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Re: GAS Thedra / SAE Mk. 1
James Bongiorno
Dear Paul,
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Consider yourself one of the lucky few that have the absolute finest preamp ever created by man (ME) arrogance intended. For the most part, the Thaedra preamp cannot be had in the marketplace for love or money. I have upgraded and modernized 3 or 4 of these units to even more spectacular performance. Unfortunately, due to the extensive nature of this work, it isn't cheap-- it takes an enormous amount of time. I have attached my schedule for your perusal. James Bongiorno pbigelow@... wrote: Hello again! |
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Re: SAE Mk VI Tuner
James Bongiorno
Dear Paul,
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I will tryto answer your questions. Please understand that I do NOT recommend having anyone but the highest professional engineer work on a tuner. Trust me when I say that not only most technicians but also most engineers really don't have a clue as to what's going on in an FM tuner. And if that's not bad enough, hardly any of them have a truly sophisticated laboratory with ALL of the proper test equipment. As far as the Mark VI SAE tuner goes, it is a decent performer however, it is not in the league of the Marantz 10B or my Charlie or the Sequerra Tuner (the original one that is). I would place its performance in the area of the MR78. Please understand that more so than any other piece of audio equipment, tuners steadily degrade over time for a lot of reasons which I will not get into here. A tuner this old desperately needs to be refurbished and if nothing else, properly realigned. The scope tube probably will last a long, long time. The nixies do go out on occasion of which I have a small supply. My strong recommendation is that you send this unit to me for refubishing. Please let me know if you are so inclined and we can discuss this further. If you aren't paying an arm and a leg, the SAE Mark VI can be a very nice tuner again. James Bongiorno pbigelow@... wrote: Hello, |
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Re: SAE 8000 tuner-
James, I hope you will share your new contact info with us.
(unless I missed that message somehow). On Wed, 19 Apr 2000, wrote: After I get totally unpacked, I believe I have a schematic for the SAE 8000-=Jeff Gross=- 450 W. Byberry Rd. #T22 Philadelphia, PA 19116 (215) 464-6077 [voice] (520) 752-4371 [E-fax] |
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GAS Thedra / SAE Mk. 1
Hello again!
I have a Thedra GAS preamp and is that one impressive piece of engineering -- shielded power transformer, premium controls, parts and switches. Are there any recommended modifications or upgrates for this preamp? In comparison to some of my tube equipment and a ss McIntosh MA-6100, the Thedra comes very close to my "tube" sound. There is a Beach Boys track "Till I Die" on the new Endless Harmony CD that has bells or a xylophone and the various tones just sound grating and distorted on *MOST* solid-state gear I have checked -- not the Thedra. How does the Thedra compare to the SAE Mk 1? Paul Bigelow |
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SAE Mk VI Tuner
Hello,
I am about to become an owner of an SAE Mk, VI tuner. Are there any recommended modifications or upgrades to this tuner to improve performace or reliability (especially to protect the scope and nixies)? Does anyone have schematics or service information? How does this tuner perform against the other "heavyweight" tuners -- McIntohsh MR-78, Fisher FM-1000, Marantz 10B, SUMO Charlie, Accuphase T-100, Yamaha CT-7000, etc. I would reallly appreciate any thoughts or opinions on this tuner! Best regards, Paul Bigelow |
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Re: SAE 8000 tuner-
After I get totally unpacked, I believe I have a schematic for the SAE 8000
tuner, although I'm not positive. If I do I'll let everyone know. James Bongiorno [Original Message] --- --- sstinc@... --- EarthLink: It's your Internet. |
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Re: SAE 8000 tuner-
Terry Cariveau
Sorry, Can't help you with the 8000 Tuner. Terry
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-----Original Message-----
From: akble@... <akble@...> To: SAE_Talk@... <SAE_Talk@...> Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2000 1:30 PM Subject: [SAE_Talk] SAE 8000 tuner- Looking for schematic or service info for 8000 tuner- Anybody help? |
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SAE 8000
gurriesm
This was sent to me by accident. I think it for the list.
