Greetings from upstate NY - have owned the same Dual 500 the past 4 decades...

[WOPL Sniffer]

NAV?

Navo and his naked babe welcome

 

[D-500 Flogger]

I enjoyed the journey!

Welcome, and prepare to get three more amps and WOPL them. Then, you might be approaching “overkill”.

my main system is also in storage while my son gets old enough to not destroy it. It also utilizes way too much amplification, but if the Counterpoint flavor. One wrong move and deafness, explosion, fire (or a combination of the three) will surely happen. I could never replace the components I a ccumulated over the last 30+ years, so we have to be careful!

Hello J!m, I understand where you are coming from - the only time the amp was wounded was when I had lent out the amp to a good friend. (Sold my house after I declined to follow my job from NH to Houston w/Compaq...but I digress.)

Wasn't worried about my buddy using the amp, but when he had his young daughter visit that summer, she blew the fuses when she couldn't get any sound out of his home theater setup...and managed to individually turn every single box up to 11 before she finally broke the code, Marty McFly style. The fuses were silvered flash-photography mode , so it didn't look good. Amazingly, only a couple of output devices needed replacement...in retrospect I guess she did me a favor with her ad-hoc stress test, culling the herd of the weakest parts on the heat sink. :0) FWIW, post-repair the amp was stable from then to when it went into cold storage.

The point of the story is that, yeah, your concern is legit - little people cohabitating w/ high-powered equipment can result in $moke $ignals of $adness.

Cheers -

PS - Reunification time? It will be well worth the wait!

 

[D-500 Flogger]

Dave, you found the right place. Loved your story man!!

Glad you enjoyed the yarn, and thanks for the kind words. I actually surprised myself writing all that...must have been in shock from discovering a place where others share my sincere appreciation for Bob Carver & his accomplishments. Anybody who can build an item that I could both (barely) afford to buy new...and then deliver on the promise for 4+ decades, has my respect. (!)

Mentally, I have him up on a pedestal along with Arnie Nudell, Grumpy Jenkins, & Ari Vatanen, to name a few. IMHO, these guys are perfect examples of what is possible when we agree to live in a true meritocracy.

Cheers -

 

[laatsch55]

Yeah....I believe Joe knew exactly what he was doing when he threw his considerable engineering skills into the driver boards and backplane boards. I had a Spec 2 for 35 years, the minute I had my first WOPL finished, the Spec was retired. I've had a multitude of amps in the mancave to put up against it and they all came up short. I'm talkin a Bryston 4B, POA 2400. SAE 2400, Carver PT 2400, Mac 2105 and a bunch I';ve forgotten about. The WOPL is just more natural sounding...

 

[laatsch55]

Dave, next time you go to Salt Lake, stop by, we'll rock your world..

 

[D-500 Flogger]

Dave, I remember Kemper Arena, though I've never been inside. I remember Bircain Apartments, though there are a slew of them in town nowadays.

Whatever - welcome to the forum!

Greetings Lazarus,

Glad to make your acquaintance! (Insert virtual old-school handshake here) Your location reminds me of my misspent youth, some of which included occasional pilgrimages to the old Independence Audio store. (Back then weren't they working out of an older house? Just now I didn't recognize anything on today's website.) I do remember that even though my champagne taste/tap water budget status clung to me like an unfashionable funk, the good folks there were very cool and had no problem allowing me to window shop & listen about. Man, that's a memory I haven't accessed in years.

As for Kemper arena, I didn't realize that it has been renamed. But I do remember that back in '79 the roof collapsed during an extra-heavy rainstorm, and during the post-mortem failure analysis the following was reported: "The structural engineer from California who came out to survey the rubble and identify the culprit found that the collapse was caused by the failure of the hanger bolts, which bound the roof’s steel trusses to its hangers. Specifically, he found one large bolt fatigued as the structure moved in the wind, leading to its failure and the eventual collapse."

