re: Audiophile/Vinyl Thread - Post Pics, Advice, Questions, Setups, etc.

The last 2 days have been pretty interesting for me regarding audio gear...

I was in my attic and stumbled upon an old EICO Audio mono integrated amplifier that I got from my dad years ago. He bought it new in 1960. I guess that I put it up in my attic about 10 years ago with the intentions of one day getting it working again.

10 years went by and I forgot about it.

So after finding the amp, I brought it downstairs and opened it up and took some pics. It had 6 pretty valuable vintage Mullard grey long plate tubes in it that all tested "very good" on the tube tester. They were (3) 12AX7, (2) EL84, and (1) 6QB5 rectifier--all Mullard, made in Great Britain, and dated January 1960...!!!!

It is a 14 watt mono integrated amp...the EICO hf-12.

The tubes alone were a mega find (worth about $100 each now).


So, I decided I would see what it would entail to have it restored, but since it is only mono (stereo was still rare in 1960), I would need a second one to make a stereo---so off to eBay I went. Within a couple hours, I found a second EICO hf-12 that seemed to be in good shape, so I bought it. The working condition really didn't matter though, as I was going to have it rebuilt anyway. It was sold without tubes (the person selling it bought it just to scavenge the tubes and then sell the amp off--quite a common thing).

So, here is the one that was in my attic...




And the inside (I already took the vacuum tubes out--hence the empty sockets)...



Notice the "Tested" date of 1960...!!!





So I found a fellow in Ontario that not only rebuilds these amps, but also does museum quality restorations, so I spoke with him today. The following pics are what these 2 amps I have should look like when he is done (all new capacitors, pots, resistors, all new wiring, new tube sockets, all new solder joints, new RCA jacks, new speaker lugs, new modern power plug and socket, chassis re-chromed, frame sanded and painted, and front brass plate mirror shined)...a complete rebuild!




I also stumbled across a great little pair of open baffle speakers to use with these 14 watt amps--the Decware Betty Baffle (an open baffle speaker), and will sing with just 5 watts of power...uses a single 8" full-range driver with a center whizzer cone...so I ordered a pair. They are quite compact at 22.5 inches high!





Total investment...

First EICO amp....................free (thanks dad!)
Second amp-eBay...............$180
Total restoration for both......$700
New Gold Lion tubes...........$600
Decware speakers...............$450
Total.......$1930

Less the $600 I will get back from the sale of the vintage Mullard tubes that was in my original amp...my total for this system will be $1330.


Also to note--this integrated amp has 4 analog inputs, one of them being an RIAA phono stage...so I don't need to add a phono pre amp--just plug and play.
I can also add a CD, and a small DAC for computer, and still have a free input!

It also has a tape out, which can be used to throughput a pre-amp, thus allowing me to use these 2 integrateds as just power amps, and use a separate pre amp (maybe an old EICO pre?) to adjust volume (as it is now, I would have to adjust 2 volume knobs--a true dual mono system!)

Here is the pre amp I am trying to find to mate with this rig...I may get it tonight and have it restored with the amps...






Not too bad for an attic find!!


The fellow restoring them said he could begin the process the first week of January--so I should have these by mid February.