# Vintage Amstrad Audio Amplifier



## Silver Hawk

I bet someone on this Forum can help....

I keep remembering a rather nice Amstrad Audio Amplifier I had in 1974-1975









It was roughly the size of a closed laptop, had a light coloured wooden case. It had sliders controls in the horizontal position, a bit like a modern studio mixer. Above these, were the push buttons for selection inputs/outputs. On the back were loads of DIN sockets. Sadly, I have no idea what the model number was.

I'd love to see a photo of this again...but I have Googled-and-Googled and can't find anything.







Anyone got any ideas?

Cheers

Paul


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## mach 0.0013137

Paul, a friend of mine had one in the 70`s, I think the model number was `4000`









Until a few years ago I had a complete set of the annual Hi-Fi Year Book`s which detailed most of the equipment available on the UK market and did have specs & I`m sure a photo of your amp









You could try writing to "Hi-Fi World" magazine, they have an interest in old Hi Fi









BTW I bought an `8000` new in the early `70s, but took it back after a week when it started to smoke


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## Stan

I do remember the range but not the model number of the amp. Amstrad was one of the first companies to use ICs rather than discrete components in its amp and tuners.

They also made a turntable called the Tangential (I think) it had three "arms" instead of a conventional platter.


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## mach 0.0013137

Stan said:


> I do remember the range but not the model number of the amp. Amstrad was one of the first companies to use ICs rather than discrete components in its amp and tuners.
> 
> They also made a turntable called the Tangential (I think) it had three "arms" instead of a conventional platter.
> 
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> ←
> ​


I remember that turntable, weird looking thing


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## Stan

mach 0.0013137 said:


> Stan said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do remember the range but not the model number of the amp. Amstrad was one of the first companies to use ICs rather than discrete components in its amp and tuners.
> 
> They also made a turntable called the Tangential (I think) it had three "arms" instead of a conventional platter.
> 
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> ​
> 
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> 
> I remember that turntable, weird looking thing
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> ←
> ​
Click to expand...

I wonder what it sounded like?









It might have been a Linn beater and we ignored it 'cause it looked silly?









Oh, bollox.


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## Silver Hawk

mach 0.0013137 said:


> Paul, a friend of mine had one in the 70`s, I think the model number was `4000`
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Hey Mac, I think you might be right...the '4000' definetely rings a bell with me...









I remember it really looked the part...but the sliders soon began to clog up with dust etc leading to a very bad noise through the speakers when sliding them.









Now if I could only find a picture of one.....


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## mach 0.0013137

Stan said:


> mach 0.0013137 said:
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> Stan said:
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> 
> I do remember the range but not the model number of the amp. Amstrad was one of the first companies to use ICs rather than discrete components in its amp and tuners.
> 
> They also made a turntable called the Tangential (I think) it had three "arms" instead of a conventional platter.
> 
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> ←
> ​
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> 
> I remember that turntable, weird looking thing
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> Click to expand...
> 
> I wonder what it sounded like?
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> It might have been a Linn beater and we ignored it 'cause it looked silly?
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> Oh, bollox.
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Click to expand...

Have you ever seen a `Transcriptors` by Mitchell, featured in `A Clock Work Orange`, with a completely perspex plinth?









Very cool









I`m not keen on on the LP12, I`ve heard a few & they don`t suit me, also sooo temperamental if not set up `just right` and then need regular checking to keep them `on tune`
















Prefer a well set up idler wheeled Thorens TD124 with SME 309 in a massive plinth
















Admitedly not everyones cup of `fair trade`























Paul, re the `4000` I remember the sliders on my friends one got `dusty`, didn`t half crackle after that


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## ESL

I had a "Tangential" and an amp - AMS 1500, I think, and I had the matching EX-250 speakers too.

I'm looking at an old photo of mine, of the deck now - what memories









I seem to remember the supplied pickup was a bit ropey (crappy Ortophone I seem to remember), but when I put a Shure in it, and frigged around with the head alignment, it was an absloute belter.

