on their tube amps (which are being called superior not by a small margin). Are we all nuts?
Should we change to equipment with 0.00000001 percent distortion just to hear the real audio?
Are the great audio designers who build things like a Marantz 7 just misleaded guys who didn't know any better? And are the people who buy and use such units today totally mad or misdirected and you will show them the real audio world?
To clarify matters, I've met Marantz, Hafler, and Hegeman. I knew both J. Gordon Holt and Bill Johnson personally.
I've owned and/or worked on the Marantz 7C, 8B, 9, and 10B. Also the Audio Research D50F1B, D100, SP2C, SP3A1,
D51, D75, D76, D76A, and D150. Also all of the tube Dynaco and several Luxman units. So in fact, I do actually know
a bit about all of this.
Just because it has tubes, however, does not mean that it sounds good, or that it cannot be improved. In fact, all
of these classic pieces had significant design flaws, and could have been (and were) improved in sound quality from
the original designs, not to create a certain sound, but to have less of a sound of their own. High fidelity, you know?
I've owned and/or worked on the Marantz 7C, 8B, 9, and 10B. Also the Audio Research D50F1B, D100, SP2C, SP3A1,
D51, D75, D76, D76A, and D150. Also all of the tube Dynaco and several Luxman units. So in fact, I do actually know
a bit about all of this.
Just because it has tubes, however, does not mean that it sounds good, or that it cannot be improved. In fact, all
of these classic pieces had significant design flaws, and could have been (and were) improved in sound quality from
the original designs, not to create a certain sound, but to have less of a sound of their own. High fidelity, you know?
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Obviously you were not able to read my posting above your's correctly. I've been clearly relating to just these WIMA Tropydur and Durolit capacitors (that might have been top of the line in the 1950ies and 1960ies) and saying that WIMA foil capacitors (paper capacitors aren't »other« foil capacitors per definitionem, btw.) are well up to task, and this worldwide.
And it's definitely not me who's shouting paroles here. My standpoints are deeply based on science and good engineering practice, just the opposite of snake oil BS and judgements based on personal tastes.
Best regards!
I met the Dalai Lama, Helmut Kohl, the german pope Karl Ratzinger (who lived in the same town as myself in the south) and Ken Shindo himself. No joke. And many more on audio fairs to talk with.
High fidelity is an outdated synonym for the modern term High End Audio.
Thats what they aimed yesterdays, thats what they aim for today.
So if you are into "more High Fidelity" in the meaning of the old term for good quality audio of the 1950/1960s, Marantz model 7 was a very good engineered tube preamp for the prosumer market. To me (and some more), this unit characterizes very good the qualities of two decades of what is called today the "golden age of tube audio". Improvement is always possible but far to many "experts" out there that do a massacre with those old gears, which makes the original condition models even more precious and rare.
In fact, you will have a hard time to replace those original ingredients with modern parts. It always alters the sound to a major degree. If you think you can better anything, you must be a better engineer as all those genious persons of the past. I wouldn't make this statement so easily.
The youth quickly finished with the word Difficult to handle like a knife's edge; They take cheekily from their hot heads The measure of things that only judge themselves.
Wallensteins Tod II, 2. (Wallenstein)
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