I guess it is a preamp week

8991XJ

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Oct 8, 2011
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#1
I am finishing up a rebuild of an ARC SP-3A-1 for Tom and picked up a Crown SL-1S to use as a power supply for the Crown phono stages.

Both were very dirty, one inside (ARC) and one outside, requiring quite a bit of cotton, swabs, IPA and all sorts of cleaners. Nicotine stains don't stand a chance against some of the serious all purpose cleaners.

The SP-3 has been here for a while getting new electrolytics, tube sockets and RCA jacks. It is looking and sounding nice. One of the best 70s preamps made. It just needs to have the faceplate, knobs and cover installed. I'm looking forward to putting this into the main rig with a Crown amp that will not be affected by the preamp if there are any issues. It was playing through the SL-1 into a receiver today to try it out.

The SL-1 was a mess. Nicotine yellowed, Overload LEDs stuffed inside the unit and missing labeling around the Volume control. Not a problem, an unlabeled volume is ok and the LEDs were in the unit. All put back together and the overload LEDs stopped lighting up when the op amps were reseated in their sockets. Since this unit is not the SL-2 no one likes it much. I bought it because it has the ±18VDC needed to run the Crown phono modules. The preamp aspects of the unit are an added bonus.

Both these units will get a good listen and then Tom will get his SP-3 shipped to him. It sure does look good with all the new gold plated RCA jacks on the back and the new ground lug between the phono inputs. I have no idea why ARC did not include a ground lug near the phono inputs instead opting to put a knurled nut on one of the transformer mounting bolts.
 

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