an audio freaks diary...

Sept. 21, 2004.

Finally, i convinced the seller of a 2nd hand ADCOM 585 Limited Edition Power amp and ADCOM 500II Tuner Preamp to sell the pair to me for about 4,000 pesos (71 dollars) plus a working Yamaha RXV793 receiver. The pair of adcoms had been on display on the thrift shop I frequented for more than 2 months but the store owner didn't budge much from the 300 USD price tag the units were being sold "as is". It seemed that the units were "consigned" to him and the owner would only cut a little from the price tag. I kept coming back for the unit so that finally, the store owner gave me the number of the seller to contact directly. Even so, it took three weeks for the owner to finally agree to sell the units to me for 12,500 pesos. I had previously offered money plus a Yamaha RXV793 receiver for the pair but he settled for the 12,500 over the phone.

He brought the units to our house. The Power amp was prominently labelled as 110 volts with a pentel pen on a piece of masking tape. When we tested the unit, the sound coming out was awful. He said this must be caused by the fact he hasnt been using the unit for almost a year. I was dismayed but i have read a review that claimed that ADCOM 585 was the best stereo amp produced by ADCOM. Only 3000 units of this unit were produced. It was overengineered and was designed by ADCOM to be able to penetrate the high end audio at a time when ADCOMs were not finding their way into high end audio stores. It was built like kitchen sink. It weighed like a 3 SM car battery. On a hunch, I went through with the purchase. Actually, part purchase and trade since the seller after listening to Norah Jones on my YAMAHA RXV 793 receiver driving a YAMAHA NS1000m speaker decided to get the Yamaha plus 4000 pesos for the ADCOMs.

As usual, i packed up the power and pre-amp and brought them to my brother the next day, for repair. He tinkered with it for a while and decided that it wasn't a simple problem. Crestfallen, I left the amps with him and went home.
A few hours later he sent me a text message via cell phone. He has tested the output of the amp and his reading shows that it must already have been converted from 110 to 220 volts. The seller believed that the unit was set up for 110 volts and have been using a step down transformer when using the amp. I was flabbergasted to say the least. That must be the reason why the seller was selling the units "as is" and at a low price and also why he took my Yamaha receiver when he heard them perform. A few minutes later, my brod sent me more good news, there's nothing wrong with these amps. They're set at 220 volts not 110. They were merrily driving his speakers cleanly, and sounded heavenly.
Later he gave me a call and requested that I loan him the adcoms for a while. He's been looking for a good power amp to copy and these amps looks like a very good amp to clone.

Oct 5, 2004

The other day I visited a surplus shop in Aurora boulevard Quezon City, to get some 2nd hand SciFi books. I had picked up my selections (about 20 pieces at about 50 cents each including a copy of Dune Messiah and two volumes in Farmer's Riverworld saga.) and was proceeding to the cashier when i noticed a doorway and heard music coming out from the room. I peeped in and immediately noticed the dusty technician working on some dusty looking electronic equipment inside. I advised the sales girl that i will follow her later to the cashier and started inspecing the units inside. Only a few were in working order. These were set down horizontally on shelves while the non working units were set vertically on one side. I noted down the non working units being sold "as is"...

1. NIKKO trm750 PHP 1000
2. FISHER 123
3. SANSUI a-9 php 1000
4. CRATE II SLM
5. KENWOOD KA-6004 php 1500
6. REALISTIC STA2080 php 2000
7. PIONEER Receiver SX9930 I was later to find out that this is the european version of the SX-939 Receiver1974-1976 75 watts RMS.
8, Sansui eight (Some of the labels were gone including the transparent plastic cover of the Tuner.)
9. Sansui 8080db. This is a vintage sansui Receiver that is next in line to the Top of the Line Sansui 9090db.

I left the establishment with the Sansui 8080db in tow. I got it for a bargain price of about 26 USD. At home, i immediately opened the unit up and inspected the boards. There was no rust or burned areas. Although there were about two wires that were obviously disconnected. The next day i brought it to my brother for repair... he was still working on the ADCOM 585 clone he was trying to build. I asked him to make a quick check if the sansui 8080db problem is minor. It he can't fix it in half an hour, it can wait till he was finished with the ADCOM clone. An hour later my brod stated that he's isolated the problem to two caps that seems to be overheating. However, he'd have to work on it later.

