Stereophile review- Fisher 500 C

hi,

I have a EICO hf-81 and it's almost 50 years old. It was rebuilt a year ago and it makes great music. My cost $500.00

I also own a Cary SLI-80 and it also makes great music at a higher price. I really like the Cary and it is better then the EICO, but I think vintage gear that's been restored are generally overachievers in terms of performance per dollar spent.

Larry Citro

I have to disagree with age meaning an automatic dismissal by itself. If it sounds good it is good. Does the 500c get everything right? No, of course not, but does it make you smile and relax and enjoy fine acoustic music? Yes and very much so. I have spent zillions on high end in the past and locally have heard mega multiples of 100K systems and have been in this "game" since the 500c was new. If I am excited by what I hear I do not care what it costs, what technology is doing the magic, or what it is suppose to say about me throwing so much discretional income at audio (I am embarassed to say how much I did this in the past and, unfortunately, likely to do in the future). The most important tubes in the 500c, in terms of durability, the 7591s output tubes are in full production. Yet, the nuvisters are ones for example that could be hard to find but with thousands and thousands of 500C's sold that may not be the case for a few years. That said, try to find many solid state ICs replacements that are just 20 years old and you will know the value of discrete circuits. Elegant tube designs from ages past are around and in surprizing demand for a reason and it is not marketing by the likes of Sony, actually around dispite of it.

Just a quick follow up. It turns out that the 6CW4 Nuvisters are very widely available and cheap now. Also the only tube that is hard to find the 6HR6 has two substitues, one of which the 6AU6 is widely available.

I have to disagree with Rhyno for the simple suspicion I bet he has not actually heard a 500C with new caps, and yes I would buy a Porsche 356, a Gibson Les Paul 59, a 1960 Navitimer, and piles of RCA Living Stereos and other 40 year old "junk."

Laugh,

Peter Breuninger
Stereophile

Larry, I also own a Cary SLI-80. I spent big bucks rolling NOS tubes in it. Final compliment: Amperex USA 'pinched waist' 6922s; Syl. USN issue 6SN7WGTAs (selected for tight triode matching); GEC KT-88s and Mullard 5AS4s. The Eico HF-89 that I recently restored and 'tweaked' runs rings around the Cary. More bass, more space, better flow, and better detail. Back-up singers and choruses sound like individual voices seperated in space blending without any 'gritty' distortion. Granted the only thing vintage about the amp now are the tubes and iron (and the basic circuit topology). But on the other hand, the Cary is basically a modern execution of a 1950s design. BTW my linestage is a modern take on what is basically a 1930s WE design (differential class A parallel feed). I guess the point I am trying to makew is: most modern tube stuff are based on designs that have been around for awhile. Where you see a lot of improvement is in the quality of the small parts (caps, resistors, wire, etc.) used.