Canadian company has acquired the "Dynaco" trade name ?

"We also wanted the ST-70 Series 3 to be relatively affordable. As soon as we announced the price, the first reaction from the audiophile community was that it was not expensive enough."

Uh, OK. Not to pile on, or any such thing, but this is a perfect example of the "only so much" theory.

There is only so much stuff that one may put in a box that is only so big. And that stuff is going to cost only so much. Add a reasonable profit and a reasonable recovery of development costs, and then one is gouging.

"At 35 watts a channel, will the ST-70 be loud enough?
Tubes are much louder than their solid-state counterparts. For comparison, a 50 watt Marshall guitar amplifier can be ear-piercing loud when played at full. The ST-70 actually produces 70 watts RMS and if coupled with a pair of efficient speakers, will deliver sufficient output to replicate the feel of a live concert. You will wake the neighbours!"

Oh MY!!

In discussing pricing I find the latest fitness rage...Peloton...to be interesting. Apparently they were not selling well in the $1500 range as urban grass eaters and hipsters thought they could not possibly be that good costing so "little." Corporate execs and marketers then implemented a strategy that doubled or tripled the price of literally the same unit and sales exploded. Its weird how people view value. Some new audio stuff is just crazy priced. And Harleys. And hearing aids. My kids have Pelotons in NYC. They will be gathering dust soon, along with other fads in the past...Bowflex? Here on the farm I get out the chainsaw and cut brush or walk beans. The actual cost of components just does not seem to have any bearing on pricing..whatever they can get!

Bob Latino wrote:Strange that Rutherford Audio in Canada as of today (12/4/18) still has the amp for sale at the original $2999.99 USD list price? See link below ..

Dynaco ST-70X still selling at list price at Rutherford Audio

I notice on this web page that there are no customer reviews of the amp? Of course in order to have a customer review, you must first have a customer - lol ..

Bob

Hope springs eternal....

I emailed them about that pre-amp when I was shopping around for one and they never got back to me.

Interesting to note the DIP switches on the pre-amp.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEU_enUS821US821&ei=1T1LXNvnDc-ctAWrgL2wCA&q=dynaco+pat-5+bi-fet+manual&oq=dynaco+pat-5+bi-fet+manual&gs_l=psy-ab.3...4246.6475..6797...1.0..0.123.715.6j2......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71j0i22i30j33i160.bvokLdY_Q4s

I am going to guess that the serve about the same function as the information on pages 28 & 28 of the PAT-5 BiFet manual.

Thoughts?

If having the "BUY IT NOW" button not working is a clue, yall done missed yer chance to pick up on one of the amps ... If that's not enough for ya, it no longer appears in their product listing or online catalog.

I take this as fairly conclusive proof of the status of the item ...

here's a better amp at a better price, less the fancy top hat . . .
VTA ST70 $1275 + shipping WIRED with ALL tubes & EL34 output tubes
http://tubes4hifi.com/bob.htm#ST70

I think this product will be a historical footnote soon enough. I only jumped into the fray on TAS because his outlandish claims and false statements about moving the design forward irked my sense of journalistic integrity.

Found this.

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/review-new-dynaco-st-70-series-3.807980/

Here you go: https://www.dynaco.audio/#1

I do not think "push connectors" are that bad. They will ( if properly done) have a reliable connection
and in addition you will avoid bad solders that many seems to have problem with. It also enables
easy "change" of complete board if, and if all connections are "push connectors". The above
shows at lest a few soldered wires :-(

I do however object to mounting power tubes on a circuit board. Heat and physical violence
associated with insertion and removal of power tubes will affect the tubesockets with lethal
effects. This won't be better as times goes. No, tube sockets are best mounted separate and
connected with short wires. ( that includes preamp tubes also, to a lesser extent)

The above boards looks like it has been soldered by "flow", that implies problems with soldering
more massive objects, the balance between full solder flow on heave objects and not too much
heat on the lighter objects is difficult. They might excel in this, but who will take a $2999 chance ?

It is true the tube sockets are soldered to the PC board, but the power tube sockets have a few large metal braces soldered as well to provide additional support. Not as secure as bolting to the chassis of course, but at least it's not just the 8 pins holding them on.

