Rob from Oregon:
"...the next track utilized is from Genius Loves Company (Concord CCD-2248-2). Fever (Track 5), with Natalie Cole, was recorded just prior to the passing of Ray Charles. There is nothing particularly smooth about Ray's voice at this point in his life, and the track provides a wonderful counterpoint to the ethereal quality of Ms. Cole. Think of is as sandpaper vs. butter. The updatemydynaco mod effortlessly captures the essence of this contrast of vocal age, style and timbre...In the final analysis- any piece of equipment should at best never call attention to itself, but in an unobtrusive way draw you into the music. Does the updated ST-120 accomplish such a rare feat? In a word, yes..."
Mark says:
"Your amp boards sound great.
I have ordered some other parts a little while ago.
Looking forward to replacing the PS sections.
I have a bunch of 120's I got from my Dad (he worked at dynaco).
These never were very good sounding.
Your updates made my day.
They sound really good.
Thanks.
BTW:
nice job"
Dan from Vancouver:
"Happily my units are working well and I remain well pleased with these. Absolutely a 'worth doing' upgrade.. thank you. Surprised that your products aren't of large common knowledge... they should be, as they are both good and affordable. A rare combination these days."
"I just wanted to let you know I did your kit today for the 120. I have rebuilt several hundred 120's over the last 15 years. I usually have 4 or 5 of them setting here awaiting a break in the action of my tube audio restoration business. I have a few really ugly chassis and transformers from some parts units and sent them out to get powder coated.
When they got back, I remembered that I had bought a pair of your kits to try. I have built many 3886 and 3875 chip amps and while they sound a lot better than they should, I haven't been that impressed. I built your boards today and installed them in the new chassis with an Audio by Van Alstine power supply board mod. (commercial interruption by Dan - I think the PSUG Kit would make it sound even better!)
Been listening to it for a couple of hours, heat sinks are just warm, and it sounds very good! I can certainly recommend your kit to anyone who doesn't want to try to fix the original Dyna boards. Most repairs done on those boards don't last long, because most people don't really fix them, they just replace a blown transistor and fire it back up. They work for a while, then blow same one......
I also recently put some of the DRD4 PAT-4 Distortion Reducer Kits I got from you for the PAT 4. I also mod PAT-4's, and mine sound substantially better than a stock one ever did, but your kit makes a huge difference, even after my film cap rebuild.
Thanks and keep up the great stuff..."
Bruce Brown
Vintage Tube Audio
Chuck from New York:
"...I put both of the new boards together yesterday, and enjoyed it very much - the boards are really nicely done, and stuffing them is quite simple the way it's laid out. Hard to make a mistake..."
Rick, who has updated two Stereo 120's, says:
"You have a very nice product. The assembly instructions are excellent. Building the kit was easy. Take your time. Follow the instructions. Read them again if you don't understand the first time. The information one needs is there. Your timely answers to my emails were very helpful. The finished amplifier is better than the original. It was a fun project."
Bill from Florida:
"...What an easy kit to put together. Your manual is perfect! I have done a ton of kits in my life and this one was the easiest I
have done in awhile. I may end up getting the power supply retrofit in the future, but, so far, everything is running fine and cool.
No hums, hissing, buzzing.....nothing but music!!
Thanks again for your help and advice.
Bill"
"It started when I discovered that one channel of my Dynaco audio system was
inoperative. Seeking a solution, I came upon Dan's web site via a Google
search of “dynaco". After disassembling the stereo 120 amplifier, and many
emails to and from Dan, I (we) discovered that several components in the
power supply had failed, resulting in 96 vdc frying one of the audio boards.
Dan's super heat sink, updated board seemed the ideal solution for me, a
diy-er and hobbyist, especially since I had assembled the amplifier, PAT~4
pre-amp and FM-3 tuner from kits back in 1968.
The materials included in Dan's ki t are first class; the board is of excellent
quality and design, with plated-through holes for components, and the silk
screen circuit and component diagram is sharp and clear. With Dan's excellent
instruction manual guiding every step, it's very difficult for ANYONE to make
a mistake. The cost at $109.00, including shipping, for the super heat sink
version is more than reasonable - at $89.00 for the non-super heat sink kit,
it's a steal, especially compared to other rebuild offerings on EBay.
Finally, the quality of the sound coming from my “new” audio system is superb-
I think it's better than the original."
Chuck Golden
New York
Phil reports:
"...Thank you for making this kit available. I have already built the kits and installed them... I love this old amp again!"
Chuck reports:
"I took the new "Dynaco-Akitika Stereo 120" for a "road test" yesterday - played Saint-Saens Organ Symphony (CD) at about max listening volume for about 40 minutes - the house shook, wall hangings were vibrating, but the amp didn't even work hard. It got a bit warm around the heat sinks, but not so warm that I couldn't keep my fingers on it. Amazing......just thought you'd like to know this. Bravo!"
WOW!!! WOW!!! WOW!!! That's all I can say about the Distortion Reducing Upgrade for my PAT-4. I also replaced all of the electrolytics over the past few weeks. But the DRD4 was the top. I finally got it up and running this Sat., July 14, 2012. The first record I played was George Benson and I can't stop. Everything sounds so perfect.
I have been messing around with phono's and amplifiers since Christmas 1955 when Santa left a 1 tube childs' record player. It was soon apart and separated in sort of a component setup way before anyone could spell component. I haven't stopped since. I've had a few amps. but this is something I have never heard before. My turntable is a home brew made of an old 1956 Rek-o-kut motor and platter. I use various MM cartridges always looking for the magic cartridge that sounds the best. It's not the cartridge, it's all of the above. Preamp, amp, speakers, cartridge, turntable and so on. Now I have an old Audio Technica something or other. The tonearm is also homebrew parts of an old arm I bought on ebay for $4.00. So much for now. Gotta go and listen more.
Thanks;
Paul