200th POST! Stereos, Guns, Cameras, Speakers, Racing, and more! A look at my most popular articles. Thanks everyone!

Gentle reader,

When I began this blog, it was just something to do. I didn't even figure out how to add photos until after several early posts. Yet, to my utter surprise and delight, people were actually reading what I wrote and leaving comments! It began on December 12th, 2008. That original page has been read 92 times. I was slow in adding new articles because there was a lot going on in my life. Since I've joined FaceBook (only recently discovering they have forums one can join) and found forums in my interests, readership has skyrocketed. I have each and everyone of you to thank for that.
I was quite far down the page writing away when I realized that I had no photo in the article. So, I added this one of me at 19, dressed as Groucho Marx. My girlfriend and a buddy were all dressing up to go to Pizza Hut where we would loudly perform a Monty Python scene in which the Pythonites were reminiscing about how easy they have it now and how hard it was in the olden days. We were quite silly and I think the "audience" of other diners thought we were simply nuts. My brother, Jim make this photo.

So, today, August 20th, 2017, for the 200th article, I decided to list the most popular pages so that you might also take a look at some of them. I'm going from oldest to newest. So the size of photos and quality improves as they get more recent.

At 3457 views, here is my camera collection mounted upon the CameraLock  system that I invented: Old Camera Collection CameraLock displayed 

With far less at 893 visits is: Camera collection breakdown.

At 2442, my later, much reduced collection:  

With 821 views, one of the first showing my stereo which was in the living room for years and progressed through uncountable iterations since we have lived here:

At 957, this was the first of many times that I announced that I was "Done" with changes to my stereo. Oh does my wife laugh when I say that I'm happy with the stereo set up!

Now into 2010, I announce:  OK, NOW I'm DONE! Only 273 readers for this one. It took me a while to realize that generic titles such as this do not grab attention. 

Still in early 2010, another vague title that nonetheless generated 631 readers, back on cameras:

The SAME day, I added a continuation of the theme for 220 views: 

Something that became an offshoot collection is "retro" radios which are replicas of vintage radios with modern solid state rather than tube electronics. Many are exact replicas with only subtle changes since they added FM. Sometimes that stuck a cheap car-based cassette player on the side of the cabinet. This post provoked 517 readers to take a look:

I realized that the large Radio Shack Optimus 4000 PRO speakers, to my reader's eyes had suddenly disappeared. So, I wrote this which rests at 271 visits so far:

While only 64 people took a look, I wrote about buying used Liberty Cable RCA interconnect cables for the stereo. Oddly as time went by, I sold all but two 1/2 meter pairs and switched to Monster Cable instead:

With what couldn't have been a more vague title, which nonetheless 317 people chose to investigate, I wrote about moving the TV, etc from the "Den" back into the living room and moving the stereo which had ALWAYS been in the living room into the den which began my epic journey to man cave:

This article which details my invention of a method to preserve speakers with foam surrounds on their woofers from deteriorating over time. It has worked for me, but some purists are abhorred at the idea! With 532 views and I have NO IDEA if anyone else actually tried it:

359 people so far, have tuned in to see what I meant by this:

With only 265 views so far, a new experience for me was downloading and creating "Test CDs" for critical listening to stereo components to determine just how well they are reproducing difficult and challenging music:

I have written about my cars on and off, but when I sold my beloved modified 2000 Audi TT and bought a 20-year-old, 84,000 miles Australian car to replace it, 536 people tuned in:
I had six years of fun with that car and only a few minor problems. I sadly sold it when I started it after a lot of sitting. It cranked and cranked and finally started with a loud knocking from the engine! Nonetheless, thanks to a FaceBook car group I belonged to, someone eagerly bought it and now it lives in New England with others like it.