One of these days, i will come back for the the defective Pioneer SX9930 (aka SX 939). This unit is 2nd in line next to the Pioneer SX 1010.

Oct. 28, 2004

Our driver informed me that a "nice looking and heavy large amp" on sale at the thrift shop beside our water purifying store. He said it was a "kardan" something. A day later i chanced to pass by the thrift shop and looked for the amp.

Lo and behold it was nice looking indeed. Perched on top of a used dishwashing machine was a a dirty amp and on top of it a pre-amp. The Pre amp above the amp was a few inched wider than the power amp. I scrunched down and read the Brand name...Harman Kardon on both units. I felt goose bumps on my neck. I read further on for the model and felt my goose bumps grow their own goose bumps... Citation Eleven and Citation Twelve. I remember reading reviews about these 30 plus year old units.

The price tag was VERY affordable but included the words AS IS - Right channel not working". About a 100 dollars. The seller demonstrated to me that one of the channels was working okay. We settled for about 80 dollars.

Hours later i was lugging the two clunkers to my brother's house for repair. He did what technicians do to isolate the problem. The Citation Eleven power amp was okay. It was the Citation Twelve Pre amp. He opened the pre amp, the insides looked good. No obvious rusted areas or burned areas. He did more isolation tests. Audio signals were coming from one of the boards but non were coming out from the output wires of that board. The problem was in one of the small parts in that board. "This will take more time. Why don't you leave the preamp with me? You can take home the power amp and use another pre amp (an ADCOM 500II Tuner preamp) with the HK Citation Power amp.

At home, i set up the HK Power amp with the ADCOM Prea amp but was disappointed with the results. Nora Jones singing Come away with me sounded like she had a Hare lip. I matched with a Denon receiver i had (Denon PMA65) and confirmed my initial disappointment. The Denon sounded better on all areas (bass, mid, and highs). Either the HK Power amp was also problematic or it did not match up well with the ADCOM 500II Tuner Pre amp.

However, few hours later, I got a call at home from my brod, could he had isolated the problematic by switching parts from the left and right channels until he identified the suspected part. Fortunately, he had a japanese counterpart of the Canadian made item, plugged it in and the pre amp worked fine. Could i just pick it up already?
I did. I picked up the preamp and back home, plugged it in with the power amp.
Woohoo... The 1971 Vintage amp and pre amp worked superbly well. Norah Jones now sounded like her award winning voice.

OCT 14.

Called up somebody selling his bose 901 for 7500 pesos. There's a nick in at least two of the eight speakers but the speakers are working okay. He said he can sell it at 6,800. I haven't gotten back to him since then. Maybe the speakers have already been sold.

Oct. 20.

I talked to the guy who sold me the ADCOM 585. He said his brother in law a sea man is coming home this November. He's bringing home some Bose speakers and he might be able to sell his existing old speakers for 5 thousand pesos the whole set (about 90 USD). I asked what he had and he said he had a pair of infinity speakers as front and paradigms as rears and centers. Stars exploded in my brain. Infinities!!! Whoa!!!. I asked what models he had. When he mentioned Infinity RS 3000 and Paradigm Atoms and SC something for the centers. The atoms sat atop some speaker stands. I drooled. Yes i drooled. I played it cool though. "Ah really? Are those good speakers? Err when are you selling them?". (Inside i was drooling buckets and buckets of drool!!!)

We talked some more and he mentioned the middle of November when his brod in law will come home and he will know for sure if the speakers will be available.

Nov 3. Called up my brod. He had an aluminum supplier fabricate an aluminum case for the ADCOM clone. It was as big as the adcom 585 case but looked bigger since it was shiny metal looking. He said he had already soldered all the parts of the right channel into place and the amp was already merrily pouring out mono music. I can't wait to hear it. Unfotunately, he said that only four capacitors were available and he needed another four for the left channel. He's waiting for the supplier to restock his supplies of that specific part.

Nov. 8.

I picked up my family's 1996 Mazda Miata last weekend. I will be sprucing it up this weekend. The audio is horrible. Only the right channel of the stereo head unit. (Stock Alpine). I did a quick inspection of the speakers. The right speaker on the right door was kaput. They looked as if they have been wet. The surrounds were damaged. I have my work cut out for me. Next week I will start looking for amps, speakers, wires etc for the sportscar.

:: Bing Monday, November 08, 2004 [+] ::
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