It served me for a few years whilst I was in the Army and when I came out I decided I needed an upgrade and got an Acoustic Research "AR Legend". Now THAT was a record deck!!!!!

I'll try to get a scan of my "Tangential" deck photo if anyone is interested.


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## Boxbrownie

I bought an Amstrad amp from the man himself, a little shop near Romford it was, if my memory serves me correct it was Gants Hill on a roundabout, misty days though now....as for the model, I am sure it was an Amstrad 8000 Mk3 (of course there never was a Mk1 or 2 even then he was the king of marketing LOL).

That was back in about 1972-4.......

Best regards David


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## Bill Thornton

Hi Folks I,m a newbie but I, ve got the goods on the Amsrtrad turntable cos' I still use one!! It was is called the Amstrad TP12D and the adjective used was TRIPOIDAL

Hence - Tri Poidal 12" Diameter (TP12D) It was obvious from the start that the design would lead to enormous wow & flutter due to lack of mass in the tripoid (sic) but that the arm was a little bute worth the money on its own.So I bought one and made a new platter and drive spindle etc I also made a sprung adjustable suspension so that it was somewhat isolated and capable of being levelled.At one time I even had an Ultimo 10x

in it and it coped well,the present incumbent is a humble ADC qlm.I have a picture of it here but I dont know how to attach it to the reply If anyones interested tell me how to post a jpg and I,ll do it.

Bill .


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## Stan

Bill Thornton said:


> Hi Folks I,m a newbie but I, ve got the goods on the Amsrtrad turntable cos' I still use one!! It was is called the Amstrad TP12D and the adjective used was TRIPOIDAL
> 
> Hence - Tri Poidal 12" Diameter (TP12D) It was obvious from the start that the design would lead to enormous wow & flutter due to lack of mass in the tripoid (sic) but that the arm was a little bute worth the money on its own.So I bought one and made a new platter and drive spindle etc I also made a sprung adjustable suspension so that it was somewhat isolated and capable of being levelled.At one time I even had an Ultimo 10x
> 
> in it and it coped well,the present incumbent is a humble ADC qlm.I have a picture of it here but I dont know how to attach it to the reply If anyones interested tell me how to post a jpg and I,ll do it.
> 
> Bill .
> 
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> ←
> ​


Hello Bill,









Welcome aboard.

I'm amazed that anyone still has one of these and very pleased too.









If you can't post a picture, e-mail one to me and I'll post it for you: [email protected]


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## Stan

I got an e-mail from Bill with a picture and a summary of the modifications made.









"Hi Stan ,

thanks for taking the trouble - This is a photo of the deck with the rubber mat removed so you can see the works a bit .You may

notice the chatter marks on the surface.This top was fabricated from 16g aluminium , the rim being ali soldered to the edge of the disc

and the whole thing turned up in a colchester lathe.I dont think I,d have the bottle to do it now !! turning the edge was V.Hairy.The counter

weight is a solid brass lump shaped according to principles expounded by the experts at HiFi news - low polar moments up in ayrshire

etc."


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## Silver Hawk

Someone _*please*_ find me a photo of the Amstrad 4000 Amplifier









How about if I offer a reward...


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## MIKE

In similar vein I purchased an old Alba amp dating back to the 70's today at the car boot. Unlike todays "cheap and nasty" Alba's this one looks and sounds quite good proudly displaying made in London, England

This sounds to be of similar style to Pauls Amsrtad. In a flat style with sliders but the push buttons are "keys" to the side of the sliders and plenty of DIN's on the back. Wooden and alloy case.

Intrestingly it has sliders for input level on each chanel and a slider for stereo seperation along with the seperate tone and and a volume marked as "loudness" It also has a DIN and one of the keys marked " Quadril" or something similar (it's in the garage so I can't see it) I have no idea what thats about









Along with this amp I got an Alba Tuner with a novel tuning meter. Two iluminted arrows telling you wich way to tune depending on wich one's lit up, when these go out and the stereo light come on you are tuned in.

We will see what they are worth on E-bay







when I have polished them up.