1679 people decided to see what I meant by "too many". Looking at FaceBook fellow vintage stereo equipment collector's images of THEIR collections, this was nothing:

More than a month later, I followed up with another article. It generated 1720 views so far:

Now into 2011, a trip to a pawn shop netted me some fine tower speakers for the still very empty man cave. Only 236 people looked, again due to a vague title:

242 people stopped by to see if I was telling the truth. Hint, I thought I was:

A little over a month later, 136 non-believers took a look at this one:

Noticing a theme here? I swing from collection/obsession in writing about the fun I'm having with my hobbies. I have also written/photographed my wife's collections too. All except her guns, that is her business and not the public's. 654 people tuned into see what I meant by "A Fisher":
A Fisher and 78 RPM record albums join the family. Having been born in the 1950's, I've seen a lot of changes of all kinds. Our house was always filled with music growing up, but I don't think any 78's were owned/played by our folks. I scored this next one on eBay for $10 and when I went to pick it up was FLOORED by the amazing collection of vintage audio, mostly tube, the seller had and all the HUGE vintage speakers too!

Another vague title still peaked 545 reader's to take a peak:

227 car-curious stopped to read what the heck I meant by:

We came across some cool things that would have been AWESOME to have when we were kids. The grandkids enjoy them instead. With 268 viewers:

Visiting thrift stores looking for music, cameras, electronics and more was what we, (me more than my wife, I had the time) did. So, I would write about the goodies. 574 people looked at:

As mentioned, my wife is into guns. So, I got into them as well, but don't like the range. I wanted to shoot in the backyard but didn't wants some Daisy BB rifle. So, I got into Airsoft which is a silly-yet-safe-sounding name for 6mm guns that shoot round plastic balls that are no softer than a new softball is compared to a baseball. The less expensive use a spring with a piston to propel the round out of the gun. More money nets you gas propelled and even more will get you full-auto electrically fired balls. These were my first foray into the sport with 171 views: 

2478 readers so far have looked at this: 

With no name in the title this epic thrift store find has snared only 397 readers:
Amazing finds! $1300 speakers for $10 !  Being that they are the illustrious LS3/5A BBC designed mini studio monitor speakers made by British speaker firm, Spendor, there were an epic find!

Still dabbling with 78 RPM records, I wrote about this for 570 readers to see:
And yes, NOW I see that I misspelled "Vintage". Comes from typing too fast.

As a reader (thank you!) you are well aware that I was constantly buying, trying and selling all kinds of stuff in my collections. I have learned, having been an eBay member since 1998, that after Thanksgiving (forth week in November) it is not a good time to be mailing packages as all the carriers are overwhelmed with holiday packages going everywhere. So, I was preparing for the 2012 eBay season, 321 people took a look:

January 2012 with people jettisoning old stuff for new, the thrift store's cups runneth over. I was able to partake of the givings as 679 people saw:

270 people looked to see what I meant when I wrote:

One of the more popular posts and first of several on the topic with 2194 views: 

As my interest in wearing "Real" AKA military, cargo pants continued, I decided to add "Blouses" which is the US military term for uniform shirt to the mix. That's not what the following is about, though: 
The Watches   Vague title? You betcha! Nonetheless, 772 watch-curious took a look.

Having a more descriptive title, the following was read by 872 people so far. As the camouflage article shows I had an interest in the military and especially WWII as a kid. While our parents wouldn't let my brother and I have a BB gun, they did let us have a noise-only Daisy air rifle and a trainer rifle based upon the 1903 Springfield rifle.  So, as an adult, I collected them for a while:
 
My wife is the most awesome person I know. She GETS me even if she doesn't have the same interests as I do. She supports my hobbies nonetheless. So, she spent $600 buying me a new rangefinder camera that mounts Leica lenses. 606 people took a look at this one:

One of the FaceBook groups I belong to are vinyl record collectors. This post, like almost all of them were only find-able by Google. It still blows my mind to see my images on Google! Yet, there they are and many have referenced The Robb Collections in their Internet browsing and searches. I thank you for that! Anyway, I decided to show my LP and other format music collections via my humble blog. 208 views so far:
 
490 reader tuned in to see my latest electronics finds of June, 2012:
Less than a moth later I began a multi-channel adventure in sound which 744 people found worth reading:

A month later I had made more changes and 596 folks wanted to see what I'd done:
A couple weeks later, I went digital with the TV surround sound system in the living room. What a mass of cables were eliminated! Many too a look-see:
Yet another interest that got it's start when a buddy gave me some old PC racing games and progressed from there in sophistication was seen by 145 people back in August, 2012. It has moved and changed, like everything I touch several times since this blog:

