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E.E.I. (Townshend) moving coil head amp - any info?

S

starbuck

pfm Member
I accidentally (**) won a battery operated moving coil head amp made by E.E.I., at least I think that's what it is as information on it is very thin on the ground. It certainly looks like a phono pre or pre-pre of some sort, and that it uses a 9v PP9 battery would indicate a head amp (a la 9v Lentek) rather than a phono pre, though I wonder if anyone has any information about it? I've done a fair bit of googling and have found nothing, wondered if anyone here may have used one back in the days that it was on the market (~late 1970s/early 1980s?). I'm awaiting the arrival of the relevant battery in order to try it out for myself.

(** - put the opening bid on and intended to research further, forgot about it but was only bidder)
 
I've seen and heard the sloping "wedge of cheese" looking pre amp with built in phono stage back about 1981-2 ish and I recall it sounding good but that's the closest I can get to whatever the OP has...
 
Yes, I did quite a bit of searching after winning it and had found the link back here to the thread posted above (thank you, though!). There is a dead photo link to an old article there which shows a few EEI bits, not sure if the smaller thing on the left in that photo could be the battery operated item I have. Front on it measures only about 5cm high x 10cm wide, quite deep though, referred to as a "Sound Module" on the front panel. Definitely looks phono related though; a pair of inputs, a pair of outputs and a ground connection, with an on/off switch on the front. Internally it is a bit odd, the EEI branded circuit board has a few visible capacitors on one side, the other side, where the bulk of the circuitry/components should be, appears to be set in a rectangular block of resin! I'll try and get a photo taken of it tomorrow, or you can probably find the ebay auction in their completed listings.
 
Found the Ebay listing but yep it's completely sealed in resin. I've not seen one before and can only agree that it's either an MC head amp or phono stage, and more likely the former. If it doesn't work it's scrap as no way of fixing that.
 
Any ideas why it is part sealed in resin, is there a specific reason for it beyond hiding the components and making it unserviceable?

Turns out it is indeed an MC head amplifier and I've lucked out on ebay again because it actually works. Sourced one of the large PP9 batteries today and am listening to it now being fed by an old Audio Technica AT-F5 into my MM phono stage; very quiet in operation with no detectable hum and very low background noise, Brubeck's 'Take Five' from a late 60s pressing sounds really enjoyable.

No critical comparisons to other MC amplification has been done yet, at some point I will compare to my SUT and directly into the MC input on my phono stage too. Can't say I needed the EEI exactly, though you never know when something like it will come in handy in the future so I'll disconnect the battery when I've finished playing and pop it in a drawer.
 
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