cash converters Find

[colin.hepburn]

Hi All
Well while in the city yesterday getting my dog to reregister with the vet I had a look in the cash converters shop with the thought of picking up a digital camera t replace my old broking one but didn’t see anything decent so checked out the Hi-Fi section there was only cheap speakers and cheapo sony and other amps on the shelf but sitting on the floor was a mint Audiolab 8000S with no price on it
I grabbed the assistant and asked the price he went away to ask the shop manager coming back he said its £179.99 but he said we can take an offer so offered £150 he went away again on his return he said we can let you have it for £160 and a 12 months warranty I agreed and bagged a bargain they clearly did not know what they had there as the assistant asked me when I was paying him who we’re Audiolab

Looking on eBay the 8000S seems to go for around £250 for a beat-up one to £450 for a half-decent one I believe the 8000s is the step up from the famous late 1980s 8000A
Have only had it running with headphones as the hifi is not setup again yet due to repair work and redecorating the house a nightmare but in the end, I will have much better listening room dimensions of 15.6 ft x 10.6 ft x7.8ft
images are from the net as I still don't have a camera went n the shop to look for

[Phil Y]

Well spotted, it sounds like you got a bargain.

Phil.

[bob orbell]

I hope it is better than the 8000A Colin, I had one on demo in the 1980's and found it too bright, very good at first, but after half an hour my ears were ringing, settled on two Musical Fidelity MA50 mono power amps and the matching Pre, very good, then I changed to WAD. Bob

[colin.hepburn]

Originally Posted by bob orbell

I hope it is better than the 8000A Colin, I had one on demo in the 1980's and found it too bright, very good at first, but after half an hour my ears were ringing, settled on two Musical Fidelity MA50 mono power amps and the matching Pre, very good, then I changed to WAD. Bob

Hi Phil/Bob
Well yes it’s not an amp I would have thought of buying be honest that is to say it wasn't on my list of possible amp’s although it is a very short list
Anyway as I am unable to test it out in the system at this time I am just trying it out with my HD650 headphones and marants 52SE not ideally it really needs to go on speakers but so far with the headphone I haven’t found it bright but it is very clean sounding and the bass is detailed but perhaps a bit light but this is likely the HD650 headphones response

But looking at the schematic the PSU has only 10.000uf per rail which surprised me thought they would have been of a large value than that
I believe the improvements on the 8000S over the 8000A are a revised pre-amp and omission of tone and balance controls I believe the power amp is the same as the 8000A

It will be interesting to see how it sounds with the WD Phone 3 and CF3 Pre amp hooked up to it but I won’t be giving up my JE.labs single-ended KT66 Amp and if the Audiolab 8000S does not work out well there’s always eBay
Colin

[willslenco]

A very nice find Colin, it's always a great thrill to find a hifi bargain.