2. amps-preamps
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AEA equipment of the late 70's

Is anyone using AEA stuff from the late 70's? They made two amplifiers which I've never seen for sale on Audiogon or Ebay. I wonder how many were made and sold, and what happened to the designers, ex-NASA guys I'm told. Their pre-amp was built to NASA standards and used sealed modules (containing IC's I think) and should enjoy a long life. Whether or not it sounded good that's another question. Thanks
rickmac
sean
6,229 posts
 
I was thinking about this company myself a while back. Like you, i've never seen any of it for sale, nor heard any of it myself. I read some comments about their preamp, which is what reminded me of them. Sean
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frankbfisher
1 posts
 
I had their preamp. It sounded excellent, including the phono section. I would probably still have it, but it fell off the back of my truck when I was moving about 15 years ago.

I meant to buy one of their big power amps too. The sound impressed me at the time, but when i went back to purchase it, the company had already gone belly up.
Frank
desmo900
1 posts
 
According to this blurb on one of the founders they actually sold out to some big name hi-fi companies(maybe we should email him and ask him if he has any old gear lying around):

Kenneth Leonard - CEO and Serial Entrepreneur. Mr. Leonard has been founder and/or CEO of a string of ten technology, wireless, and Internet start-ups, with a strong record of successful exits. Mr. Leonard is the Chairman of PeerPC, providing Internet based collaboration tools for Microsoft Office and web application. Mr. Leonard is the CEO of On Map, which dynamically generates interactive maps in "real-time" over wired or wireless networks. He is also the CEO and founder of NameTree, which supports, expands and enhances the Domain Names System (DNS) and the Internet name registration industry. Additionally, Mr. Leonard currently serves on the Board of Advisors of Global Internet Ventures. Mr. Leonard's string of prior accomplishments include:

* Founding Spectrum, which produced one of the first wireless EKG monitors, and was acquired by a leading medical equipment company.
* Founding Analog Engineering Associates (AEA) to develop products for the emerging high-end stereo - hi-fi consumer market. AEA technology was sold to Sony, Marantz, and Sansui.
* Co-founding the Video Graphics Corporation, providing the first full color real-time digital special effects to be overlaid into analog video. This technology was sold to the Ampex Corporation becoming the core of their digital special effects products.
* Founding TABNet in 1995 and serving as its CEO, leading it to became one of the largest and most successful Web Hosting companies with over 100,000 customers before being acquired by Verio in 1998.
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