Mark ---------------- Begin Forwarded Message ---------------- Date: 04/18/2000 6:33 AM Received: 04/18/2000 9:24 AM From: akble@... To: Mark Gurries, gurriesm@... Looking for schematic or service info on 8000 tuner- Anyone help? _______________________________________________________ Get 100% FREE Internet Access powered by Excite Visit ----------------- End Forwarded Message ----------------- Best Regards, Mark Gurries ---------------------------------------------------------- Battery Charging and Power Systems Application Engineer Linear Technology,1630 McCarthy Blvd, Milpitas, CA, 95035 WRK(408) 954-8400 x3864 Email: gurriesm@... FAX(408) 428-9413 WebSite: ---------------------------------------------------------- Work & Hobby Related Website Info: Smart Battery Charging Systems: Model Railroad Club: ---------------------------------------------------------- |
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Rare Class A Opportunity
James Bongiorno
Dear Folks,
Every once in a while and opportunity comes along that is a bargain. Most of the time you either get what you pay for and a great deal of the time you get even Less than what you pay for. Rarely does one get More than you pay for. I have just made a swap for one of my original "GOLD" 125 watt/channel pure class A amps in absolute mint condition. Of course I will over the next several months upgrade and modernize this unit. Since I already have three other units, this one becomes a spare that I really don't need. I am offering this magnificent amplifier for $2500 to the first person who comes along and gives me a small deposit ($250). I will also pay the shipping when the unit is ready. Opportunities like this do no come along very often and considering today's market prices, I think this is a true bargain. Anyone interested--let me know. James Bongiorno |
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Re: Thaedra
James Bongiorno
Dear Terry,
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In my career, I usually refrain from "publicly" trying to beat my chest. Mostly, I don't want people to think that I'm an arrogant idiot. However, in the case of the Thaedra, I will state (and also challenge) unequivically that this unit , the first series with the green led, is the absolute finest sounding and performing preamp in the history of audio. I know that I can see all the flack coming now however, that preamp was so unique in so many ways, that it would take a much longer e-mail to describe all the reasons why. Did you say $305.00? In my not so humble opinion, that was the steal of the century. There has never been anything like the Thaedra before or since. So all I can say is keep looking. Hopefully my statements won't get around too much which would prevent you and others from taking advantage of an incredible bargain such as this. If I had to manufacture that unit (or its equivilent) today I believe that the list price, considering today's costs, would be in the neighborhood of $20,000.00 Sincerely, James Bongiorno star@... wrote: James, How good are the Thaedra pre-amps. I missed out on one by |
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IMPORTANT INFO: Note on List address change.
gurriesm
Hello all onelist users,
If you look carefully at some of the latest EMAIL messages sent today, you will notice that "@onelist.com" is no longer the address we reply to. It is now "@egroups.com". This change is a result of the merger of Onelist with Egroups. Please update all your Email address that refer to @onelist.com to reflect @egroups.com. Please note that at the time of this message, there has not been any official word about this change in terms of notification. That may just be a matter of time. In fact, as far as I know, the old "@onelist.com" addresses will work for now and some short time to come. But you now know that a change is coming. So better to do the change now while you are still thinking about it. Example: NCE-DCC@... becomes.... NCE-DCC@... When the official word comes down, I or others will let you know. Egroups in fact may do it directly to each subscriber. Stay tuned..... Best Regards, Mark Gurries ---------------------------------------------------------- Battery Charging and Power Systems Application Engineer Linear Technology,1630 McCarthy Blvd, Milpitas, CA, 95035 WRK(408) 954-8400 x3864 Email: gurriesm@... FAX(408) 428-9413 WebSite: ---------------------------------------------------------- Work & Hobby Related Website Info: Smart Battery Charging Systems: Model Railroad Club: ---------------------------------------------------------- |
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not so bad intentions
James Bongiorno
Folks,
This note is to clear up another set of words that I wrote in my last answer regarding and older SAE 3 amplifier wherein I relegated the design to being "stone age." In order to prevent another brouhaha, let me clarify. What I should have said was that this unit LIKE VIRTUALLY ALL DESIGNS in the industry at the time was of stone age vintage. To be sure, this era from the mid-sixties through the early seventies was indeed stone age by today's standards. As a matter of fact there were only two designers back in that era that designed amps that were a cut above the rest. The first was the late Bart Locanthy at JBL who did the famous T-circuit. It was a very unique design for its day even though it had 3 serious shortcomings. The first was that it was INVERTING and consequently had a lower input impedance of 22K ohms. This of course violates the rule of "Thou shall not invert". The second fault although not a big one, was that the second stage used the old fashioned traditional bootstrap which led to uneven timing at higher frequencies. The third fault which I consider to be major was a philosophical one in that the triple darlington output stage had stepped supply voltages. He wanted to be able to drive the output stage into SATURATION which I consider to be absolute nonsense. The effect of this was to cause a rather unacceptable amount of "sticking" when the output stage was driven into clipping. As far as I'm concerned, this is something that must be avoided at all costs. An example of how bad this can be happened with the recently defunct "T" series from Threshold. The "sticking" in these units was so bad that it took up almost half of the signal cycle at 20KHz. Of course the potential danger here is that latch-up is a real possibility especially with inductive loads and aren't most loudspeakers just that?