Specific word choice in this title gathered interest and arguments which 1271 people have partook of: Modernization of a vintage corner-horn speaker  

659 people looked to see what this was about: More on the Airsoft pistols  

When I get into something, I gather all the information I can find on the subject. Since this car was revolutionary in the USA and competition for the praised Mazda Miata, it generated a lot of interest in the automotive media world. 760 people wanted to see:

My second post of 2013 and first about real guns has a super vague title as well. Yet, 911 folks have taken a peek so far: 22 caliber guns  

March of the same year, I wrote about something dear to many a head, uh heart, since 1164 heads have absorbed my words and photos: Unintentional Hat/Cap collection  
When I looked at this one just now, even I shook my head. Just as well that only 367 people read it: Audio Nirvana....at LAST!  
When I first saw a photo of this 22 rifle in a magazine, I never thought that I'd own one. I found out buying a gun from a New York state dealer, was the same as a California dealer. But I fixed that in this article which a whole bunch of gun nuts read:
ISSC MK22 rifle fully "tacticool"  

One  of my most popular posts with almost 4000 views so far is:
A GREAT way to mount your BOSE 301 speakers for excellent sound!  

There are lots of Onkyo fans out there as evidenced by the 633 people who read this one:
Older ONKYO finds replace modern SONY receiver in here.  

We once attended the huge gun show held out near Dulles airport. These shows attract sellers with all kinds of stuff. One such was a man with US coins. He had a bunch of foreign coins very cheap, so we went through them and I wrote about it. 473 people took a look:
What we bought at the gun show. FOREIGN COINS!   

Another post about my virtual racing interest which 359 people so far have read:
Racing simulators XBox 360/Forza 4 and PlayStation 3 (PS3)/GT5  

The fun of being adults with an "empty nest" is we can get into all kinds of stuff. Even stuff we did as kids. 419 people liked this post:
In the 1960's it was G.I.Joe. Now it's..................  

While 411 folks were interested in reading about my finding a DAT:
New Digital players join the Den stereo DAT!  

One of my MOST POPULAR posts to date with 4515 visitors is this one:
A "Modern" Dynaco Amp, Onkyo cassette and Amplifiers I have known

Tied at 194 visits each, these two posts were written very close together:
Some recent changes to the den audio systems and in the home office too.  AND: Finally got a SCAR! Full auto 6mm! Plastic balls, that is.


Here it is, folks, the car that has thrilled me so much! 431 people were curious to find out what I was (and still am) excited about:
Bought the ultimate SLEEPER car: Volvo V50 T5. Yes, a station wagon!

This was a fun find! A retro radio, but much bigger sporting three-way speakers including a 12" woofer. 200 views so far: 
I found a floor radio. What's a floor radio? Take a look.   

And now, my 100th post which 274 people looked into occurred on August 17th, 2014. Three years ago. I didn't realize until now when the 100th was written, nor what it was about:
New Polk speakers, JBL subwoofer and wiring tweaks  

 Post 103 from two months later spiked 414 peoples imagination, how about yours?
Some rare vintage speakers....that I never heard of.
Part two a few weeks later wasn't as well received:
Some rare vintage speakers....that I never heard of, PART TWO  


On the other hand, 1652 folks were interested in this one and even more in the related chapters:
Upgrading old diecast Realistic Minimus 11 speakers  
NOW finished: Upgrading old diecast Realistic Minimus 11 speakers Part 2.5  

 Having owned SO many speakers, I decided to write a multiple chapter series about them in order to give each their due. MANY people read each chapter which just warms my heart. I thought that I'd included links to the previous posts in each one, but some I did not. Since you might want to join the curious, here they are in order:
Stereo Speakers I have known. Part One   Stereo Speakers I have known. Part Two
Stereo Speakers I have known. Part Three   Stereo Speakers I have known. Part Four
and   Stereo Speakers I have known. Part Five

Back in September of 2015, because there was so much interest in my vintage stereo equipment posts, I created this post which listed them all in order:
ALL my posts about stereo equipment, speakers and more!  

