Heathkit AA-1214 Amplifier

N

Nichrobe33789

Enthusiast
I'm saying you have a bit of exposure to legalities, whether that will ever come into play, have no idea of where you are or what your implementation is.....if you think its a significant business aspect I'd certainly investigate for the time frames you're thinking about
hey they've been playing the same music there for 20 something years i'm sure well be fine.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
yeah each zone tops out at 100w so im gonna parallel wire them and set the wattage to 16 (the highest it goes) on all three. No this is not my business and Im sure she will try to reimburse me but its fine if not. And we are located in Northeast Maryland
Each speaker may top out at 100, but not in a 70V system- look at the speaker again. Also, post a photo without glare and in better focus- I can zoom in and see the 100, but not the letter next to it. That may very well be a V, which is possible since 100V fixed voltage systems do exist.

Look on Craig's List for equipment. 70V equipment isn't usually abused the way regular systems are.

This amplifier would work, but you'll need to convert any stereo sources to mono.

 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Lmao yeah I did not know what I was talking about when I was thinking of putting those speakers in. Is it really illegal to install an audio system by myself??? :oops: I guess nobody has to know lol. But we'll see how it works out.
Legalities vary, depending on the location but one thing that needs to be correct is the speaker cabling. If it's not CL2, it doesn't meet code.

If you add speakers, made sure they can't fall and if you look at the Bose speakers, you'll probably see a loop or ring in the area of the wire terminals that could be marked 'Attachment'- this is for a safety cable, which is a backup for any other mounting method.
 
N

Nichrobe33789

Enthusiast
Legalities vary, depending on the location but one thing that needs to be correct is the speaker cabling. If it's not CL2, it doesn't meet code.

If you add speakers, made sure they can't fall and if you look at the Bose speakers, you'll probably see a loop or ring in the area of the wire terminals that could be marked 'Attachment'- this is for a safety cable, which is a backup for any other mounting method.
We just play Sirus XM TheBlend and yea that might be a good idea to hook up a safety cable. Though I am going to use the metal plates that come with the speaker to fit into the ceiling tile. When I first went up there they had that 7 pound amplifier just sitting on the ceiling tile up there lol and it was warping the ceiling tile.
 
Eppie

Eppie

Audioholic Ninja
FYI that amp is listed as high as $499 in Reverb. Overpriced in my view. An amp that old will likely need to have the capacitors replaced. Recap kits are $165. Fully restored could be worth $400 or more. Not sure about the price in its original condition. I think it's enough to compensate you for your time at least or go towards a proper amp.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
FYI that amp is listed as high as $499 in Reverb. Overpriced in my view. An amp that old will likely need to have the capacitors replaced. Recap kits are $165. Fully restored could be worth $400 or more. Not sure about the price in its original condition. I think it's enough to compensate you for your time at least or go towards a proper amp.
I posted that link in one of the first replies but WRT price, it's whatever the market will bear (as stated in Econ 101)- have you looked at the prices for 1970s stereo receivers? Totally insane!

And not everything from the '70s needs to be recapped! That's a BS way to get people to drop prices if the equipment hasn't been recapped or raise it if it has. It also opens the door for bad work to cause failure when the person installing the parts sucks at soldering but can do it well enough to get it out the door. A recap 'kit' shouldn't cost $165- the parts can be bought for about $40 in most cases unless the piece is particularly 'special' or large. Not all caps need to be replaced; generally, it's the electrolytics that are in the power supply that see the highest voltage and are stressed the most. It's not like a tube amp that has cathode, bias AND power supply caps. The coupling caps only need to be replaced if they're leaky or badly out of range- same goes for the filter caps. Solid state electronics aren't slammed by the high voltage used for the plates in tubes, so they can last a long time as long as the working voltage is at least double that of the B+.
 
Eppie

Eppie

Audioholic Ninja
I posted that link in one of the first replies but WRT price, it's whatever the market will bear (as stated in Econ 101)- have you looked at the prices for 1970s stereo receivers? Totally insane!

