Hi Malcolm, welcome back!! I'll toast to you tonight, several times, hic ;-)! I've actually been looking for one of those, congratulations it looks a Fabulous Beast, I predict it'll Crush many belt-drives! Looks like the British version of a Rek-o-Kut, and I mean that as a compliment (built like a tank).
Hi Mike, yep, again and again I am steered towards vintage classics, the 1966 Sony having defeated many pretenders old and new, and ALL my speakers are vintage. In fact, I just picked up a pair of Klipsch Heresy MKIs and I am astounded by these, I'm in love (AGAIN). I need an Intervention. I bought the Heresy's with an eye towards trying a triode amp some day, and these are very sensitive. But I wasn't prepared for the sheer amount of DETAIL these retrieve and communicate, which in addition to the SPEED and DYNAMICS micro and macro, which I did expect, adds up to one incredible ride! I was also not prepared for the almost total absence of horn colourations, which I did expect (glad to be proved wrong), just the eensiest amount of upper midrange/lower treble glare, less intrusive than many modern two-way speakers in fact ;-). I have them mounted on stands like normal bookshelf speakers, which might explain the very tight bass I am getting (against the general opinion), sounds like down to 50 Hz or so (helps to have Giant Idlers :-)). PERFECT apartment speakers. Perfect Idler speakers too, as they TRULY capture all the acrobatic and intense dynamics and speed and razor-sharp transients which are particular Idler strengths (it's ALL strengths, but these stand out). Keep us up to date on your Fisher system adventures please!!