463 people wanted to know what this was all about:
Adcom GFP-565 Pre-amplifier has developed a hum AND no more Six-Channel Surround Sound  

398 people looked into this the second of a two-part series:
Preamp wars: Adcom vs SONY vs YAMAHA preamplifiers saga 
This post was quite popular as many are ribbon tweeter curious and the fact the Radio Shack was producing speakers with Linaeum tweeters was something I had to check out:
Improving Radio Shacks vaunted Optimus Pro (Linaeum ribbon tweeter) LX5II speakers with Dayton Audio woofers.  
Two weeks later, I finally got ahold of some of Radio Shacks small but classy speakers and many wanted to see them too:
Some small but classy speakers have joined the system: Walnut Minimus 7W is their name.  
BUT, I couldn't leave them alone and wrote a three part series that detailed the steps I took to change them from nice small speakers to audiophile quality, leaving only the cabinets as the original parts. 1125 peoples so far read the saga that starts here:
Installing the upgrade kit for Minimus 7 speakers Part 1  
Here is the final chapter which shows the speakers that are truly the only ones in the world:
Converted my already upgraded Minimus 7 speakers to ribbon tweeters!  
Another post about Airsoft pistols. Turns out what I have are something the maker of the real firearms wants NO ONE TO HAVE:
Glock pistols in Airsoft form  

We're halfway through 2016, folks, when I decided to do this, the scope of all my work wasn't that apparent to me by simply looking at the statistics page of my blog. This post opened many peoples eyes and ears as most never even thought about it. Lots of good feedback from readers:
Portable music and Headphones verses "earbuds" UPDATE

SO many people are passionate about the 24 Hours of Le Mans race every June in France, that my writing and illustrating the following generated a lot of attention:
Ford GT-40s, Mark II, Mark IV and Porsche 917s at Le Mans 1965-1970 
More than 400 people wanted to hear about the very interesting and different speakers that I found at a thrift store:
Extremely Rare Japanese Stereo Speakers: YAMAHA NS-15
After the kids moved away and finally stopped coming back(!) I decided it was time to buy some fun cars. I started with a Subaru WRX wagon, then my first Porsche! I found miniature versions of them and wrote:
Porsche 924 verses 924 Carerra GT and 944. 
Met my buddy at the newest race facilities in Virginia. Wrote a two-part series studded with pictures and so far almost 1000 fans have read it:
Vintage Racing at the new Dominion Raceway, Virginia PART ONE
Part two is here: Vintage Racing at the new Dominion Raceway, Virginia PART TWO

Back to vintage stereo equipment, with this popular post:
Rare in the US: Vintage Technics SU-VX800 200 watt Integrated Stereo Amplifier   

We're into 2017, bear with me! I bought a most unique approach to handling musical volume peaks. It is related to the Panor-era Dynaco products and the same factory also made NAD equipment:
Unique PROTON D540 Integrated Amplifier has entered the Listening Room

A seller on eBay makes his own unique speaker cables. I bought a pair and wrote about them. The seller was so happy with my publicity, he sold me the larger versions and I liked them too. I still use both sets. Of the almost 600 people that read about them, I hope many also purchased them:
So impressed with BLE Design speaker cables, I bought the bigger ones too!  

After hand writing a list of the more than 2000 LP records that I own, I decided to make a spreadsheet about them. Almost 500 people took a peek:
COMPLETED: Creating a searchable database of all my thousands of LP recordings. 

A trip down stereo memory lane through photos got many excited. So, I decided to actually acquire the same type of components that I owned in 1976:
BACK to: My First Stereo 1976 Dynaco PAT-5 SWTPC Tiger 01  

 Almost 2000 people wanted to see these speakers that I almost walked past during my first visit to a thrift shop, one that rarely has any interesting things:
32 Year-Old Klipsch KG4 speakers found for $9.99!

Almost 700 people wanted to see my slow-speed time-lapse transformation in this post:
The Transformation from Den to Audio Man Cave. In many crazy steps!

Our visit to a hitherto unknown vintage HiFi and stereo shop got many excited and the owner was thrilled that I wrote about his establishment:
Found: Heaven on Earth! HiFi Heaven that is. Vintage Stereo Equipment Galore!  

