High-powered tube amp?

[-=Rudy=-]

I don't think anyone here would know an exact wattage, but my cousin once picked up a pair of mono tubed amplifiers, along with something that, I think, was part of the power supply for them. These were made by McIntosh, but they were very "institutional" looking...just a metallic gray faceplate on all three units with a gold McIntosh logo, and they were made to rack mount. He said they were pulled from a studio, where they powered a cutting head on a lathe which mastered LPs.

IIRC, the output tubes were larger than anything I'd seen before. He claimed the amps put out 200 watts each. I am not sure if that is a high guesstimate or not. On one hand, I haven't seen many (any?) tube amps that powerful...and yet, I believe those cutting heads need a lot of power. Just curious, more than anything...he could have been blowin' smoke, or maybe just inhaling a bit too much of it! ;)

I recall only one amp was functional--he had to wait awhile to save up money to replace the bad output tube in the other amp. It was pricey, even back in late 70's dollars...

[LeeS]

It could have been an Audio Research product. They had beefy tubes in the 70s and they always make high current amps.

:)

[-=Rudy=-]

This was definitely McIntosh gear--I remember the logos. (Was also a bit surprised at how different they looked in comparison to the consumer gear--still looked high quality, but very no-frills and businesslike.) If I had to guess, I'd put a 60's date on this equipment.

These two companies weren't related, were they?

Would be interesting to hear from Steve, if he's ever encountered tubed gear that drove a cutting head. Probably wasn't all that uncommon back then.