The phrase “newer is better” does not always apply to sound quality. Paul Rigby, author of The Vinyl Factory, decided to put together a list of acoustics with the most timeless design and sound.
Modern manufacturers have gradually begun to show boldness in designs, but still, over the past couple of years, the market has been flooded with faceless and banal speakers, driven by the lucrative lifestyle segment and brands’ ideas about acoustics appropriate for family living rooms. This, in fact, led to the dominance of tall, narrow speakers with weak drivers, without any character.
The design of vintage equipment contrasts with modern technology - it is bright, bold and artsy. In those years, the focus was on sound and innovation rather than appearance, and sonic explorers can have a good time rummaging through old acoustics.
Don’t forget that speakers, like any other audio equipment, are time-sensitive. If the body is more or less preserved, then it is worth keeping an eye on the drivers: over time they become harder, wrinkle, rubber suspensions crumble, and holes can form in the membranes. And it would be nice to pay attention to the wiring: check if everything is soldered and connected as it should.
In the list, instead of ranking the speakers from cheaper to more expensive, Paul arranged the devices by age, from old to new. Prices, of course, may vary depending on condition and other factors. And don’t forget that Paul writes about the UK, where the technology market is different from the Russian one.
There are no links either, because looking for these columns is actually a separate detective investigation. You can search through eBay, audio enthusiast groups on Facebook, small audio stores, or classified ads in magazines or blogs.
If you know another option for good and stylish vintage speakers suitable for a vinyl setup, suggest it in the comments.
Spendor BC-1
Price: 400 pounds
Spendor is alive and well to this day, but it's worth checking out these speakers, released in 1976, for their warm, focused sound. Equipped with Bextrene mid/bass drivers and Celestion tweeters. Must be placed on stands.
Amplifier Dual CV-1460
If you believe what is written about this handsome guy on the RuNet, then when you buy Dual CV-1460, you become the owner of a “legendary” product operating in “pure class A”, with high output power (2x95 W at 8 Ohm load) and providing “exceptional sound quality”, equipped with an “excellent” vinyl equalizer. Now let's look under the lid, turn on the devices, and listen.
Integrated amplifier Dual CV-1460
Let's open... We see an absolutely budget design with a music center-level package - cheap potentiometers, spring connectors for speakers, etc. There is not even a speaker protection unit - instead, a 3.15 A fuse is included in the audio circuit - that is, if the final stage burns out and a constant voltage appears at the PA output, the speakers will remain intact if the fuse manages to burn out before the woofer coil. Great, that's reassuring :)
Dual CV-1460 integrated amplifier with top cover removed
Upon further study of the design, some doubts arose regarding the correspondence of some of the declared parameters to reality - the amplifier will not withstand the long-term output power indicated in the passport “for a long time.” There are two reasons:
1. Fuse in the speaker connection circuit with a rating of 3.15 A, which corresponds to a maximum output power of 80 W per 8 Ohm speaker. If you use a 4 Ohm AC, the fuses burn out at approximately half the power.
2. Standard cooling radiators may not be able to dissipate the required amount of heat - their total area is too small.
Let's deal with "class A". Naturally, it is immediately clear to a specialist that a PA with such dimensions and weight cannot operate “in pure class A”, because an amplifier with an output power of 95 W per channel must dissipate about 1 kW into heat in this case. We check the quiescent current setting in the service manual, measure it and see that it is as much as 3 mA! The amplifier actually works practically in class B, that is, “Dual class A”, this is the name of another circuit trick that forces the transistors of the final stage to work without switching distortions at a very low quiescent current, that’s all. A similar circuit design, called “New class A”, is used in Technics amplifiers. It seems that there is no deception, but there is no class A either - it was very cleverly thought out.
Next, we listen to this “legendary” amplifier - the sound is quite soft, does not irritate the ear, but the overall musical resolution is very modest, there is a stage, but it is flat, slightly wider than the speakers. He doesn’t make a mess on complex compositions, but “cuts off” all the unnecessary things that prevent him from adequately reproducing a musical fragment. The microdynamics are simplified, the sound as a whole is rather poor. The “wonderful” built-in equalizer for vinyl sounds nothing at all, which is not surprising for a circuit using a single op-amp with an RIAA correction circuit in the feedback.