99.9% of rational me accepts this theory at face value. But if I channel my inner Art Bell, what chance (if any) those under-spec hanger bolts were fatigued during the concert where I experienced my initiation to High Fidelity as a full-contact sport? JK :0)

Thanks for the opportunity to walk down memory lane.

Cheers -

 

[Lazarus Short]

Greetings Lazarus,

Glad to make your acquaintance! (Insert virtual old-school handshake here) Your location reminds me of my misspent youth, some of which included occasional pilgrimages to the old Independence Audio store. (Back then weren't they working out of an older house? Just now I didn't recognize anything on today's website.) I do remember that even though my champagne taste/tap water budget status clung to me like an unfashionable funk, the good folks there were very cool and had no problem allowing me to window shop & listen about. Man, that's a memory I haven't accessed in years.

As for Kemper arena, I didn't realize that it has been renamed. But I do remember that back in '79 the roof collapsed during an extra-heavy rainstorm, and during the post-mortem failure analysis the following was reported: "The structural engineer from California who came out to survey the rubble and identify the culprit found that the collapse was caused by the failure of the hanger bolts, which bound the roof’s steel trusses to its hangers. Specifically, he found one large bolt fatigued as the structure moved in the wind, leading to its failure and the eventual collapse."

I'm not so sure. 99% of me accepts this theory at face value. But my inner Art Bell was pondering how much (if any) those under-spec hanger bolts were working overtime during the concert where I experienced my introduction to High Fidelity as a full-contact sport. You just can't make this stuff up.

Thanks for the opportunity to walk down memory lane.

Cheers -- View attachment 56927

Yes, I visited Independence Audio a time or two when it was in the basement of a house, and have visited the new location, on 23rd street near highway 291, several times. I live several blocks south of it. Be aware that every other audio store in the KC metro from those days, has closed down. No matter for me, as I acquire (not "buy") my gear by other means. I don't think I have any gear I bought new for MSRP pricing. BTW, thanks for mentioning the Kemper collapse - I think the Hyatt Regency collapse wiped the other from the minds of most folks here.

 

[D-500 Flogger]

Fascinating story! Welcome- you’re a great addition to the forum!

Thanks Mark!

Here in the beginning it's all perfect world, blue sky bench racing by yours truly, but at the very least I hope to contribute in some small way to the party already in progress! My goal is to carefully document my planned twin D500 restore-a-thon, complete with bespoke sympathetic upgrades. (Along the lines of those awesome 'barn conversions' on the BBC show "Escape to the Country".)

****

To put some historical perspective on what I hope to add, after I gained the necessary experience* I got to spend both my civilian (raised floor computer room fly-n-fix) & military (Analog quad-redundant FLCS fly-by-wire, fire control radar, threat warning, etc) careers focusing on maximizing the performance and/or reliability of (semi-vintage) complex systems...all the while wishing I had 2 spare moments to rub together in order to optimize my own audio equipment in the same way.

In english, although I enjoyed my career a mucho amount, (as in the 'I can't believe I actually get paid to do this' level) now that the career merry-go-round has finally groaned to a stop, I am so stoked about all this. To quote an obscure favorite, The Future's so bright, I gotta wear shades...

Cheers --

*My favorite definition: "Experience is the Knowledge you gained after you needed it."

True dat.

 

[D-500 Flogger]

Welcome! You're amongst friends here ... and as you have discovered, these guys know their stuff. I'm learning something new every day.
Where about in Upstate NY? I'm in the Mid-Hudson Valley
Al

Hello Al, through an unexpected sequence of events connected to my service in the sandbox I now find myself in the greater Syracuse metropolis. I initially landed in the old north side, only to discover that what was once the very essence of The American Dream is now charitably characterized as both dystopian yet affordable. Fortunately, the neighbors went out of their way to clue me in that I was indeed a stranger in a strange land. (ie: "Toto, we're not in Vermont anymore!")