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## Bill Thornton

MIKE said:


> In similar vein I purchased an old Alba amp dating back to the 70's today at the car boot. Unlike todays "cheap and nasty" Alba's this one looks and sounds quite good proudly displaying made in London, England
> 
> This sounds to be of similar style to Pauls Amsrtad. In a flat style with sliders but the push buttons are "keys" to the side of the sliders and plenty of DIN's on the back. Wooden and alloy case.
> 
> Intrestingly it has sliders for input level on each chanel and a slider for stereo seperation along with the seperate tone and and a volume marked as "loudness" It also has a DIN and one of the keys marked " Quadril" or something similar (it's in the garage so I can't see it) I have no idea what thats about
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Along with this amp I got an Alba Tuner with a novel tuning meter. Two iluminted arrows telling you wich way to tune depending on wich one's lit up, when these go out and the stereo light come on you are tuned in.
> 
> We will see what they are worth on E-bay
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
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> when I have polished them up.
> 
> 
> 
> ←
> ​


Hi Mike ,

Yet again Ive got the goods on these items as well:-

the amp is an ALBA UA900 and is thirty watts per channel of good english amplifier

much underated I wish I still had mine! the tuner is the matching ua700 and the 2

lights tell you which way to tune to peak the signal the amp also has an interesting

feature in that you can control channel separation for use with h/phones .Ive still

got the manual and circuit diag. somewhere if you need to fix it. I do admit though

horizontal sliders ask for trouble!

All the best Bill T.


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## raketakat

I'm afraid an Amstrad 6000 tape deck is all I could come up with







.

Still, the thoughts there







.


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## MIKE

Bill Thornton said:


> Hi Mike ,
> 
> Yet again Ive got the goods on these items as well:-
> 
> the amp is an ALBA UA900 and is thirty watts per channel of good english amplifier
> 
> much underated I wish I still had mine! the tuner is the matching ua700 and the 2
> 
> lights tell you which way to tune to peak the signal the amp also has an interesting
> 
> feature in that you can control channel separation for use with h/phones .Ive still
> 
> got the manual and circuit diag. somewhere if you need to fix it. I do admit though
> 
> horizontal sliders ask for trouble!
> 
> Â Â Â Â Â All the best Bill T.
> 
> 
> 
> ←
> ​


Thanks for the info Bill







very intresting









You have P.M regarding the instructions.

Mike


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## Bill Thornton

MIKE said:


> Bill Thornton said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Mike ,
> 
> Yet again Ive got the goods on these items as well:-
> 
> the amp is an ALBA UA900 and is thirty watts per channel of good english amplifier
> 
> much underated I wish I still had mine! the tuner is the matching ua700 and the 2
> 
> lights tell you which way to tune to peak the signal the amp also has an interesting
> 
> feature in that you can control channel separation for use with h/phones .Ive still
> 
> got the manual and circuit diag. somewhere if you need to fix it. I do admit though
> 
> horizontal sliders ask for trouble!
> 
> All the best Bill T.
> 
> 
> 
> ←
> ​
> 
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> 
> Thanks for the info Bill
> 
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> very intresting
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> You have P.M regarding the instructions.
> 
> Mike
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> ←
> ​
Click to expand...

Ive just dug them out of my workshop ,And oops I was wrong the tuner is UA800

The specifications of the amplifier are incredible for the price I paid way back then

If I remember it was about half the price of leak or an armstrong with an equal spec.

or better.If you like I can email you some of the specs if I scan them. Oh and

sorry for being dull but what does" P.M regarding ,etc " mean?


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## MIKE

Hi Bill,

P.M. personal message. You should have seen it come up when you changed pages. A red portion across the top of the screen.

If you look in the right hand corner below "photo gallery" You should see "new messages" click on that and you will see your inbox. It's like a forum based E-mail service.

Mike


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## ESL

Still can't help with Amstrad amplifier but here is my, now restored, photograph of my un-modified Tangential deck, from 1975-ish.


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## Stan

That's just how I remember them George, it looks so cool.


