Retro Hi End Trivia Question

Boy does this thread take me back...to the summer of 1977 when I stumbled into Paul Heath Audio in Rochester, NY and a whole new world of gear openend up before me...Ended up leaving with a Quatre Gain Cell..GAS Thoebe preamp...Ariston R11s TT which I still have and is being reconditioned as I write this with a Grace 707 and a new 2M Bronze cartridge...JR 149 speakers with M&K subwoofer...no special interconnects or speakerwire were even back then..Quatre broke very soon..so did the GAS preamp...God has it been a journey since then

How about the SS Audire pre and power amps? Legato? Crescendo? Etc.

Back in the day, I bought a set of the pre and power amps at Crazy Eddie - a NYC based Home Electronics discount store - which had somehow gotten the line. The designer was Julian ?????, purportedly ex-Nasa.

Turntables were also in demand, more or less (IIRC) as follows:

B&O had the linear tonearms. Gerrard had the idler market, and Dual and (stretching the $) Thorens were the belt driven choices for common folks, with AR and Bic in more limited distribution. Linn was the emerging name for the big bux crowd, with CJ Walker, Coinessuer, and Systemdeck offering pretty decent Linn knock-offs priced somewhere in-between the Thorens and Linn models.

Micro Seiki was the high end Japanese unit and Technics, Sony, Denon, Kenwood, and Kyocera were the cheaper DD alternatives from Japan, equipped with S arms, straight arms, linear arms, fat arms, skinny arms, you name it.

Thems were the days.

Martyk1

Systemdeck! Now there's a memory.

How about the other Linn challenger the Pink Triangle turntable.

I remember one dealer tried to sell me on that by saying that Linn threatened to revoke his franchise if he sold Pink Triangle so he decided to switch....but I never believe anything Linn says.

Years after posting this thread, I found a Gain Cell in perfect cosmetic condition..

.I have rarely used it but it seems to work just fine and reminds me of the good old days....

How about Audionics of Oregon and/or the early Ampzillas?

The Denon turntables with the big glowing lights were really cool, too.

I know I'm coming to the party late, but I'm here now ... if anyone is still listening. I am frankly astonished that responses to an inquity about the Quatre Gain Cell is discussed as though it were a DS-250 power amp. However, the Gain Cell I bought, still have (serial 1011) and still use is a pre-preamp used to amplify the sub-millivolt output of a moving coil phono cartridge. It's powered by three "D" cell batteries. I was looking for a schematic for this product and stumbled upon this thread, among others. My Gain Cell finally died after about 40 years of service (left channel is about 30 dB down from the right channel). I can troubleshoot and fix it if I have a schematic. Is anyone familiar with THIS Quatre Gain Cell? Until this day I never knew it even had a model number ... everyone just called it the Gain Cell. But is does have one, silk screened on the back: DG-1. I could sure use a schematic for it. I really like the sound.

Thanks,

Lanny T.

I have a Quartre Gain Cell 250 bought a year ago from an EBay seller. Silver faceplate and excellent cosmetic condition! Haven't tried it out yet - still in storage. Wonder how it will sound with my DCM TW1A's (presently connected to a Son of Ampzilla/Thoebe preamp)? This particular combination sounds so good that I am reluctant to change. Back in 1977 The Audio Critic rated the Gain Cell higher than the Son, but faulted it on reliability. I will post if I make the change.