[MrBlimp]

Hello all,

I've been away from listening to music on anything other than an iPhone or factory car stereo for about 30 years now. I just recently decided to get back into things. I've had a Kenwood KA7002 integrated solid state amp setup with Marantz and Pioneer turntables, a Panasonic tuner, a TEAC reel to reel, and a Panasonic 8-Track recording deck pushing a set of custom bookshelf speakers in the den and another larger set of custom speakers in the living room. That setup has been in effect as my main system since before I bought my house (as obvious from the 8-Track deck). Unfortunately, many years ago we had a leak from which one of the larger custom speakers in the living room was destroyed. Thing is we have a few homes and the one where this setup is we weren't using much and even when we did we didn't go into most of the first floor of the house (living room, dinning room, and den). For years we only used the kitchen, a bathroom on the second floor, and one of the bedrooms up there. That leak was probably gong on for about a year and a half, maybe more. One of the speakers was right in its path. Meantime, the amp, turntables, large record collection, etc... stood idle.

On the second floor we had a Marantz stereo receiver, a Benjamin Maracord turntable, and a set of large JBL 88 speakers (now packed away in the basement), but they didn't get much of any usage either. Down in the basement, sealed up in tubs, was the tube stuff (a set of Dynaco Mk IIs, a single Mk III which I used as a center channel for the Mk IIs, a set of Scott 121-c preamps, plus a Fisher x-100 and a Scott 299, all of which I have owned since 1972), and some miscellaneous solid state/transistor stuff (a Dynaco 120 amp, a Dynaco preamp, a Sony receiver, and some other stuff).

Fast forward, my wife has been living in one of our other homes for the past few years where I live with her 3 to 4 days a week depending on work and my other responsibilities, I live in another house (two family with a tenant on the second floor) that we own 1 day a week, and I live in the house with all the equipment (by myself) 2 days a week.

Here I am in my mid 60s, holding down a full time job, taking care of our houses, and traveling between them and I decided I wanted to start listening to music on records again during those 2 days a week I am by myself. Problem is everything hasn't been used in so long. The Kenwood is major scratchy and only seems to have any output on one channel. Plus, I really want to get back into listening to my tube systems.

So, I pulled out the Dynaco Mk IIs and had at them. I originally bought these and the Scott preamps from a guy who said he built the Dynacos as kits - first one before stereo and second one after stereo was on the market, so they are slightly different (circuit board sizes). He bought the Scott preamps prebuilt but, as with the Dyancos, they are also slightly different (mainly it's the case that's different, or lack of one). I knew the main issue with the Dynaco amps was the Quad Capacitor cans. At least that was why I retired them pre 1980. I used to have this system setup pushing a set of Voice of the Theater style cabinets with SRO blowout proof speakers and a set of monster sized horns that I would lay on top of the cabinets (it is really left over equipment form my roadie days). I sold the horns like 45 years ago but still have the cabinets, though I doubt I will use them as they are too big (they are stored on a shelf at the back of the garage). I've since replaced all the Caps from within the Quad cans on both amps and any others that were below the chassis, as well as the three main ones on top of the circuit board. I also replaced the on/off switches and added Inrush Current Limiters. The previous owner/builder had done some sloppy repair work on them at some point before I bought them that I cleaned up.

Next phase of the project is to get them on the bench and power them up on a variac, which will happen either this week or after the new year when I next expect to be at this house and have the time (I actually will take them to my cousins as he has a major bench setup from when he did this type of work professionally). Once we proof the two amps I will invest in new tubes.

I'm contemplating rebuilding the MkIII but haven't decided yet. In the grand scheme of things I am thinking that rebuilding the Fisher may come first.

In the meantime I started reviewing my Scott documentation for the expected rebuild on the preamps. I hate to mix-and-match (defeating the whole purpose of my desire), but I may take a temporary shortcut and get the Dynaco (solid state) preamp up to use until I get the Scotts rebuilt, as the parts list is extensive and the layout is extremely intensive. Time will tell on this one.

[FullRangeMan]

Welcome aboard Mr.Blimp

[Blackmore]

Glad you’ve joined us at AudioCircle

[Phil A]

Welcome to AC!

[ArthurDent]

Greetings & Welcome to AC MrBlimp     Nice collection of gear. 

[toocool4]

Welcome to AudioCircle MrBlimp

[MrBlimp]

[size=20]   Thanks for the welcome [/size]

What attracted me to this forum was Bill Thomas' post titled "GREAT SCOTT!!! - It's NOT a Dynaco??? - H. H. Scott 121-C Preamplifier - DONE" as I am just about to wade into rebuilding my two Scott 121-c preamps.

Not sure if it's because I am so new or because the thread is so old but I don't see any of the images that he posted. Regardless, the content he provided is very helpful.