--Inductive. Enough said. The second designer is the great Sid Smith from Marantz. He designed the model 15 which I still consider to be a fine amplifier even by today's standards as LONG as it is upgraded and modernized. As a matter of fact, some aspects of this design have not even been bettered or even used as of this day. Unfortunately, since that unit only had +/- supply rails of 43V, the design aspects that I am refering to become extremely difficult to implement in higher power versions. As a matter of fact, I was the final cleanup engineer on this unit while I was at Marantz although I didn't do very much. To be sure, I was so enamored with this unit that I used this overall topology when I designed the Dynaco Stereo 400. Now getting back to the original statement. When I went to SAE I convinced them that the industry needed to have some new blood so to speak. This is where I created the now defacto standard of the world, dual differential, full complementary amplifier topology. The fact that virtually every designer in the world is using this topology in one form or another TODAY speaks volumes. So, I meant no discredit to SAE or to any other company. I was merely making a statement of fact. Besides, why are we crying over milk spilled 30 years ago? Let's just enjoy what we've learned over the years because today's amps for the most part are certainly orders of magnitude better than what we had back then. James Bongiorno |
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Re: Mk 111 120W
James Bongiorno
Dear Terry,
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The reason is very plain and simple. The "3" is very old 60's circuit design from the Citation 12 era. The performance, by today's standards, is mediocre at best. That was all the guys knew how to design things in those early years. I'm not saying that the amp won't work because if it is operational and functioning, it will work. It really would need to be serviced however because of its age. What I am saying is that the IIIC/CM (the CM was with meters) is truly modern in its circuit design ie: dual differential inputs, full complementary design, etc. There is really no comparison. The IIIC took SAE out of the stone age, if that's the way to put it. As a matter of fact, and I'm not trying to be arrogant, but virtually all high end modern power amplifiers made today use this same topology. Hope this answers your question. James star@... wrote: From: star@... |
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Re: SAE TALK LIST TEST
James Bongiorno
Dear Jeff,
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You must bear in mind that as of now, virtually all of the SAE and GAS as well as some of the Sumo Gear is at least 20 or more years old. Without service, meaning modernizations and/or upgrading, these things are a problem(s) waiting to happen. Would you drive your car 150,000 miles without ever checking anything? The Ampzilla II has servo conrol in it however, I don't know the vintage of your unit. The subsequent owners of GAS that I sold out to played a lot of games and screwed up and cheapened up the products to a great degree. I guess that's why they went under. As far as the Charlie goes, please understand that while I worked under Dick Sequerra and Sid Smith at Marantz and with Ed Miller at SAE, these were their designs. The Charlie was my first complete design. Even though the vast majority of of Charlie owners seem to be very happy, I must admit that there were several aspects of the design that could have been done better. There is always a learning curve. This is why I offer the upgrade for the Charlie and in addition, if your Charlie is WITHOUT handles, then it was NEVER aligned (that is the final alignment that I personally did to all of them) because when I sold Sumo, I took all of the RF equipment with me as it was my personal gear. And they NEVER replaced any of the gear. After I left, the second shipment of tuners came in and were NOT finally aligned and they were also too cheap to put the handles on. I am sending to your personal e-mail my schedule in case you may be interested in getting your unit(s) serviced. Sincerely, James Bongiorno jefhodge@... wrote: From: jefhodge@... |
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Digest Number 45
Also if anyone out there Has Empire 208,398 or original 598 turntable that
they hate, let me know. Looking for whole or part sets. Mainly looking for the thicker type platter and motor cover and shaft for the platter. Motor and belt if available. Belt rides on the outside edge of the platter(visable) By the way the turntable was made by the Empire scientific corp. of New York! A good addition to SAE componets. Thanks , Mark |
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Re: Digest Number 45
Hi Mark
All is Ok here. Been very busy this past month. All my SAE units are happy also. :) The guy that is selling the SAE 2600 I know. He is very knowledgeable and I bought my SAE 2401 amp from him. He has to be the best packer I have seen yet. He also offered me one but I don't have the money right now or I would jump on one. If he still has one left in a couple of weeks I'm going to call him and order it like a Pizza! Just having some fun here. SAE equipment is habit forming. Talk to all out there later. Mark |
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