Given the above, a little over a year ago I jumped at the chance to relocate to a quiet residential area a stone's throw from the village of Liverpool. Just in time, too, for The Wheel of Misfortune pointed to my former digs on Thanksgiving morning 2020. Obviously, things are much improved, as evidenced by the fact that I'm now preoccupied with choosing between the standard vs. dual mono control boards for my amps...instead of whether or not it's getting too dark to safely make a Wegmans run. :0)

Nice to meet ya!

Cheers -

 

[D-500 Flogger]

Welcome to the Best Little Whore House in Texas...... Just kidding, the minds here (no matter how burned out ) are the best in the bidness, this is the place to be. Grapplesaws threads are great and he is a great guy. Follow/ask questions/take part in the insanity. You CAN'T go wrong. Looking forward to seeing your project take shape. Some of us went to school to be able to screw in lightbulbs, and others are natural brainiacs. Have fun

HUH?

Hello WOPL Sniffer, your comment reminded me of a daily ritual the last couple of years of high school that went like so:

1) Shut off the alarm.
2) Roll out of bed.
3) Put on my Stanton Dynaphase 60 headphones
4) Fire up the Dual 1019 & listen to this catchy ZZTop ditty:

Best 3:50 of the day. I reckon this delayed the start of my coffee habit by a couple of years -- no further stimulant was necessary!

...Gotta Lotta nice girls, hah! :0)

PS - I also remember studying the inside cover intently...early '70s foodie beauty shot --

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

??????

HUH?

 

[D-500 Flogger]

Welcome to Phoenix! Strangely enough I own a Dual 1019 and Dynaco ST-70. I guess they’re popular enough.

Be warned, this thread may get derailed by boobs……

Greetings mr_rye89, ain't it funny how small the world can occasionally be?

You know, few things in life give more than they get, and in my humble opinion a 1019 is one of those items. I remember the first time I pulled the (~7 lb) platter & being impressed by the sheer heft - obviously for the flywheel effect. But when I then saw all the holes drilled around the periphery, and 2 of them (on mine anyway) had small amounts of solder in them for fine balancing, I was blown away. Back in the '60s those germans had serious attention to detail. (!) NOTE: This photo is just something I grabbed off the interwebs...after roughly a dozen moves over the years my 1019 is nowhere near camera-ready.

As for your ST-70, according to this article your, mine, and ~299,998 other ST-70s were produced over the years. It is rightfully considered one of the 10 Most Important Amplifiers of All Time. Interestingly, PL 700 also makes this list...and the article was written by The Absolute Sound!

Nice to make your acquaintance!

Cheers --

 

[laatsch55]

SEE S SEE

Hello WS, your comment reminded me of a daily ritual the last couple of years of high school that went like so:

1) Shut off the alarm.
2) Roll out of bed.
3) Put on my Stanton Dynaphase 60 headphones
4) Fire up the Dual 1019 & listen to this catchy ZZTop ditty:

Best 3:50 of the day. I reckon this delayed the start of my coffee habit by a couple of years -- no further stimulant was necessary!

Lotta nice girls... :0)

Absolutely LaGrange would do it...

 

[D-500 Flogger]

Yeah....I believe Joe knew exactly what he was doing when he threw his considerable engineering skills into the driver boards and backplane boards. I had a Spec 2 for 35 years, the minute I had my first WOPL finished, the Spec was retired. I've had a multitude of amps in the mancave to put up against it and they all came up short. I'm talkin a Bryston 4B, POA 2400. SAE 2400, Carver PT 2400, Mac 2105 and a bunch I';ve forgotten about. The WOPL is just more natural sounding...

Laatsch55, your ringing endorsement is exactly what I needed to hear -- up to a week ago my plan was to renew/upgrade the caps, install lower noise/better active components wherever possible, and install Jung-style voltage regulators. But after some power-lurking the past week and reading all the reviews from satisfied customers, I'm changing my mind about reinventing the wheel vs. Joe's upgrade(s) ...especially after looking at the build quality & proving themselves in real world use to be a known-good swap.