I haven't looked around the forum  too much yet - I'm interested in any Dynaco MkII and III and Fisher x-100 rebuild threads, and would appreciate it if anyone knows any specific ones and can point me to them.

[ArthurDent]

Not sure why you wouldn't see the pics, thankfully saved & very graciously restored by Shakedown St a while back. Here's the "Great Scott" thread,  https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=70681.0

[FullRangeMan]

Arthur you are seeing the photos in this link?
This GGPHT.COM site is not sending the images to me as is usual after some years these sites gone off.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Xp_4nF2BnZE/SoDQwDKfgOI/AAAAAAAABI0/16W7OTh0M3Q/s720/Scott%20121-C%20-%20Front%20View.JPG

[ArthurDent]

Arthur you are seeing the photos in this link?
This GGPHT.COM site is not sending the images to me as is usual after some years these sites gone off.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Xp_4nF2BnZE/SoDQwDKfgOI/AAAAAAAABI0/16W7OTh0M3Q/s720/Scott%20121-C%20-%20Front%20View.JPG

No FRM, I just get a greyed out triangle with a "!" in it on that link. Are you not seeing the pics in the AC link I noted ?

[FullRangeMan]

No FRM, I just get a greyed out triangle with a "!" in it on that link. Are you not seeing the pics in the AC link I noted ?

Correct I see the same as you.

[MrBlimp]

What I found is that on the last page (4) Ben K who uses the name: "Shakedown St" has posted many of the pictures. Quite a few are missing, and Shakedown St's way of identifying them doesn't always seem to match the text.

  BUT - there are still plenty missing and Ben's promise below was never fulfilled.

So thrilled when I found them on an old hard drive I was about to toss. I had no idea he had passed until recently, very glad I kept them around.

More photos to come throughout the week once I get them online, I'll keep you guys posted. -  Ben K.

[ArthurDent]

What I found is that on the last page (4) Ben K who uses the name: "Shakedown St" has posted many of the pictures. Quite a few are missing, and Shakedown St's way of identifying them doesn't always seem to match the text.

  BUT - there are still plenty missing and Ben's promise below was never fulfilled.

Yes, for what ever reason additional photos were never posted, and it is a shame. You might try to send him a PM inquiring if he found more. Appears he has only been active in that one thread, that one time. Apologies if my post was misinterpreted as seeing all of Bill's original photo posts, or as having cataloged Shakedown's as to identification. I think it's probably a case of WYSIWYG.

Arthur you are seeing the photos in this link?
This GGPHT.COM site is not sending the images to me as is usual after some years these sites gone off.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Xp_4nF2BnZE/SoDQwDKfgOI/AAAAAAAABI0/16W7OTh0M3Q/s720/Scott%20121-C%20-%20Front%20View.JPG

Sorry FRM, misunderstood. I hadn't gone back to the start of the thread to see the filler symbol for the original photos Bill had posted, I was just looking at the archive info Shakedown had posted. I remember browsing that thread when he (Shakedown) posted what he'd found.

[MrBlimp]

  Last night my Kenwood decided it was done. I bought it second hand from a buddy while in high school back 50 years ago. As Hendrix said "....it did its part well".

So I dug out my Sony receiver and pulled the Kenwood amp and Pioneer tuner out from where my stereo is setup (I left he 8-Track in-place for nostalgic reasons). Then I replaced the destroyed large custom speaker with one of my JBLs, but I couldn't get it to work, so I moved it closer to the Receiver and plugged it in using a different wire. Once I proved it worked it was a matter of hunting down the issue with the wire that I had originally plugged it into. Turns out it was not the correct one. I had to go in the basement and trace it. Here's the path: wires leave the back of the stereo setup and go through the floor of the den into the crawlspace from where they go into the basement and up through the floor to where each speaker is located - two in the corners of the den and two in the corner cabinets in the living room (weird thing was there are two sets going into the living room cabinets and I was using the wrong one - I am not sure where that one originates from - I just can't remember why I ran it "in 1980", and I don't feel like crawling into the crawlspace to find it).
 
What a difference there is between my Kenwood and my Sony. My Kenwood has three switched and one un_switched 120 V plugs whereas the Sony has one single switched plug. My Kenwood has all sorts of controls (reverse stereo, mono/stereo, multiple filters, many Bass/Treble controls and switches whereas the Sony has single Bass and Treble knobs. My Kenwood has two Phono connections whereas the Sony has one. My Kenwood has all sorts of filters whereas the Sony has none. There are other differences but those are the main ones. I should note that the Sony is a receiver whereas the Kenwood is just an integrated amplifier. I didn't check the spec but I believe the Kenwood delivers more amps.

Meantime, I spent a good deal of last night, and most of today, listening to albums. Including a bunch of Christmas ones.

The major differences between the two are prompting me to bring my Kenwood in for servicing. I may bring my Dynaco 120, and its related Pre-amp, in at the same time.