CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Boilermaker · Joined: 21 May 2006 Posts: 527

Curt, about a year ago you asked for some pictures under the hood of one of the big amps I built about 30 years ago. So here they are:

I built these just for the use with a pair of Dayton Wright Full range electrostats and they handled that extreme load perfectly. After I stupidly sold those speakers, I used it for many years as a subwoofer amp. I did something else very stupid which blew out all the outputs, so it has sat on a shelf collecting dust for a long time. I really need to replace those outputs and put it back in service on my subs.

Bon

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 4:45 pm Post subject:

Cool! Now did you use this chassis with your own guts, or is the whole thing your own doing, chassis and all?

Those heat sink fins remind me of an old Biamp 2500... Smile

Boilermaker · Joined: 21 May 2006 Posts: 527

100% from scratch. Stable with a 1/2 ohm load! You aren't old enough to remember The Dayton Wrights are you? Made in Ontario by Mike Wright, they are/were the greatest potential speaker I have ever seen. He just ran out of money before he could really finish a reliable product. Smart guy that could have done so much.

Bob

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 5:20 pm Post subject:

I've 'heard' of them (rimshot!), don't think I'we seen them in person.

Ok, is the Perkins logo yours as well,?

Boilermaker · Joined: 21 May 2006 Posts: 527

Perkins is a friend that owned a security/electronics repair shop at the time, and we used his shop and his logo. He was also an audio nut. After I sold the DW's and kept one for my subs, I gave him the other one. Don't know what he ever did with it.

We also built a smaller stereo version for a guy named Roger Sanders. He was building electrostats and having troubles driving them, so I sent him the smaller version which obviously worked well as he now has Sanders Sound Systems which has been very favorably reviewed in the high end rags.

Bob

Boilermaker · Joined: 21 May 2006 Posts: 527

Just telling you the story of the amp got my old memory ticking, so I went to Roger's site www.sanderssoundsystems.com . If you see the front page, he states that he makes the speakers AND the amps to drive them.
At the bottom of the front page there is an "Interview" of him. In the interview he speaks about his beginnings as a recording engineer that produced lps, etc. Withhigh quality professional equipment.

This was about the same time he was playing with 'stats and when I made a deal with him. Since there was no Internet at the time, we had many long distance phone calls about his problem and the amp. The deal I made with him was that I would design/build a stereo amp that would handily drive the speakers he was making and ship it to him at no charge. If he was 100% satisfied that it solved his problem, he would ship me ALL of his master tapes as payment. If the amp did not suit him, just ship it back.

Six weeks after I shipped the amp to him I received 45 10-1/2", 1/2 track master tapes. He is an honest man. They are still, by far, the highest quality sound I have heard.

That is why I am redoing an old repro amp in another thread to get the very most out of these tapes that I am re-enjoying!

Bob