Retro Hi End Trivia Question

Yes. I owned one. Black, sharp edges, power switch on back.
Used it with DQ 10's. As I recall the midrange was quite good with a punchy bass. Overall the amp had a very airy quality about it and was good for its day. I would switch between it and Kenwood L-07M mono amps. Stopped using the Quatre 250C after it started making some "funny" noises. Was worried it would blow up and take my system with it. But it was fun nonetheless.
Bill

Andy Rapaport was one of the true geniuses at the dawn of the High End. The preamp was vacuum tube, the amp solid state pure class A and ran as hot as any amp ever made. I believe that what did the company in was the lawsuits that originated from people being burned by coming in contact with the amp. It sounded great with an even more obscure product, the Pedersen HF-1 horn loudspeakers. The new gear is really quite boring compared to this stuff....oh, to smell the smoke from a Futterman output transformerless amp again.

I remember the thing and don't want to offend anyone but found it to sound unapealing. Viridian the Rapaport pre amps I have seen were solid state and also quite unalealing.

I tried a Gain Cell back in the very early '80's while searching for an amp to run my Acoustats properly, but it wasn't up to the task (nor were amps from Crown and Luxman- ended up with a Bryston that worked out splendidly), and haven't seen one since. Don't know how they worked with other speakers.

On the subject of hot-running amps, I used to have a Phase Linear 400 running a pair of ESS Rock Monitors, and that Phase would get hotter than my George Foreman grill!

Hey Cwlondon,

Hi-fi nostalgia. Totally perfect retro system. I remember the same setup. I worked at Infinity in the late-70's . . . weren't we meant to use the Black Widow with a Grado in order to be totally in step with the Best Thinking of the time? Quatre had their shop up the street somewhere in the San Fernando Valley at the time, too, I think. We young hi-fi nerds used to mess around with Great American Sound Ampzillas, too, until Infinity brought out their Bascom King-designed HCA (Hybrid Class A) fan-blown power amp. Ah -- getting to take the proto or a production piece home was quite a treat. Anyone else remember that amp?

Michael Elliott
www.ariaaudio.com