And not everything from the '70s needs to be recapped! That's a BS way to get people to drop prices if the equipment hasn't been recapped or raise it if it has. It also opens the door for bad work to cause failure when the person installing the parts sucks at soldering but can do it well enough to get it out the door. A recap 'kit' shouldn't cost $165- the parts can be bought for about $40 in most cases unless the piece is particularly 'special' or large. Not all caps need to be replaced; generally, it's the electrolytics that are in the power supply that see the highest voltage and are stressed the most. It's not like a tube amp that has cathode, bias AND power supply caps. The coupling caps only need to be replaced if they're leaky or badly out of range- same goes for the filter caps. Solid state electronics aren't slammed by the high voltage used for the plates in tubes, so they can last a long time as long as the working voltage is at least double that of the B+.
Agreed, but the op likely doesn't have our experience and a kit is a lot easier than trying to source specific parts. Recapping depends on the type of cap used as some like mica caps last longer but they are not immune to failure. In some radio restoration forums members have found that mica caps can also start to leak especially when higher voltages are applied. Pretty much any paper cap needs to be replaced. The rest need to be tested for leakage (depending on what part of the circuit and the voltage applied as you mentioned). Even if the op gets $300 or $400 for as is condition that's better than chucking it in a bin as many might be tempted to do.

We tried selling a vintage Pioneer receiver but no bites in our area. Prices may be ridiculously high but I think a lot of those are just collecting dust unless they are top tier Marantz, Pioneer or Sansui. I see the high power models sell but the lower power models are more difficult to move.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Agreed, but the op likely doesn't have our experience and a kit is a lot easier than trying to source specific parts. Recapping depends on the type of cap used as some like mica caps last longer but they are not immune to failure. In some radio restoration forums members have found that mica caps can also start to leak especially when higher voltages are applied. Pretty much any paper cap needs to be replaced. The rest need to be tested for leakage (depending on what part of the circuit and the voltage applied as you mentioned). Even if the op gets $300 or $400 for as is condition that's better than chucking it in a bin as many might be tempted to do.

We tried selling a vintage Pioneer receiver but no bites in our area. Prices may be ridiculously high but I think a lot of those are just collecting dust unless they are top tier Marantz, Pioneer or Sansui. I see the high power models sell but the lower power models are more difficult to move.
Mica capos aren't used for power supply filtering and as I mentioned, selling it was already covered.

Sell it 'as-is', get what they can- it's likely to sell for more than was paid in the first place. It's 'old', so it MUST be a 'classic', right?

If I had only known that stuff from the '70s would sell for the current prices, I would have hoarded it when I worked at a stereo store. Most of the stuff that's considered 'great' wasn't better than average.

Your mistake was in not trying to sell outside of your area and requiring the buyer to pay for shipping.
 
Eppie

Eppie

Audioholic Ninja
It's my wife's receiver and she started asking on the high side. :) It's a lower power model. No, I did not recap it. ;) Contact cleaner did the trick on all of the controls and I replaced the lamps with LED equivalents. The old blue lit displays do look nice.

I wish I had kept my old Scott kit tube amp. That was 30W/ch. Could probably get something crazy for it now. :D
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
If it were me...

I would setup the speakers to 16 watts of power draw and get a couple of these amplifiers:

The amplifier listed, for well under $100 shipped for TWO of them to your door, provides 1 channels of power at 200 watts per channel, into a 70v system.

You will need a stereo to mono summing adapter as well as a small DA to split the audio to the two amps. That's actually really easy and potentially you could just 'Y' the cabling. I would still use a audio summing adapter though.

This will take your stereo audio RCA source and mix it down to mono for distribution through the space.

I would get a separate Bluetooth receiver if I wanted Bluetooth in the system, or I would just hook up a mixer of some sort so I could play multiple sources through the amplifier. Mixers can be had for not a lot of money and give you the ability to add other sources or even a microphone if you wanted to.

For reference: 100v systems are used in European nations typically. So, any speakers that include 100v power settings are doing so for our friends overseas.
70v systems are used in the USA and are what the power amps will deliver. So, when you set the potentiometer (pot) to any specific number on the speaker, you want to look at the 70v power draw that it will need, not the 100v power draw.

As mentioned previously, it is very much illegal to play over the air music in a commercial space. If caught, it will potentially be thousands of dollars in fines for the owner of the establishment. There is commercial Pandora and other options out there which can be played back. You also better believe that the first time someone catches the space playing this music will not be the last time the space is checked. Twenty years of speeding and not getting a ticket is lucky, but you still are open to getting that ticket. Same thing here with music playback.
 
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