In general, nothing outstanding, standard for budget devices of all times. You can, of course, listen to music on this, but there can be no talk of any high sound quality.
Amplifier Brig 001 USSR of the highest class Hi-Fi (1 2 3 revision)
The most common arguments of those who at that time considered it impossible to produce high-quality sound-reproducing equipment in the USSR were the following:
- The high-quality elements that exist in the USSR are used only for the defense industry; everything that goes into consumer goods is inferior in quality;
- For a Soviet person, what he has is enough, but aesthetic music lovers with amateur radio experience are soldering so-so, and in general, this is all a luxury from the evil one for the damned capitalists in the decaying West;
- In the USSR they don’t know how to do anything, and all the valuable personnel who would be capable of this work for the defense industry or emigrated to Israel abroad;
- It takes decades to overcome the gap between the USSR and the West in terms of circuitry, design ideas and the design of high-quality equipment.
Electron-20: a typical Soviet amplifier As a result of the prevailing misconceptions and lack of motivation among the relevant branches of the Soviet government, the creation of high-fidelity equipment became the lot of enthusiasts. One of these people was Anatoly Likhnitsky, who in 1970 had the idea of creating an ideal amplifier. In fact, Likhnitsky even aimed not at HI-FI, but at the Hiend concept.
He himself wrote about it this way:
“It started when my mechanic friend B. Strakhov and I wanted to create (for ourselves, of course) a super-system for playing stereophonic records. We agreed to make two samples of it to the limit of our capabilities, without limiting their cost and dimensions. My task was to design the system, make drawings, mount and configure the manufactured samples. Strakhov undertook to get everything and produce individual parts and components in production.”
Things got going, and medical technology engineer Anatoly Likhnitsky and mechanic Strakhov created a system with characteristics unattainable by Soviet production models. The amplifier of this system would later be turned into a serial “Brig”.
“The most successful part of the stereo system turned out to be a transistor amplifier with fantastic parameters for those times: power 50 W/channel, nonlinear distortion 0.1%, frequency band 5-50,000 Hz, but what’s surprising is that this amplifier sounded not bad at all.” From the memoirs of Likhnitsky
It was the circuitry of this amplifier, created using a symmetrical quasi-complementary output stage, that became the basis of the future “Brig”. According to Likhnitsky, his brainchild “outplayed” both his own tube designs on the 6C4C and one of the legendary Dynaco tube amplifiers.
The party said it is necessary, the Komsomol answered yes
In the early 70s, all amplifiers available to Soviet citizens, such as the “Electronics B1-01” (as well as their counterparts built into the bodies of record players and reel-to-reel tape recorders), were not only inferior to their Western counterparts, but were worse in literally every objective way and subjective parameters. It is not surprising that the idea of the appearance of high-quality audio equipment by 1975 was realized by the ruling minority.
Electronics B1-01 - an amplifier that was particularly criticized by Likhnitsky. The leaders of industry departments of the USSR understood that the low level of quality of consumer goods was fraught with receiving a sensitive kick from the Politburo for lagging behind the West - this fully applied to audio equipment. In addition to the objective necessity, there was a provoking initiative from below. Basically, the Soviet HI-FI was advocated by enthusiastic engineers, who understood more than others that the capabilities of the technological and production base made it possible to produce it.
The key decision to create the “Brig” was made by the head of the 10th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry N. Sviridov. It was this man, a former employee of the Leningrad radio, known for reporting from a burning tank during the siege of Leningrad, who oversaw the Okeanpribor association. Among other things, Sviridov was a passionate audiophile and music lover and attended parties where he had the opportunity to evaluate the quality of cool Western equipment. Realizing the need for analogues of bourgeois wonders in the country of the Soviets, the official created a direction for the development and production of high-quality equipment.
