Wow and Forum

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...

BTW last week someone bought an Armstrong 730/732 combination on fleabay
for 1,136 quid! I'm hoping they will contact me. But I can't give them
their money back. 8-]

A friend of mine bought an Armstrong valve amp for UKP 1
(plus post and packing) . It has a bright red painted chassis which
the previous owner assures him is orginal. Inside, is the most awful
point-to point wiring rat's nest (also original)

Back in the "golden days" The Leak TL12 (a mono amp designed in 1947)
was highly regarded. The layout/build quality is impressive:
https://www.google.com/search?q=leak...Sz8uuQygsIM%3A

The amp produced 12W into 8 Ohms, with THD 0.1%
A pair of these made (and still do make) the nucleus of a
very pleasing audio system.

This may explain why Harold Leak rode to the factory
in a Rolls and Ted Rule used a bicycle:-)

Iain

On 03/05/2016 18:24, Iain Churches wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...

BTW last week someone bought an Armstrong 730/732 combination on fleabay
for 1,136 quid! I'm hoping they will contact me. But I can't give them
their money back. 8-]

A friend of mine bought an Armstrong valve amp for UKP 1
(plus post and packing) . It has a bright red painted chassis which
the previous owner assures him is orginal. Inside, is the most awful
point-to point wiring rat's nest (also original)

Back in the "golden days" The Leak TL12 (a mono amp designed in 1947)
was highly regarded. The layout/build quality is impressive:
https://www.google.com/search?q=leak...Sz8uuQygsIM%3A

The amp produced 12W into 8 Ohms, with THD 0.1%
A pair of these made (and still do make) the nucleus of a
very pleasing audio system.

This may explain why Harold Leak rode to the factory
in a Rolls and Ted Rule used a bicycle:-)

Didn't anyone tell you? We don't do bitchiness here any more.

--
Eiron.

In article , Eiron
wrote:
On 03/05/2016 18:24, Iain Churches wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...

BTW last week someone bought an Armstrong 730/732 combination on
fleabay for 1,136 quid! I'm hoping they will contact me. But I can't
give them their money back. 8-]

A friend of mine bought an Armstrong valve amp for UKP 1 (plus post
and packing) . It has a bright red painted chassis which the previous
owner assures him is orginal. Inside, is the most awful point-to
point wiring rat's nest (also original)

Back in the "golden days" The Leak TL12 (a mono amp designed in 1947)
was highly regarded. The layout/build quality is impressive:
https://www.google.com/search?q=leak...Sz8uuQygsIM%3A

The amp produced 12W into 8 Ohms, with THD 0.1% A pair of these made
(and still do make) the nucleus of a very pleasing audio system.

This may explain why Harold Leak rode to the factory in a Rolls and
Ted Rule used a bicycle:-)

Didn't anyone tell you? We don't do bitchiness here any more.

It does seem a rather odd outburst coming out of nowhere onto this thread.

But it is an interesting example of someone judging something purely on
appearances. :-)

TBH I'm not sure Ted rode a bicycle. I'll ask him. Iain might find it
useful to be aware that he is still alive in case he wants to futher
patronise him or criticise his work. But he'll probably laugh at what Iain
wrote. I doubt he designed hifi to get himself a Rolls Royce, and it seems
odd to compare a design engineer with the owner of a company.

As for the Rolls, well Leak was always very good at publicity and
self-promotion. But some may recall the story of how his (sic) first
transistor amp design was actually 'developled'.

The Leak amplifiers were good, but I don't think I'd have wanted to work
for or with him. Whereas I did enjoy working with Ted.

BTW Iain, if your friend wants to sell the amp, I'm sure he can get a
higher price for it somewhere and make a profit. He may not be able to buy
his own Rolls from it, though.

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article , Eiron
wrote:
On 03/05/2016 18:24, Iain Churches wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...

BTW last week someone bought an Armstrong 730/732 combination on
fleabay for 1,136 quid! I'm hoping they will contact me. But I
can't
give them their money back. 8-]

A friend of mine bought an Armstrong valve amp for UKP 1 (plus
post
and packing) . It has a bright red painted chassis which the
previous
owner assures him is orginal. Inside, is the most awful point-to
point wiring rat's nest (also original)

Back in the "golden days" The Leak TL12 (a mono amp designed in
1947)
was highly regarded. The layout/build quality is impressive:
https://www.google.com/search?q=leak...Sz8uuQygsIM%3A

The amp produced 12W into 8 Ohms, with THD 0.1% A pair of these
made
(and still do make) the nucleus of a very pleasing audio system.

This may explain why Harold Leak rode to the factory in a Rolls
and
Ted Rule used a bicycle:-)

Didn't anyone tell you? We don't do bitchiness here any more.

It does seem a rather odd outburst coming out of nowhere onto this
thread.