Deleted the pics.
I thought it best to keep the focus on Bob and Roy's excellent products here. We can start an "Inside the new ST-70 thread" somewhere else.

I noticed there is a brand stamped on the tube sockets (Belton) so I looked them up online.
The octal sockets used appear to be Model VT8-PTL-01 on this page. They seem to be a decent quality part. I can tell you the tubes insert and pull out with a nice feel and don't require excessive force or rocking, so that's good anyway.

http://www.belton.co.kr/product/product.html?code=007

rjpjnk wrote:I noticed there is a brand stamped on the tube sockets (Belton) so I looked them up online.
The octal sockets used appear to be Model VT8-PTL-01 on this page. They seem to be a decent quality part. I can tell you the tubes insert and pull out with a nice feel and don't require excessive force or rocking, so that's good anyway.

http://www.belton.co.kr/product/product.html?code=007

Again, the forces appied at tube insertion and removal should, in my opinion,
be taken by the sockets themself, not by the leadless solder whos mechanical
properties does not include physical ruggidness.
This does not make the amp useless, it only makes MTBF less.

I wouldn't buy that.

peterh wrote:

rjpjnk wrote:I noticed there is a brand stamped on the tube sockets (Belton) so I looked them up online.
The octal sockets used appear to be Model VT8-PTL-01 on this page. They seem to be a decent quality part. I can tell you the tubes insert and pull out with a nice feel and don't require excessive force or rocking, so that's good anyway.

http://www.belton.co.kr/product/product.html?code=007

Again, the forces appied at tube insertion and removal should, in my opinion,
be taken by the sockets themself, not by the leadless solder whos mechanical
properties does not include physical ruggidness.
This does not make the amp useless, it only makes MTBF less.

I agree. Using chassis mount sockets with wires would also be better for thermal reasons. Pretty dumb idea in my opinion to solder hot output tubes to the PC board.

rjpjnk wrote:

peterh wrote:

rjpjnk wrote:I noticed there is a brand stamped on the tube sockets (Belton) so I looked them up online.
The octal sockets used appear to be Model VT8-PTL-01 on this page. They seem to be a decent quality part. I can tell you the tubes insert and pull out with a nice feel and don't require excessive force or rocking, so that's good anyway.

http://www.belton.co.kr/product/product.html?code=007

Again, the forces appied at tube insertion and removal should, in my opinion,
be taken by the sockets themself, not by the leadless solder whos mechanical
properties does not include physical ruggidness.
This does not make the amp useless, it only makes MTBF less.

I agree. Using chassis mount sockets with wires would also be better for thermal reasons. Pretty dumb idea in my opinion to solder hot output tubes to the PC board.

I don't think Audio Research would agree with you. They mount their tubes on the PCB in many of their power amps and they produce some of the best tube amps in the world.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/audio-research-reference-150-power-amplifier

mijohn wrote:

rjpjnk wrote:

peterh wrote:

rjpjnk wrote:I noticed there is a brand stamped on the tube sockets (Belton) so I looked them up online.
The octal sockets used appear to be Model VT8-PTL-01 on this page. They seem to be a decent quality part. I can tell you the tubes insert and pull out with a nice feel and don't require excessive force or rocking, so that's good anyway.

http://www.belton.co.kr/product/product.html?code=007

Again, the forces appied at tube insertion and removal should, in my opinion,
be taken by the sockets themself, not by the leadless solder whos mechanical
properties does not include physical ruggidness.
This does not make the amp useless, it only makes MTBF less.

I agree. Using chassis mount sockets with wires would also be better for thermal reasons. Pretty dumb idea in my opinion to solder hot output tubes to the PC board.

I don't think Audio Research would agree with you. They mount their tubes on the PCB in many of their power amps and they produce some of the best tube amps in the world.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/audio-research-reference-150-power-amplifier

Wow, look at that. They look like the same kind of sockets, and sporting even bigger power tubes. I guess it is okay after all if done right. Thanks for this reference.

mijohn wrote:
I don't think Audio Research would agree with you. They mount their tubes on the PCB in many of their power amps and they produce some of the best tube amps in the world.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/audio-research-reference-150-power-amplifier

I’ve heard from people who have dealt with them. Power tube sockets on pcb’s are a bad idea.