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## Silver Hawk

ESL said:


> Still can't help with Amstrad amplifier but here is my, now restored, photograph of my un-modified Tangential deck, from 1975-ish.
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Did we all have those fluff-bug things?







Can't remember who made them or their proper name.









I also had a velvet tube thingy --- about 6 inch in length and an inch diameter. It had a central tube that you put a small amout of water in. You then held it on the LP as it rotated on the turntable.


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## Bill Thornton

Silver Hawk said:


> ESL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Still can't help with Amstrad amplifier but here is my, now restored, photograph of my un-modified Tangential deck, from 1975-ish.
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> Did we all have those fluff-bug things?
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> Can't remember who made them or their proper name.
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> I also had a velvet tube thingy --- about 6 inch in length and an inch diameter. It had a central tube that you put a small amout of water in. You then held it on the LP as it rotated on the turntable.
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Click to expand...

Thats in super condition (tripoidal) ,Garrard made the(tangential) tracking deck the zero 100. The velvety thing was a Nu-way velvetone record cleaner HOW ANORAK IS THAT

sorry!!


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## ESL

It seems like a few folk used to use kit like this









I seem to recall the dust thingy was a "Super Dust Bug" or some such wotsit. I was just trying to figure out what the pickup was - I seem to recall that I had an Ortophon in it to start, before I fitted a Shure.

I also seem to remember that this deck sounded absolutely crap with the acrylic cover fitted, if you took it off (as long as you had the head correctly aligned) it sounded not at all bad.


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## georgina

Hi everyone and in particular Bill Thornton I have an Alba UA700 bought from new in 1973 versatile amp- sounds good with modern inputs, turntables, DAB radios and CD players Runs hot now -dry joints and worn input selector buttons but still sounds like no other amp. It's the variable loudness control I think -40dB to plus 6dB at1000hz and the ability to play a turntable into an pre amp of 3mV sensitivity but with no RIAA characteristic so you bring the bass back with about plus 6to 9 dB of (12 dB max) Power amp is 15 plus 15 watts 20- 30000HZ power bandwidth freq response is 30- 18000 hz S/N ratio - 63 dB It shouldn't sound as good as it does ! Those engineers at A J BALCOMBE certainly knew amplifier design Has anyone else an Alba product? best wishes Dave Rucklidge


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## Bill Thornton

georgina said:


> Hi everyone and in particular Bill Thornton I have an Alba UA700 bought from new in 1973 versatile amp- sounds good with modern inputs, turntables, DAB radios and CD players Runs hot now -dry joints and worn input selector buttons but still sounds like no other amp. It's the variable loudness control I think -40dB to plus 6dB at1000hz and the ability to play a turntable into an pre amp of 3mV sensitivity but with no RIAA characteristic so you bring the bass back with about plus 6to 9 dB of (12 dB max) Power amp is 15 plus 15 watts 20- 30000HZ power bandwidth freq response is 30- 18000 hz S/N ratio - 63 dB It shouldn't sound as good as it does ! Those engineers at A J BALCOMBE certainly knew amplifier design Has anyone else an Alba product? best wishes Dave Rucklidge
> 
> 
> 
> ←
> ​


Sorry DAVE I hadnt read this when I got the relayed message hence the who am I

talking to bit! Hope you got the reply but to reiterate Mike on this forum has both amp and matching tuner for sale he also has my manuals and cicuit diagrams .the amp is for

sale on Ebay but speak to mike anyway.


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## Silver Hawk

Mac, where are you? *I found a picture of one!*...and its on eBay!









Amstrad Integra 4000 Hi-Fi Amplifier

I'm sorely tempted to bid for the thing....just for old time's sake. Dunno why, nothing to plug into it and no speakers.







Although my wife would kill me, we're trying to get rid of 70's and 80's junk...









But I'm so glad I've finally found a picture of it.


