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Hi all,I have an opportunity to purchase a Sonic Frontiers Power 1 amp (excellent condition) with a set of MIT MI-330 interconnects for $900CAN (about $750US). My questions:
1) is this a good investment (sound quality) compared to more recently built amps?
2)reliability and service issues with SF. Is this going to be a problem for me?
3) any opinions on the interconnects?Thanks for the help
Follow Ups:
The deal by itself is good;specially if retubing is not required.Lack a lot of info to comment on the purchase....!Speakers,preamp,dimension of your room,type of music,SPL required?
Sure a few things....very few.
I didn't mean to confuse respondants. By good investment, I meant sound quality returns for price compared to amps available in that price range not monetary returns via resale,etc.
For that price you could easily turn around and recapture your investment on Audiogon I own the POWER 2 SE and will not be getting rid of it anytime soon. I love this amp but I understand that sound preferences are all subjective, hence the criticism below. As far as servicing is concerned, SFI still honors warrantee repair work and will fix 2nd hand gear as well, for a fee of course. As mentioned elsewhere, the Partsconexion also offers repair work.
Greg
Sonic Frontiers proved that Premium parts does not necessarily equal premium performance. Audio qualities are less than the hype.
Resale.. kinda low, but anything is worthwhile if cheap enuff.. offer half the asking :-)
A friend still has the SF SFCD1 and that player sounds wonderfull, even by today's standards. Maybe not as detailed as I would have liked but oh so very musical!!:)AP
I cannot comment on the value compared to recently built amps but I can say that SF continues to service these amps as does PartsConnexion.
Sonic Frontiers had a good reputation for solid design, and good build quality using premium parts (the company began as a vendor of quality DIY parts). There's nothing exotic or unobtanium in the circuit. As long as you have a circuit diagram, any competent electronic tech can work on it. Sonically, the Power series of amps are pretty much standard for push-pull designs, trading some tube lushness for decent extension at the frequency extremes. It should perform as well as current tube amps of similar design. If it is working now and meets your power requirements, it should be worthwhile addition to your system.The resale value, both now and when you eventually sell it, are affected by the company's demise. I don't recall what the original retail price was on this unit, but given the age and that the company's out of business, you should't be paying above 50% of the original retail.
There is a new company, Parts Conexion, that has risen from the ashes, and they may have circuit diagrams if the seller doesn't have one. Not sure I'd buy it without this important reference.
I'm not the one to ask about cables, since I don't subscribe to much of the current superstition.
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