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I've just bought a very cheap Radford....

Dom500

Dom500

pfm Member
An STA15 from 'WhyBuyNew' on the internet. Not dealt with them before but the reviews seem positive and the amp was priced very keenly. looks good but certainly not all original.
Chromed metalwork and and different panel on the back.
Anyone know this particular amp by chance?
It's says it's been serviced and comes with a three month warranty but I'm not sure if that means really serviced and biased etc.

Am I stupid? Or is this an absolute steal?!

Cheers

Dom
 
Interesting that it has rotary knobs where the biasing ones should be, wondering if it's had dual volume pots installed which I read is doable.
If it's had DIY alterations its a very smart job which looks pretty factory from here.I guess having a look underneath will reveal more but I'm hopeful. Should be with me by Saturday.
 
Dom500 said:
Interesting that it has rotary knobs where the biasing ones should be, wondering if it's had dual volume pots installed which I read is doable.
If it's had DIY alterations its a very smart job which looks pretty factory from here.I guess having a look underneath will reveal more but I'm hopeful. Should be with me by Saturday.
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Ah, it's an STA15 so it doesn't have any biasing knobs.

It looks to be a mains fuse and a HT fuse, plus a couple of impedance switches for speaker matching.

How many valves does it have on each side? Four on the side we can see, five or four on the other side?

It would be interesting to see underneath. It could be a Woodside build.
 
chiily said:
Ah, it's an STA15 so it doesn't have any biasing knobs.

It looks to be a mains fuse and a HT fuse, plus a couple of impedance switches for speaker matching.

How many valves does it have on each side? Four on the side we can see, five or four on the other side?

It would be interesting to see underneath. It could be a Woodside build.
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Ah yeah DOH! not biasing, impedance of course!
 
I saw that one advertised somewhere and seem to recall it was linked to Radford Revival. Perhaps give them a call to see it it’s an early version of one of theirs.
 
stevec67 said:
Congratulat ions, you now own a legend. Are you stupid? Absolutely not. Is it a steal? Depends on the price and the state it's in!
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Worryingly cheap at £825!
I'll post some pictures when it lands and hopefully you can all tell me it's an absolute bargain and not a dangerous hack job! 😆
 
RichardA said:
I saw that one advertised somewhere and seem to recall it was linked to Radford Revival. Perhaps give them a call to see it it’s an early version of one of theirs.
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It's absolutely not one of ours! There was however an STA25 I rebuilt that had a chromed cage.

There have been instances of sellers lying about absolute basket case Radfords having been serviced by me when they clearly haven't - this has happened on numerous occasions by different sellers.

It pisses me off as they inevitably look like someone drunkenly tried to recreate a spiders web out of components and wire inside
 
Radford Revival said:
It's absolutely not one of ours! There was however an STA25 I rebuilt that had a chromed cage.

There have been instances of sellers lying about absolute basket case Radfords having been serviced by me when they clearly haven't - this has happened on numerous occasions by different sellers.

It pisses me off as they inevitably look like someone drunkenly tried to recreate a spiders web out of components and wire inside
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The business seems reputable, if it's a basket case I'll use their 30 day return policy and send it back.
 
I bought my Sony TTS-8000 turntable from them and they were great to deal with, the packaging for the deck was bomb proof.

I'd buy from them again for sure.
 
Whatever it is, at £825 you have an amp which looks just like a Radford, and the original circuit can be recreated without much of a problem. Unless it has the cheapest of Chinese OPTs in it this has to be a good price. If the transformers are original or very like the original ones you're home and dry. I wouldn't think of returning it. Even just for the looks alone it's worth it - Radford amps looked gorgeous.
 
les24preludes said:
Whatever it is, at £825 you have an amp which looks just like a Radford, and the original circuit can be recreated without much of a problem. Unless it has the cheapest of Chinese OPTs in it this has to be a good price. If the transformers are original or very like the original ones you're home and dry. I wouldn't think of returning it. Even just for the looks alone it's worth it - Radford amps looked gorgeous.
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even with Chinese trafos it's not the end. I have a Yaqin with EL 34s, obviously Chinese, sounds great. The psu track went bang, a UK replacement was £90. Hardly a deal breaker.
 
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