But it is an interesting example of someone judging something purely
on
appearances. :-)

TBH I'm not sure Ted rode a bicycle. I'll ask him. Iain might find
it
useful to be aware that he is still alive in case he wants to futher
patronise him or criticise his work. But he'll probably laugh at
what Iain
wrote. I doubt he designed hifi to get himself a Rolls Royce, and it
seems
odd to compare a design engineer with the owner of a company.

As for the Rolls, well Leak was always very good at publicity and
self-promotion. But some may recall the story of how his (sic) first
transistor amp design was actually 'developled'.

The Leak amplifiers were good, but I don't think I'd have wanted to
work
for or with him. Whereas I did enjoy working with Ted.

BTW Iain, if your friend wants to sell the amp, I'm sure he can get
a
higher price for it somewhere and make a profit. He may not be able
to buy
his own Rolls from it, though.


I bought a Leak Stereo 70 - which someone had painted white! I fitted
new smoothing caps and rewired the ceramic pickup sockets as an output
from the volume control so that I could feed the dual-mono power
MOSFET power amp that I had built. I think of all the various pre-amps
I used with that power amp the Leak was probably the best. It
certainly proved itself with depth and clarity of bass when driving
the home-built (WW/Bailey) TL speakers that I was using at the time!


--
Woody

harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com

In article , Woody
wrote:

I bought a Leak Stereo 70 - which someone had painted white! I fitted
new smoothing caps and rewired the ceramic pickup sockets as an output
from the volume control so that I could feed the dual-mono power MOSFET
power amp that I had built. I think of all the various pre-amps I used
with that power amp the Leak was probably the best. It certainly proved
itself with depth and clarity of bass when driving the home-built
(WW/Bailey) TL speakers that I was using at the time!

Actually, if Iain's 'friend' wants to sell his 'red Armstrong rat's nest'
for ten quid, I'd be interested in buying it if it's in working condition
and looks OK (apart from his opinion of the wiring appearance). I've never
seen one in the flesh. Would be useful to take some photos. I could then
sell it on.

If anyone wants to follow up my comments about Leak, I can recommend a
letter by Jack Dinsdale which HFN published in their November 1996 issue.

It relates to how an early transistor amp design by Jack and Dick Tobey
was, erm, 'adopted' by Leak and sold as the Stereo 30 without their
permission or prior knowledge. If you can't find HFN, note that they'd
actually *patented* the design when working for Elliot Bros. May help you
to decide why Leak was able to get about in a Rolls when mere designers
might need a bicycle. :-)

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article , Eiron

Iain wrote
This may explain why Harold Leak rode to the factory in a Rolls and
Ted Rule used a bicycle:-)

Jim Wrote
It does seem a rather odd outburst coming out of nowhere onto this thread.

You mentioned a cheap Armstrong system on e-Bay.
I mentioned the red Armstrong valve amp.

But it is an interesting example of someone judging something purely on
appearances. :-)

Build quality is indeed only part of the story. It will be interesting
to take some measurements, and do some listening also.

The Rolls Royce/bicycle joke is as old as the hills. I am sure TR
has heard it:-) I heard it first many years ago, from a salesman at a
hifi shop (Henry's?) in Tottenham Court Road. I had a summer
job in a small studio nearby and I used to spend my lunchtimes at
the hifi shop listening to their amp and speaker demos.

TBH I'm not sure Ted rode a bicycle. I'll ask him. Iain might find it
useful to be aware that he is still alive in case he wants to futher
patronise him or criticise his work.

Yes, I know he is still alive. Hopefully in good health.
I do not criticise his work but state plainly that the inside
of the amp is a rat's comparted with Leak TL12. I will post
some pics when available.

As for the Rolls, well Leak was always very good at publicity and
self-promotion.

He had quality products, a good engineering team, and a
workshop full of delightful middle-aged ladies in headscarves
and bright floral aprons, who had worked for the Gov't
wiring mil-spec equipment just a few years before.
(I know about the ladies becuse I visited the factory in
East Acton with my Dad when I was a very young lad:-)

Henry Leak himself was a first class salesman. He travelled the
world demonstrating Leak products. The UK national press
covered his trip to Australia. Excellent PR.

But some may recall the story of how his (sic) first
transistor amp design was actually 'developled'.

Most of us know the story (apocryphal) Jim.
No one would be so foolish. A locker at Waterloo station
propably cost 3d back then:-)
Do you think anyone believes such a tall story?

BTW Iain, if your friend wants to sell the amp, I'm sure he can get a
higher price for it somewhere and make a profit. He may not be able to buy
his own Rolls from it, though.