 This post from just nine days ago has generated well over 1200 views. Seems many could benefit from what I'd found:
Earthquake Proof your speakers! Amazing "Reusable Adhesive" will hold my Klipsch KG4 speakers firm!

A two part series detailing my setting up an "alternative stereo" of vintage equipment like I started out with in 1976 have been quite popular and believe it or not, are #198 and 199:
PART TWO: Reliving the 1976 sound of Dynaco PAT-5 preamplifier and SWTPC power amplifier!

That's it! I am not going to count how many links that I have put in this post, but realize that it is only the most popular ones! Out there are so many others that I didn't overwhelm you (more) with! Be glad that you reached the bottom! 
I really, truly appreciate that you take the time to read my humble blog. It is a labor of love and the fact that so many of you, around the world take the time to read and see what I have worked on to bring to you is awesome to me!
Thanks for looking!
Scott
August 20th, 2017  
 
 



 
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PART TWO: Reliving the 1976 sound of Dynaco PAT-5 preamplifier and SWTPC power amplifier!

Gentle reader,

I have received the single Dynaco A-25 speaker I found on eBay for a bargain price. It turns out to be the "VW" model, although not marked as such, but does have the vinyl walnut veneer which is much darker in color than the older model's real walnut veneer looks like. It is in remarkable shape with only a slight flaw on the top left corner. So much smaller than I remember them being. But then again, they are "bookshelf" speakers.
Gretchen is checking it out. Behind it is one of my Cerwin-Vega! LS-12 speakers for size comparison. 
It even still had the small Dynaco badge. The glue that held it to the small screw had failed. But after carefully scraping off the old glue, I re-glued it with Super Glue. I always listen with the grilles off. Someone, perhaps the original owner added these picture hanger brackets. Putting speakers right on a wall or in a bookshelf produces poor sound quality. I plan to remove them.
I don't know if anyone can deduct something from the serial number. I can't.
I bought a pair of A-25 speakers from Dixie HiFi in Richmond, Virginia in 1976. They were demonstrator models and had a few nicks and scrapes. But at $99 for the pair, they were a bargain. I was still using them them well into this Century. One day, I noticed a buzz coming from one of them and pried off the grilles. THAT'S when I noticed that one had non-Seas drivers! Of course I'd had them for decades, which proved my ears are not "golden". I removed the offending drivers and tossed them and found they had stuffed the box with fiberglass as well. Since the cabinets were so beat up, I decided to sell the Seas drivers from the other genuine unit. This was around 2008, I think.
They certainly appear to be the same units as in the VW model, don't they? Moot point, OR as my ex-wife used to say, "The point is mute." I learned early on not to correct her. SO glad my spine finally fully developed and I divorced her. Second best decision of my life. Best one was asking Nancy to marry me. That was 21+ years ago. We are truly soul-mates and best friends. But I digress.
 
After testing the the PAT-5 and SWTPC 215/A here in this room with the two BOSE 301 speakers that Nancy bought new for me. The sound was brilliant! Especially highs, the 301s are quite impressive speakers if set up properly. As can be seen in this post from a few years ago:   
 
As you may recall, I scored a LUXMAN PD264 turntable via eBay. The problem I'm facing is where to put a second stereo's components. I researched folding wooden shelves and chose this one from Orolay:
Unlike most folding wooden shelves out there, these from Orolay are solid wood. NO particle board or MDF at all. This one is deep enough and more than wide enough to hold the turntable and allow it to have the cover open fully. It is very sturdy and perfectly level in all directions.
It comes in two pieces, the second being the upright portion seen above. It has two pieces of dowel poking out of it and there are corresponding holes in the section that fastens to the wall. That section and all the pieces are factory assembled. I elected to glue and clamp the vertical piece on to main unit. I wanted solidity. 
 
