Not for guitars but new amp nonetheless

Phil_aka_Pip

He's just finished building it

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb376/musophilr/Radford7_zps0eoaufwb.jpeg

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb376/musophilr/Radford6_zpsnihhkuxj.jpeg

ESchap

Very nice!  Is it the 15?  Commendable that he follows the original circuits exactly.  

Phil_aka_Pip

Its the 25. On the phone he sounded very proud of it saying "It's my best yet".

ESchap

They look a really tidy "old school" build with easy servicing in the future.     

Phil_aka_Pip

ESchap said:

They look a really tidy "old school" build with easy servicing in the future.     

That was my other reason for buying it. The sound of those things is truly wonderful (Peter Walker was good but Arthur Radford was Damn Good), but I once bought a product with parts made of unobtanium that nobody knows how to service and it has unfortunately become a pile of expensive junk. I'm hoping this will last me for the rest of my life.

ESchap

Phil_aka_Pip said:

ESchap said:

They look a really tidy "old school" build with easy servicing in the future.     

That was my other reason for buying it. The sound of those things is truly wonderful (Peter Walker was good but Arthur Radford was Damn Good), but I once bought a product with parts made of unobtanium that nobody knows how to service and it has unfortunately become a pile of expensive junk. I'm hoping this will last me for the rest of my life.

I've got a pair of mid-60's Quad II's that I am slowly restoring.  Cursing the very neat "laced" wiring as I'll never be able to reproduce its tidiness when finished.  However otherwise pretty easy to renovate.  I've also got a matching Quad stereo valve pre-amp as well, but that may have to wait as it is a nightmare to work on  .. so much crammed into a small space.

Phil_aka_Pip

@ESchap I wish you well with the Quad project I did once think about having Quads (I keep a 303 and a 405-2 in my music room, and the same again in my hifi lounge with a 33 preamp & tuner) but I'll never forget hearing a John Williams record being played on a system that included a Radford power stage, it was 40+years ago and I've wanted one ever since.

Phil_aka_Pip

Finally got this amplifier home and installed on Friday evening. By the end of Saturday evening I had decided that the Series 5 STA-25 is not only the best HiFi amplifier I have ever owned, it is also the best I have ever heard.

Some of you might think that you get more bass slam from a modern design, and I concede that the Radfords were not designed with Dub Reggae or Drum&Bass in mind. To a point, HiFi is subjective whereas %THD and frequency response curves are measurable things and you might well find modern designs with better figures. All I can say is that my ears like Radfords

ESchap

Excellent!   That's why I like vinyl through valves into old school speakers (large!)  Never mind the THD, I like a bit of "looseness" around the edges and of course vinyl and valves do that just right.  To me most music just sounds wrong without it.