I made him an offer. It would be an interesting piece of British audio
history to own. I recently visited a dealer who has a pristine pair of
Leak TL12's for sale (consecutive serial numbers) at SEK 12,000
(that's roughly UKP 1000)

There is a similar pair on e-Bay at the moment going cheap at £700
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leak-TL-12...-/152075207596
Still four days to go.

There is also a pair of TL10s at UKP 1300
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pair-of-Le...-/262302181486



Iain

In article , Iain Churches
wrote:

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article , Eiron

Iain wrote
This may explain why Harold Leak rode to the factory in a Rolls and
Ted Rule used a bicycle:-)

Jim Wrote
It does seem a rather odd outburst coming out of nowhere onto this
thread.

You mentioned a cheap Armstrong system on e-Bay. I mentioned the red
Armstrong valve amp.

Ah! Curious that you felt 1,136 quid was cheap! The units were above 800
quid IIRC when new 30+ years ago. I hadn't thought the price would go up to
over a 1000 quid now, but people do sometimes pay wild prices on ebay, etc.
So it may not be a good way to judge such matters... even for Leak kit you
gave ebay examples of. :-)

I'm now wondering if you've muddled up which amplifiers I was talking about
in your eagerness to comment.


Henry Leak himself was a first class salesman. He travelled the world
demonstrating Leak products. The UK national press covered his trip to
Australia. Excellent PR.

Yes, he was good at all that. :-)


But some may recall the story of how his (sic) first transistor amp
design was actually 'developled'.

Most of us know the story (apocryphal) Jim. No one would be so foolish.
A locker at Waterloo station propably cost 3d back then:-) Do you think
anyone believes such a tall story?

Which story are you referring to? The one told by Jack Dinsdale? Your
"locker" comment seems to refer to something else. If so, you'd have to
explain and give details before anyone could comment. I think Jack is dead,
so you could call him a liar if you chose and not be sued. I don't know if
people would accept being told that, though. But again, I'm now wondering
if you've reacted without realising what I was referring to.


BTW Iain, if your friend wants to sell the amp, I'm sure he can get a
higher price for it somewhere and make a profit. He may not be able to
buy his own Rolls from it, though.

I made him an offer. It would be an interesting piece of British audio
history to own.

Personally, I don't want to "own" it as I don't collect kit for its own
sake. So you're welcome to outbid the ten quid I had in mind. :-) In
fairness, warn him as he is a friend that sometimes you can get quite high
prices on ebay.

What I would like is to be able to get more photos than I have of one in
good visual condition. It would also be nice to see and examine one as I've
only ever seen that design in photos. I agree the red looks a bit
startingly naff these days. But a lot of old kit looks weird to modern
eyes.

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

In article , pamela
wrote:
On 15:40 25 Apr 2016, Jim Lesurf wrote:

I've recently given in and have tried joining a 'web forum' on audio
(pink fish). This seems OK, and the people are friendly, but I still
find usenet easier to use. But alas, most people seem to have migrated
away from usenet...


SNIP

I hadn't heard of the Pink Fish audio forum.

At one time, Hydrogen was a biggie. http://hydrogenaud.io/

Which are the main audio forums these days?

I don't know. The only one I've tried is pink fish. Chose it because it
came up in a discussion I had with someone via email.

And I guess it depends on what you would regard as the marks of being
"main". There may be forums with many more users, but a lower SNR or a lot
of sniping, etc.

I find forum web interfaces awkard to use compared with usenet. Pink Fish
seems OK, and it has some sections I find interesting, but I can't make any
comparisions with other audio forums. One nice feature I discovered about
Pink Fish is that the admid buys and sells secondhand LPs, CDs, etc. So
I've already bought few examples.

I *did*, some years ago, write some material for another forum because the
person who ran it invited me to check the claims someone was making about
'bi wiring'. But I can't now ever recall which forum it was!

So if someone wants to try a UK-based audio web forum, I can suggest pink
fish is one worth considering. But "other fora are available"... or do I
mean "forums" or even "forii"? 8-]

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

On Sat, 07 May 2016 18:48:55 +0100, pamela wrote:

On 15:40 25 Apr 2016, Jim Lesurf wrote:

I've recently given in and have tried joining a 'web forum' on
audio (pink fish). This seems OK, and the people are friendly,
but I still find usenet easier to use. But alas, most people
seem to have migrated away from usenet...


SNIP

I hadn't heard of the Pink Fish audio forum.

At one time, Hydrogen was a biggie. http://hydrogenaud.io/

Which are the main audio forums these days?
Like most here, I prefer Usenet, but since you asked...

While I don't know if you could call these "main" or not (I don't have
the criteria or the statistics), you might try these:
Steve Hoffman's: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/
Audio Asylum: http://audioasylum.com/
Audiogon forums: https://forum.audiogon.com/
------------------------------------------
My email is JohnMee3 AT comcast.net, not whatever is in the header