I located a wall stud and the center of it. Using the upper hole of the vertical piece, I marked the spot it would attach to and screwed it to the stud but not all the way in. Using a level atop the shelf, I marked the bottom hole the same way. I also marked the four holes of the horizontal piece. I removed the assembly from the wall and drilled the second hole as I had the first. Then I drilled larger holes for the expanding plugs that came with the shelf. Inserted them and hammered them flush. Once again, I installed the shelf assembly and tightened all six screws. NOTE: The screws that come with the shelf are not long enough to securely sink into a stud. I used ones that are about an inch longer. I highly recommend this method should you choose a similar shelf. At $30.00 they are a FRACTION of dedicated turntable shelves. I realized after mounting it, that I wanted to drop the AC and sound cables through the wood, rather than each going down one side. Sadly, I realized that there was no way to get the AC cord through without much more work. The audio cable went through fine, though.
 
I was then faced with where to put the PAT-5 and SWTPC 215/A where I could hook up the turntable and speakers and realized that I needed a small shelf or table below the turntable. However, with the Klipsch speaker there, there really wasn't room. I was not deterred.
 
So, I decided to remove the Panor-era Dynaco Stereo 200 amplifier and it's ancillary components from the system and to place the  PAT-5 and SWTPC 215/A in it's place. I left the PROTON 1100 preamplifier in place as eventually I would be using it again.
One thing about the PAT-5 I am concerned about is the somewhat flimsy pair of RCA terminal boards mounted inside the rear panel. Not only do they flex when pressing in cables, the terminals are so close together that modern quality interconnect cable's plugs are too wide to fit well. Although this classic PAT-5 does have enough inputs, I would have to use thinner cables. As you will see in a photo later on in the story.

Yes, that IS a Swiffer 360. It is great for cleaning LPs that are just dusty.
I added some rubber isolation feet under the PAT-5 and rubber and cork isolation pads under the 215/A amp. A small New England based audio and music company sells these for CRAZY prices! If you google or look on eBay for Air Conditioner isolation pads, they are SO cheap to buy. Companies count on the potential buyers being unaware of the web they weave to capture your money. I once had all the components mounted as such. Looked silly and I couldn't hear any difference. I have the cork/rubber pads under my subwoofer to give it a little more room since it is bottom firing. Plus, I have it on a board so that sound is not lost in the carpet.
These Liberty Cable Z-500 audio cables were causing drop outs so I replaced them with the thinner Z-500 video cables I was using to test it. I believe it is the PAT-5's terminals fighting the tight grip of these quality RCA interconnect plugs. Sounds were happier now. I used to use these Liberty Cables for the turntable as they are very low in capacitance. Once rearranging, however, I decided to use them from preamp-to-power amp.
While this portion of the photo above is blurry, you can see how tight the space is.
I was using an old Audio-Technica TR430E cartridge on my Denon Dp-23F turntable, I've tried numerous models of cartridge on it. My favorites were Shure's M97XE and Ortofon OM-40. The removable head makes it easy to try different ones. I'd bought a replacement stylus from Needle Doctor that was an upgraded unit. However, after a time, the sound was suffering. A close examination revealed a bent cantilever. I put the old A-T original stylus back on and the sound greatly improved. So much for "generic" stylus!
 
I wanted to try the Ortofon 2M Red that everyone is raving about. Got an "open box" unit from Music Direct for $89 and free shipping. I too am very impressed with the Red's sound! Yet, I wanted a better cartridge for the LUXMAN too. A search on eBay found a NOS genuine  Audio-Technica stylus for their ATX12E cartridge at a great price and another seller was selling just the AT12XE body for $19.99. I bought both and a new Denon cartridge head. Combined  all three and tried it on the Denon. Of course, I had to reset the stylus force. You can see all I have just told you in the two photos above. The sound is much better than the less expensive TR430E A-T cartridge. Anyone have experience with the Audio-Technica AT12XE cartridge?
 
BACK to the Dynaco A-25. Although BOSE does not publish specifications on their speakers, the 301s are very efficient. Very little amplifier power drives them to very loud levels. I hooked the A-25 to the left channel and placed it atop on of the LS-12 Cerwin-Vega speakers to get it closer in height to the right BOSE 301 which is up near the ceiling. The A-25 is much quieter than the BOSE, so I ran it in mono mode and listened for quite a while. To listen in stereo, I had to have the balance control at around the 9 o'clock position for a good mix. Nonetheless, I like the sound of the Dynaco A-25. They were highly praised by the experts and consumers at the time they were new in the late 1960's and early 1970's.
 