The matter was complicated by the fact that in 1971 the Leningrad Regional Party Committee decided: “the Okeanpribor engineering instrument-making complex, in its free time from the defense industry, will create dishes for Soviet housewives.” Fortunately, later in 1973, under pressure from Sviridov, the regional committee changed the decision to: “catch up and overtake the West by launching a series of cool Soviet UMZCH.”
The party said that the amplifier must be made by 1975. The development was entrusted to the department of consumer goods (we read between the letters “HI-FI equipment”), which was structurally part of the Oceanpribor division with the no less nautical name of the Research Institute “Morphyspribor”. The head of the department was Candidate of Sciences Alla Kalyaeva. According to rumors, it was this influential woman, well-known among St. Petersburg philophonists, who “pushed” the boss (Sviridov) to create a HI-FI direction.
Sviridov and Kalyaeva, who knew Likhnitsky from music lovers’ drinking sessions and closed meetings for a narrow circle with listening to equipment, invited the talented engineer to participate in the project.
“Listening to avant-garde jazz and Bach’s Passions, as well as interesting meetings and large amounts of alcohol constituted the main content of our parties at that time. Alla was the soul and organizer of such parties.” Likhnitsky
Likhnitsky, who worked in the field of medical equipment that was of no interest to him, happily agreed. As soon as the discussion broke out about what could be quickly designed and put into production, Anatoly Likhnitsky said that the best option was his amplifier mod. 1970 The proposal was accepted, after 3 months the first prototype was released, and after 2 years of torment the Brig appeared.
Through thorns to sound
During the development process, a group of engineers, and primarily Likhnitsky and Kalyaeva, faced a number of serious technical, production and, as often happened in the Soviet Union, organizational problems.
During the development phase, the main problem was transistors. The Likhnitsky amplifier had germanium ones, the use of which was not intended in the new product. The transition to silicon implied a change in the output stage circuit. The problem was solved by reworking the original quasi-complementary version.
It served as the basis for the creation of a voltage amplifier, which was included in the serial “Brig” circuit. The processing made it possible to use low-voltage silicon transistors KT 808A in the terminal. As Likhnitsky later noted, the solution for the output stage was close to Peter Volker's circuit used in the Quad 303.
One of the interesting engineering solutions that was borrowed for other Soviet HI-FI amplifiers was discrete tone switches with 24 positions. The design was simply copied from German samples that the author of “Brig” discovered at home. By the way, Anatoly Likhnitsky was a great connoisseur of German audio of the 30s and 40s.
At the initial stage of development, it was not possible to avoid organizational difficulties. According to Likhnitsky, it was he who was the informal leader of the group that developed the Brig. However, his position in the department structure seemed precarious to him.
The department consisted of 3 sectors:
• Development sector; • Design sector; • Design team.
Kalyaeva is the head of the topic, Likhnitsky is the head of the main areas of research.
Anatoly Likhnitsky
Later, by chance, Anatoly will take the place of head of the development sector (which for the non-partisan Likhnitsky is an impressive career growth), whose duties he partially fulfilled before. Having received legitimate power in the sector, the engineer structures the division entrusted to him and creates several groups. The “resource group” occupied a special place. Likhnitsky himself wrote about this best in his memoirs:
“This sign always attracted the attention of the officials who inspected us, and I had to frankly explain that the leader of this group, armed with cognac and chocolates, can get any components and materials in urgent shortage... within a week, and not in a year, as is done officially ..."
At the stage of production of the first serial "Brigs" there were also problems. Mass production of the amplifier was to take place at the Vodtranspribor plant. The assemblers, tuners and other skilled proletariat of the plant were not too keen on exchanging prestigious grain-producing special equipment for the Brig, which had no prospects in terms of salary. The first mass-produced amplifiers began to burn during setup. They tried to accuse Likhnitsky and Kalyaeva of creating “a sample not suitable for serial production,” and, as Likhnitsky put it, “clouds gathered over the heads of the developers.” Later, the cunningly planned sabotage was discovered and the amplifiers stopped burning.
