The Best & Rarest of all Stereo Gear


When it comes to stereo gear, to me, besides sound and build quality/reliability, the next thing I look for is how rare it is. There is just something about very rare, one-off, stereo gear that makes it very enticing to find and acquire. Over the years, I've been lucky enough to have found some rare gear and there's still others items that I'd like to find.

Recently, in my local CL, there was a very rare pair of Symdex speakers available for $50 that retailed at over $2200. When I inquired about them, they were gone. There is very little on the net about these speakers and later was lucky enough to have found a pair of Paisley Research AE-500 speakers. The Paisleys are amazing & are really giving my Omega Grande 8's a run for their money.

How about the Wingate 2000a amp? In 30 years, I've never seen one of these beauties for sale. Does anyone remember the EJ Jordan shoe box sized amp and preamp?

Please share if you are fortunate enough to have owned any ultra rare gear or if you are looking to acquire something unusual. (I'll share my own list of rare acquisitions and wants in a follow up post. I didn't want to make this initial post too lengthy).

Look forward to hearing your responses, thanks for reading,
Lou

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Lou, the original Symdex speakers were designed by the great Kevin Voecks, who went on to design for Mirage, Snell, and is now with the Revel division of Harman Int.

Speaking of rare stereo gear, Andy Rappaport was Voecks best man at his wedding and designed a very rare class A power amp and tube preamps under the Rappaport marque.

The rarest, and most prized, gear though is mono, not stereo. Western Electric, Brook, RCA, James B. Lansing, etc. I have a nice collection, and am currently looking for one, or two, Electro Voice Patricians, or maybe a Hartsfield, mono rules!
Yes, I think I remember that Rappaport preamp from an old TAS magazine. Years ago, I picked up a rare Pilot mono receiver at a yard sale for $35 that must have been a foot tall in a beautiful wood cabinet w/Genelec KT-66's. Sold it untested a few weeks later for like $675. I know the vintage stuff is going for huge dollars these days.

Hope you find what you are looking for :)
HADs:
1. rare early Jeff Korneff 6BQ5 SE int amp - beautiful sounding - owned it for 5+ years

2. one off custom Conn PP6BG6 triode amp - amazing sounding 8 wpc - owned it for 5+ years

3. Custom 6T9 SE int amp - one off beautifully built & looking; resembled Don Garber's Fi amps (please forgive me, I'm so sorry I kicked you to the curb after only a few months, you deserved much better than that)

4. Tannoy D50(635) dual concentric floor standing speakers (traded the PP6BG6 amp for these beauties and later traded these Tannoys for a rare pair of wide baffle Omega Grande 8's)

5. Chateau Reference 1.5's - resembled Wilson Watts using the same drivers as well

6. Proceed PCD-2 - maybe not all that rare, but extremely enjoyable cd player

WANTs:
RAUNA Tyr 2 in mint condition