Yesterday, I did all the changes seen at the very top of this article, hooking the power amp directly to the Klipsch KG4 speakers with the commercial speaker cables. While I've been typing this, I played Telarc's SACD of the 1812 Overture (I bought it originally on LP, no cartridge I've tried could handle that 1st cannon shot) and kept the volume low. When I detected the first shots were about to happen I ran into the den and watched the meters on the power amp. I kept turning it up until I saw the needles edging into the red. Klipsch's handled them fine as did the little 215/A amp. Once that SACD was over, I switched to the two SACD set of the rock version of The War of the Worlds which I'd also originally bought on LP. If I set the volume control at the 9 o'clock position on the PAT-5, it is too loud to be in the room! And the meters aren't even approaching the 5% area! That is how efficient these Klipsch speakers are!
 
I am still going to get another Dynaco A-25 speaker, one as close to specs as the one I have now, or if not, then a matching pair and keep this one as a spare. There is no hurry as there is no room, right now!
 
Conclusions: The sound is amazing from these 40-year-old components, especially through the BOSE 301 and Klipsch  KG4 speakers. The one drawback of the PAT-5, and ONLY one is the aforementioned RCA terminals situation. Nothing I can do to the PAT-5 to fix that. Without investing in thinner RCA interconnect cables, I cannot use very many sources as there just isn't physical space to fit fat plugs.  The Southwest Technical Products Corporation 215/A 25 watts-per-channel power amplifier is more than adequate to meet my sonic and audible needs. I'm very pleased with the sound. Who knew? Would I like to get my hands on a pair of SWTPC Tigersaurus 200+ watts-per-channel power amplifiers? You bet! But with efficient speakers, this small 215/A is awesome.
 
I see so many of my fellow audio lovers in the various FaceBook groups that I belong to with huge stacks of components that they can't possibly be able to use all of them. Let alone the multiple stacks of speakers. Like miniature Grateful Dead "wall of sound" setups. If I had kept every component that I've bought over the decades, I wouldn't be able to walk into that room! I have striven to get better sound all these years, yet this exercise has shown that had I been able to, or been able to afford to pay someone else to, repair my original PAT-5 and two SWTPC Tiger 60 watt mono amplifiers, I would have had excellent sound all along! Oh, the irony. As it is, since I've retired, I no longer haunt thrift stores, yard sales and flea markets (it never occurred to me to visit estate sales) looking for LPs, CDs and stereo and A/V equipment and vintage cameras. As it is, since I've retired I've sold almost everything I can part with on eBay in order to afford to recreate my 1976 stereo. When I have a second A-25 speaker and have figured out how to have two systems (I once had a six-channel SACD dedicated second system in that room) in the same room, I will post another chapter in my blog. 
 
To see three iterations of that dedicated system, the various cables I have used, rubber isolation feet and more, feel free to look at the progress and eventual dissolution of that SACD system here:
 
By the way, this is my 199th post! Just the other day, page views passed 110,000! The jump from 50,000 to 100,000 took far less time than zero to 50,000 and from 100,000 to 110,000 only took a matter of a few days! I have YOU to thank for that! Don't get me wrong, I am not spending so much time creating these posts for numbers. No sir, this is my passion, one of many that I choose to share with you. I am always grateful for your kind comments, either here or on FaceBook.
 
Thanks for looking! 
 
Scott
 
August 18, 2017 

  
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Reliving the 1976 sound of Dynaco PAT-5 preamplifier and SWTPC power amplifier!

Gentle reader,

Thanks to the world's largest flea market, otherwise known as eBay, I have been gathering vintage stereo components to recreate my very first stereo I built from kits in 1976 when I was 19-20 years old.

I had bought 32 year old Klipsch KG-4 speakers at a thrift shop and seeing all this vintage equipment people are enjoying in the various FaceBook groups I belong to, AND seeing all the awesome vintage equipment at HiFi Heaven in northern Virginia, I really wanted to experience that "vintage sound".

