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Reviews (1)
Jan 05, 2016
Dynaco ST-120
1 of 1 found this helpful To begin, stereo's of my youth are such a greater value, than the Chinese manufactured crap of today!
My objective here is to educate today's youth, vintage audio is a far better value & higher quality standard, & with a little TLC can last another 30 or 40 years, where as the disposable crap now made might last 2 to 4 years & then be recycled!
The Dynaco is a rather compact amplifier, & like all seperates requires a preamplifier. It is quite musical, with good tight bass, well defined midrange & crisp treble. This amp. is also quite energy efficient, and yet has decent headroom, save those very inefficient power hungry speakers. This amp only consumes approx. 180 watts, where bigger amps I own consume 3 to 4 times that.
I have auditioned several brands & types of speakers, that I own, Pioneer HPM-100's, Klipsch 2.1 bookshelf, Klipsch Forte II's, & Accoustic 3311's which were referred to as white van specials, & surprisingly decent performers with good clean powered amplifiers or receivers. All performed decently, my favorites the Pioneer HPM-100's(200watt versions), bright, crisp, articulate bass, midrange, & treble, excellent musical presentation, although a bit power hungry, still some of the best speakers I have ever auditioned & only 38 years young. The Klipsch Forte's also a bit demanding & less rounded & forgiving musically, the horns not as full & rounded as the HPM-100's. The Klipsch 2.1's are decent, but required some larger bass reinforcement, so I added the Accoustic 3311's. However the 6" horn & 6" woofer of the 2.1's were good in limited spaces bedrooms, my 5th wheel trailer, a dorm room but just lacked the thump or punch of a 12" or 15" woofer.
All in all comparing this amp to ones 3 to 4 times the power, at 60 watts per channel(rms rated) this is a definite keeper! And quite affordable given that most audiophiles want that monster power. I have found them from $75.00 requiring some repair to $225.00 for near mint units, that were plug n play ready. I think this is an excellent step for anyone curious about taking the step up to an audiophile quality 2 channel stereo system. I was & am still quite surprised at the sound quality of this cute, trim, compact performer.
Now a quick assessment of a few of the preamps I connected to this unit. First was a Carver C-1 & was nicely detailed. Second was a Dynaco PAT-4 & complimented the sound. Third I tried 4 onboard preamps from 2 integrated amps & 2 from receivers of the 70's that had pre-out, main in connections. My favorites are the Marantz 2330b receiver's preamp, a Marantz Model 33 preamp, a Sansui AU-777A, LUXMAN L-11 preamp, but the later had a kind of Sanitary canned sound, without the usual bass & treble controls. I have to say the Marantz 33 was the most striking clarity as was the Dynaco PAT-4, or PAT-5, but during my review discovered issues with the 2 Dynaco preamps & will require repair, but had no negative impact on my review. The Sansui seemed well rounded & had punchy detailed bass, detailed mids, & crystal clear treble.
The genre's of music sampled range from Big Bands, Swing, Bop, Jazz, Blues, & Rock(60's-on).
I hope a few will find this helpful, good luck finding the music that excites YOU.
Lastly, if you do not feel your music deep within your Soul, then TURN IT UP, until you do!!!
daBlueslover