You know, looking at your list of amps you compared to reminds me of a amp listen-off I did with a couple of friends shortly before I stuffed everything into storage. A couple of fellow enthusiasts brought over new amps for comparison purposes. I seem to remember a larger Adcom & a new-to-the-market Sunfire were alternated with my Dual 500, and I have to admit that at the time I was unsure about how my (then 15+ year old) amp was going to fare against the 2 newer contenders.

Although we all thought at the outset that the differences would be so insignificant that we would have a hard time telling them apart, when my amp finally went into the system (3rd of 3) we were all astounded by the difference, even though we kept the sound levels as equal as possible. On my amp, there was zero hum/hiss from the tweeters, and the music emanated out of a black velvet background. Better dynamics, heard more overtones from each instrument, blah blah blah. I'm 99% sure that this was the night I decided to hold onto my aging Phase Linear stuff for the long term instead of the dump & run routine.

So yeah, if(when) those dual mono boards (along with recapping, quasi ->fully complementary output stage upgrade, etc) take the old warhorse to the next level I will be one giddy geek. Haven't felt this level of anticipation since standing in line outside of Tiger Records in order to buy Summerjam tix -- good stuff, thanks again!

 

[laatsch55]

Welcome Dave.......they really are one of the best amps out there when WOPL'd. I had built a special 400 for a friend in Phoenix, Az. He had am amp-off with some buds, except he rotated amps behind a curtain and let them score as he went, the list of amps he ran through was impressive, some Mac's, Rowlands, Lux, Marantz, literally a dozen or so. When he revealed what they preferred, although they had heard it with their own ears they still did not believe it. He had to actually hook it up with them watching to convince them...and these were some serious audiophools in the Phoenix area...some outright snobs and some just very cool folks....

 

[D-500 Flogger]

Dave, next time you go to Salt Lake, stop by, we'll rock your world..

Wow, that would be way cool -- no doubt this would peg the fun meter!

Back in the day I used to go to Ogden for the F-16 Avionics maintenance conferences. Got to speak to the senior support engineers about Bad Actor LRUs, the QDR program, what new better bits they were going to TCTO into our old gals, and put faces to the email names we saw through the year. Made it out to the salt flats, and was able to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practicing...through a secured door. (Stopped by on a lark, and it still managed to sound amazing.)

Thanks again for the generous offer -- I've way overdue to return to the SLC area!

Cheers --

 

[laatsch55]

Anytime bud, many have sat in the Master's Chair and left geshtunkenflopped...

 

[grapplesaw]

Welcome to a great place to make new friends. We may have lots to talk about. Lots of developments in building 500’s since that thread was written Look forward to talking someday.

 

[mr_rye89]

Greetings mr_rye89, ain't it funny how small the world can be?

You know, few things in life give more they get, and in my humble opinion a 1019 is one of those items. I remember the first time I pulled the (~7 lb) platter & being impressed by the sheer heft - obviously for the flywheel effect. But when I then saw all the holes drilled around the periphery, and 2 of them (on mine anyway) had small amounts of solder in them for fine balancing, I was blown away. Back in the '60s those germans had serious attention to detail. (!) NOTE: This photo is just something I grabbed off the interwebs...after roughly a dozen moves over the years my 1019 is nowhere near camera-ready.

As for your ST-70, according to this article your, mine, and ~299,998 other ST-70s were produced over the years. It is rightfully considered one of the 10 Most Important Amplifiers of All Time. Interestingly, PL 700 also makes this list...and the article written was by The Absolute Sound!

Nice to make your acquaintance!

Cheers --

Yeah my 1019 is installed in a 1960s RCA color TV console (by me) but it has a mind of its own right now…….my main record spinner is that rek o kut in the gallery on the home page.

On the ST-70, well she’s singing tonight. The new EL34s got here…….

 

[laatsch55]

Nice.....