I first wrote about it here:
BACK to: My First Stereo 1976 Dynaco PAT-5 SWTPC Tiger 01  and also showed photos of various Dynaco equipment I have owned since having a digital camera, here:

The original Dynaco PAT-5 preamplifier that I built as a kit was a bit newer than the one you are about to see. The faceplate was not gold-hued like so much Dynaco equipment of yore. And the PAIR of Southwest Technical Products Corporation 60 watt mono amplifiers I built after completing the PAT-5 are long gone. They stopped working and eventually I gave them to a coworker. 

I have bought, enjoyed and passed on to others countless pieces of stereo equipment over the decades since 1976. Not buying my first CD player, a used early model one, until 1996. I bought it only because I could not find a certain Jazz album on cassette. But I digress.

So, I have these Klipsch speakers from 1985 and a LUXMAN turntable from I don't know when and really no where to put them all together! Oh, and I am also acquiring a pair of my very first speakers too: Dynaco A-25s. I just bought one via eBay for a great price and will eventually find a mate for it.
So, here we have my latest PAT-5. Got it for $99 via eBay. Was told it works and it does. Aside it is NOT a SWTPC 207 Tiger .01 60 watt mono power amplifier, but a later model called 215. It uses a smaller (lighter) transformer and smaller less powerful power transistors all enclosed in what normally houses just one Tiger mono amp. It puts out 25 watts per channel and uses the same circuitry as it's big brother seen below in a scan from the original instructions:
 
Below is the same company information sheet for the smaller, yet stereo amplifier:
 I have periodically looked for SWTPC equipment on eBay but they were always listed as not working. To my delight, I saw the 215 listed as working at $60 or best offer. So, I offered $50 and the seller accepted it! 

Here is a photo of my original PAT-5 that I sold once one channel stopped working. See the differences in the faceplate?



Someone in the past replaced the power switch with a light, above.
Seeing the insides of this PAT-5 brought it all back to me all the work it took to complete it.
I came across this photo I made some years ago of the inside of a modified PAT-5. It was NOT a Van Alstine mod, but the eBay buyers recognized the name of the man who did the work.
Quite a number of changes now that I have a stock unit to compare it too!

The seller of the 215 power amp showed photos of the inside and they were accurate! Here are my photos once I got the cover off.




It's a very strange dust, the color and texture. Below are the "after" photos:





As you can see, although the dust is gone, corrosion and even rust on a steel piece that runs between the circuit boards, abounds. I cleaned metal bits with Dylek contact cleaner and DeToxit too. I found one wire had broken off and located where it attached to one of the big capacitors. Other than that, it all seems whole.
Below is a photo of a Tiger amp's rear panel. The heatsink shown above is used throughout the entire SWTPC audio line, even the amazing TIGERSAURUS 200 watt mono amps. The Tiger uses two sandwiched with T03 type transistors.
Above photo was found via a Google image search. I could not find any photos of the inside of a Tiger to show you.
Quite a bit different, aren't they? All the fuses are inside the 215. Note the normal RCA inputs, but 1/4" mono plugs for the speaker cables. I had to buy a pair of professional speaker cables which had the 1/4" plugs on one end and dual banana plugs on the other end via eBay:
As I discovered some time ago, the standard 3/4" spacing for banana plugs as seen on the PAT-5 and many speakers isn't followed anymore. So, I replaced those that came with these Seismic Audio cables with the ones seen above.

Another Google image search netted me these fine images of the inside of a very pristine 215 power amplifier.  Yet despite the age, this thing is working perfectly!
Note the board atop the big capacitors is vertical as were the ones in my Tigers.
I suspect this amplifier was factory wired, where the one I have clearly was not! Yet, after forty-some years, it and the PAT-5 are still rocking away!
Yes! Even the meters still work!


I've only played CDs so far via the SONY WALKMAN portable player.

First Dynaco A-25 speaker has arrived. Amazing condition. It is the "VW" model which means vinyl instead of real walnut veneers. Am now searching for a matching one. I always play my music with the grilles off.
  
I came across the idea of wall mounting a shelf to hold the Luxman turntable. There are many available ( for a fraction of the cost of a "real" shelf to hold a turntable!) but I wanted one made of real wood, not particle board. Bot this via Amazon. Very well made. Now, where to put it!

Stay tuned for an update once it is all located and when I have two A-25 Dynaco speakers too!

Thanks for looking!

Scott
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