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## chris l

Bill Thornton said:


> MIKE said:
> 
> 
> 
> In similar vein I purchased an old Alba amp dating back to the 70's today at the car boot. Unlike todays "cheap and nasty" Alba's this one looks and sounds quite good proudly displaying made in London, England
> 
> This sounds to be of similar style to Pauls Amsrtad. In a flat style with sliders but the push buttons are "keys" to the side of the sliders and plenty of DIN's on the back. Wooden and alloy case.
> 
> Intrestingly it has sliders for input level on each chanel and a slider for stereo seperation along with the seperate tone and and a volume marked as "loudness" It also has a DIN and one of the keys marked " Quadril" or something similar (it's in the garage so I can't see it) I have no idea what thats about
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Along with this amp I got an Alba Tuner with a novel tuning meter. Two iluminted arrows telling you wich way to tune depending on wich one's lit up, when these go out and the stereo light come on you are tuned in.
> 
> We will see what they are worth on E-bay
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> when I have polished them up.
> 
> ←
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Mike ,
> 
> Yet again Ive got the goods on these items as well:-
> 
> the amp is an ALBA UA900 and is thirty watts per channel of good english amplifier
> 
> much underated I wish I still had mine! the tuner is the matching ua700 and the 2
> 
> lights tell you which way to tune to peak the signal the amp also has an interesting
> 
> feature in that you can control channel separation for use with h/phones .Ive still
> 
> got the manual and circuit diag. somewhere if you need to fix it. I do admit though
> 
> horizontal sliders ask for trouble!
> 
> All the best Bill T.
Click to expand...

This is nostalgia run amok! In the early '70s I had both the Alba and the Metrosound ST60, a similarly styled amp.

Loved it; until the dust got in and I had to clean the sliders every day...bought from Comet when it was an out of town warehouse. It was the year that VAT was going up to 25% on 'luxuries' and I bought ahead of the budget.

Also a pair of Celestion Ditton 44 speakers, which are currently the loudest things in the village at my place in the Canaries...the locals think they're ludicrous.

Still got the SystemDek turntable, too, with the glass platter.

I feel a Jimi Hendrix session coming on....


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## mach 0.0013137

Silver Hawk said:


> Mac, where are you? *I found a picture of one!*...and its on eBay!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Amstrad Integra 4000 Hi-Fi Amplifier
> 
> I'm sorely tempted to bid for the thing....just for old time's sake. Dunno why, nothing to plug into it and no speakers.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Although my wife would kill me, we're trying to get rid of 70's and 80's junk...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But I'm so glad I've finally found a picture of it.


Go for it Paul, you could pick up a cheap CD player & speakers from Richer Sounds and set it up in your garage or whatever.

I know it`s not the same but had a Trio KA 4002a back in the mid `70`s and for some reason always had a hankering to get another one.

Well a few years ago I needed to get a system set up in the kitchen/bathroom for Caroline anyway by chance the guy I used to get my HiFi gear off happend to have a KA4002a plus a nice pair JPW bookshelf speakers for a very reasonable price.

I bought a cheap Phillips CD player (it has a `volume` control which reduces the output so as not to overload the Trio`s input) from Richer Sounds plus a cheap pair of `Ariston` wall mounted speakers for the bathroom.

Caroline is well pleased with the sound and I must say it`s a lot better then I expected.


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## mel

New fangled stuff all that!









Pair of KT66s in push pull with a bass boost circuit 50 "real" watts out into a couple of 12" Wharfedales! Even better, 4 x KT66s with two parallelled up in each half of the push pull circuit into Wharfedales with crossover and some mid range speakers also. Cooking with gas! 100w out. I recall a guy in Wishaw built amps, he did one with 8 x KT 66s running in parallell push pull to do 100w out on each of two stereo channels.

[Course, when you get to my age, you can only hear the bass notes anyway







] Rattle the windows I say - what ASBO?


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## JonW

I used to have a LEAK amplified that was all teak and silver... old but good.









These days I have Arcam and a Michell Gyrodek... both great quality but the Gyrodek is simply stunning to look at and listen to


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## Bill Thornton

Thats ironic,

Due to space considerations ,I needed to get a receiver so i bought some Old British gear on Ebay namely a LEAK 2000

, it adds a comfortable 60's glow in the corner of the cottage and doesn't sound half bad either!

WILT


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