Triumph of the Brig
The presentation of the first brigs took place even before the official release and even before the appearance of serial amplifiers. In 1974, prototypes were ready. After proper testing, Sviridov, Kalyaeva and Likhnitsky decided to demonstrate the hope of Soviet music lovers to the Minister of Shipbuilding Industry Butome.
Butoma Boris Evstakhievich - the minister who gave the go-ahead for the "Brig" Impressed by the newborn Soviet high-fi, the Minister invited the main party audiophile, deputy chairman of the Military-Industrial Commission under the CPSU Central Committee, Leonid Gorshkov, to the presentation.
social hero labor and audiophile - Leonid Ivanovich Gorshkov
Gorshkov's reaction was enthusiastic. The only question the official asked was what transistors are used in the amplifier. The result of the presentation was the possibility of using tantalum capacitors and other scarce elements for production samples of the Brig, which had previously been used only in the defense industry, as well as an impressive cash bonus for developers. It is also known that after the “show” in Botuma’s office, Gorshkov gave a dressing down to the controlled VNIIRPA (whose leaders unsuccessfully tried to force him to take up high-fi), where, as a result of the showdown that followed the dressing down, the head of the amplifier laboratory died of a heart attack.
“Brig 001” - early version After the long-suffering serial “Brig” went on sale, an unprecedented rush began. It was possible to get an amplifier only thanks to surprisingly good connections and with an additional payment of at least 25 Soviet rubles (a quarter of an engineer’s monthly salary). The amplifier received a gold medal at the Leipzig fair. By 1977, the Brig was actively exported to the UK, France and Australia. Specialists from the British company that exported the Brig recognized that the amplifier fully complied with the HI-FI standard and all the requirements of the Western market.
The serial “Brig” had characteristics that were in many ways superior to more expensive and, most importantly, Western components “not available” in the USSR:
• output rated power: 2 × 50 W (with a load of 4 Ohms); • nominal range of reproduced frequencies with frequency response unevenness ± 0.7 dB: 20…25,000 Hz; • harmonic distortion in the frequency range 40…16,000 Hz: 0.1%; • intermodulation distortion coefficient: 0.15%; • transition attenuation between channels in the range of 250-10000 Hz: 40 dB; • signal/weighted noise ratio relative to rated output power for line input: 86 dB; • power consumption: 150 W; • overall dimensions: 452 × 372 × 118 mm; • weight: 15 kg; • retail price in the USSR: 625 rubles; • UK retail price: £300 pounds in 1976 (currently £1,500).
Bottom line
“Brig” became, if not the first, then one of the first HI-FI devices in the USSR, in many ways setting a high bar and predetermining the development of other high-fidelity amplifiers. The experience of its developers was useful to many who created HI-FI equipment in subsequent years. The circuitry and design solutions created for the Brig predetermined the development of such amplifiers as Amphiton 002, Odyssey 010 and Pulsar.
Anatoly Likhnitsky Despite my ironic attitude towards some of Likhnitsky’s views and his outright pseudoscientific nonsense generation on the Internet (although there is also an opinion that this was subtle banter), I believe that he was one of those who formed the ideology of high fidelity of reproduction in the Country Soviets made a significant contribution to the creation of equipment within the framework of this ideology. Moreover, it was he, Kalyaeva and everyone who worked on the Brig who proved the possibility of creating mass-produced high-quality audio equipment in the USSR. "Brig" became one of the best devices of its time in terms of price/quality ratio (characteristics); its capabilities still surpass many modern models. Production of the amplifier continued until 1989. Anatoly Markovich Likhnitsky died in 2013.
Published on Chanson - Portal: July 1, 2022. Source: https://geektimes.ru/company/pult/blog/290597/
3 photos 1 revision fuse burned out 15 thousand r 4 photos 1 revision no traction on one, fuse 15 thousand r
in the last photo 3 pieces 2-3 revision, 15 thousand rubles, works 18 thousand rubles
tr-ry 818 819
