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Are the black (-ve) speaker terminals a ‘signal ground’ on the Leak Stereo 20?

It’s with reference to connecting a wire from a subwoofer to ‘signal ground’. The manual warns that the black speaker outputs are not signal ground on all amplifiers.

regards

Kevin
 
Are the black (-ve) speaker terminals a ‘signal ground’ on the Leak Stereo 20?

The Leak inputs and outputs, like much vintage kit, have continuity back to mains earth.

PS Always worth having a multimeter for this sort of thing, makes life so much easier.
 
After a few more days I can say the Marshall/EI long plates really are great in my Leak/system. I’ll see how long they last.
 
I’m dropping my father’s stereo 20 off to Mike for a service in a week or so, but am clueless about valves.

I think this thing is stuffed with 20 year old sovteks, during which time, the amp has been used a lot. If they’re still working, is it worth replacing or upgrading them?

My pockets do not extend to NOS Mullards, but might stretch to something cheaper.
 
The small ones should be fine, hopefully the rectifier too, though the EL84s are likely end-of-life. If you know someone with a valve tester I’d test them all. The results aren’t conclusive of an imminent fail but can give an indication as to where they are in their life. Obviously any noise or imbalance are good clues too. My advice is always to have multiple valve sets so you can easily contrast and compare against a known good/new valve.
 
I bought four of these EL84-SOVTEK (Sovtek) from Watford Valves and three Sovtek 12AX7LPS Long Plate from ValveTubeGuitarAmps.com.

They sound pretty good to me.

I do have three EI ECC83s on the way though. :)

Edit: I forgot that I've bought a quad of Soviet (CCP marked) 6P14P Reflector A-GE valves. I've not tried them yet; another good buy from Ukraine.
 
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Interestingly, I tried the 6P14Ps last night. The sound was quite a bit sharper, if that makes sense, certainly added quite a bit to stage depth.

More listening over the weekend to come.
 
Interestingly, I tried the 6P14Ps last night. The sound was quite a bit sharper, if that makes sense, certainly added quite a bit to stage depth.

More listening over the weekend to come.
Yeah, they are a bit crisper aren't they.
 
Interestingly, I tried the 6P14Ps last night. The sound was quite a bit sharper, if that makes sense, certainly added quite a bit to stage depth.

More listening over the weekend to come.
Could you provide a link please?
 
Yeah, they are a bit crisper aren't they.
I'm wondering if they are too crisp for the Fortes. Hmmmmm...

I did have a moan in the "what ya listening to now" thread about the terrible hack someone has had with remastering Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, it was so flat. Reverted to the FLAC I have of the CD and boy was the sound crisp...and then I remembered the album and that has guitar that sounds like it would cut you open...gawd it sounded great, so maybe the Fortes are more balanced than I thought.
 
I feel like I've owned my one of these long enough now to form a full opinion upon it... My amp now has many-many-many hours of playing in my living room, each of them filled with a smile.

It really is a very special amp, and does an astounding job of just removing the kit from the room. No longer are there speakers, wires, etc. etc. there is just the musician/band etc. performing to me in my room. Instruments are like actual instruments, voices have texture and definition, and it just sounds so... um... right.

I've heard a lot of amps. Mostly they're good, and some can excel in one way or another. This amp excels in that it is a musical-machine, a bringer of joy, a wild grin to your face. It's hard to write it down.

In a word. Special.

For 60 year old tech and kit. This absolutely spanks so many things I've heard. We're not even in the same country of the same ballpark.

I took it to a bakeoff and someone commented "when it's right, it's right" - so true - all the years and supposed advancements of tech... Pah... Stick the Leak on it will blow em away :)
 
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I'm glad there are a few like minded souls here. I've owned my Stereo 20 for nearly 30 years. It was well restored before I got it and has only required minor fettling and new valves since despite regular use. Currently running Tung Sol valves and sounding as fabulous as ever through ESL 57s.
 
Voskhod military valves. I have a saved search to find a better one for the primary one. Be interesting to hear these when I collect the amp. The el84s I've ordered are reflectors.
6N2P? They are NOT a direct drop in equivalent. Don't try and use them in your ST20!
 


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