Vintage RA 1474-II premp.
 

In what was likely an overly enthusiastic moment, I have bought a vintage Shindo preamp, an RA1474-II. My desire to seek out the old and the unsual some times gets the better of me.

Does anyone know if there is any issue using such a vintage preamp with a Cortese 300B power amp? The power amp itself is old but I believe younger than the Ra 1474-II. I recall Schmitz once posting " this model77 could not drive 600 Ohm inputs, in case you have a Shindo with transformer input, beware." over in the Vintage thread, but I don't really understand why he said that or in what circumstances it would be applicable.

Simon

Please excuse the typo in the title.

I'd love to see pics!

Simon,

you've got that preamplifier, so try it out and don't be "schmitzed"*.

Try to understand and describe what you hear and what you feel while listening, be honest to yourself in your judgement, and describe it. We will make the effort to follow your line of thoughts.


*or, with the words of Oscar Wilde : "I love talking about nothing (...). It's all I know anything about."

Thank you, Simon. Before anyone gets the wrong idea about my pic request, I actually wasn't interested in the "guts" of the preamp (although interesting!), I find seeing how Ken's exterior design sense shifted over time interesting. Having heard about the fascia and the restoration work, I'll be even more curious to see the finished product. Thanks again, Simon

RA1474-II intact fascia
 

Hues,

Originally, it would have looked like this one...

Simon


http://www.audioaficionado.org/attac...8536224666.jpg

Simon, good luck with the project. I'm sure it will be well worth the time and effort.
Very interested to hear your observations when you have a chance, especially compared to recent Shindo offerings.

Empty chassis. Someone stole the preamp.

Thanks Jonathan. Your input certainly was helpful! Are you this positive and helpful to all your clients? I admit that the removal of the MC section is a significant loss, but I gave up turntables a while ago. I was more interested in the line stage through the old school transformers for Tuner and DAC. Do you have any insight into how this version RA1474-II varies from the original Westrex RA1474 circuit that was the origin of Shindo's first version the RA1474 preamplifier?

Simon
Previous purchases through Matt @Pitchperfect

Sorry, I just find it appalling when people do this to Shindo art. Not meant to be offensive, its just shocking to see nothing remaining but some transformers. Sadly, I have seen this many times before on units coming out of Japan and even parts of Europe (Italy in particular) where modding and DIY are popular. The 1474 was inspired by the Westrex mic pre's arrangement. Of course the Westrex was just a simple module with no power supply nor was it phono and mounted inside consoles. The Shindo 1474 was balanced phono only and unrelated to the 1474II. The time frame for your pre would've been mid 80's.

Ra 1474-ii
 

Jonathan,

I agree, it's frankly pathetic what was done to this preamp. It should be a good warning to others regarding the significant risks of importing. Similar risks would exist for the older WE pre/power amps that I seek: gutted, faked, and fried. There is very limited supply of the really vintage equipment with those old broadcast transformers eg the Langevin 311c's in this preamp. For me it's part of the hobby, it's the adventure of the hunt for something very old and unusual. Any chance of sourcing a replacement fascia though you? I have one being made locally, but it may take some time.

Simon