GAS Questions

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

I recently inherited a GAS Grandson amp, GAS Thalia pre-amp, and Visonik
David and Goliath speakers. Couple of questions...

1) Does the GAS stuff even belong here in RAHE ? When my buddy got this
stuff 25 years ago, I thought it was high-end. It's only 40 watts into 8
ohms, but my impression was that it was a "clean" 40 watts (will push a full
160 watts into 2 ohms).

2) In researching this stuff on the net, I found a place on the net called
GASWorks that does rebuilds of the GAS equipment. A full rebuild of the amp
and pre-amp will total about $900USD. Being a severely budget constrained
audiophile wannabe, would my money best be spent on having them rebuilt
pre-emptively, waiting for one or both to croak before rebuilding, or
spending my 900 bucks on something new. Since I got it all for free, I
don't mind spending the money so that these can sound as good as possible,
but I don't know if I'm wasting my money on a rebuild or if there's
something more contemporary that would be better for $900.

3) The Goliath subwoofer was shot, but the Visonik Davids are OK. They each
have a red LED that I assume comes on when you put too much power into the
speakers. As backup speakers (while my old Polks got repaired), I didn't
let the LEDs come on full time, but I figured an occasional flash was OK. I
have the original paperwork that came with the speakers, sales brochures,
and have checked on the net but I cannot find any reference to what the LEDs
mean. When the LEDs flash in response to peaks, does that mean that I
should be careful, or does it mean that the speakers are crying out in
agony? Just curious about this one.

Thanks in advance for any advice...John

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

"Pooh Bear" <rabbitsfriendsandrelations@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news2mfu7026i5@news4.newsguy.com...
> John Martuch wrote:
>
>> I recently inherited a GAS Grandson amp, GAS Thalia pre-amp, and Visonik
>> David and Goliath speakers. Couple of questions...
>>
>> 1) Does the GAS stuff even belong here in RAHE ? When my buddy got this
>> stuff 25 years ago, I thought it was high-end. It's only 40 watts into 8
>> ohms, but my impression was that it was a "clean" 40 watts (will push a
>> full
>> 160 watts into 2 ohms).
>>
>> 2) In researching this stuff on the net, I found a place on the net
>> called
>> GASWorks that does rebuilds of the GAS equipment. A full rebuild of the
>> amp
>> and pre-amp will total about $900USD. Being a severely budget
>> constrained
>> audiophile wannabe, would my money best be spent on having them rebuilt
>> pre-emptively, waiting for one or both to croak before rebuilding, or
>> spending my 900 bucks on something new. Since I got it all for free, I
>> don't mind spending the money so that these can sound as good as
>> possible,
>> but I don't know if I'm wasting my money on a rebuild or if there's
>> something more contemporary that would be better for $900.
>>
>> 3) The Goliath subwoofer was shot, but the Visonik Davids are OK. They
>> each
>> have a red LED that I assume comes on when you put too much power into
>> the
>> speakers. As backup speakers (while my old Polks got repaired), I didn't
>> let the LEDs come on full time, but I figured an occasional flash was OK.
>> I
>> have the original paperwork that came with the speakers, sales brochures,
>> and have checked on the net but I cannot find any reference to what the
>> LEDs
>> mean. When the LEDs flash in response to peaks, does that mean that I
>> should be careful, or does it mean that the speakers are crying out in
>> agony? Just curious about this one.
>>
>> Thanks in advance for any advice...John
>
> Wasn't it GAS that made the 'Ampzilla' ?
>
> I know someone who had one. One of his friends may even still have it !
>
> I *wouldn't* recommend rebuilds of old semiconductor gear. Technology ( of
> the
> semiconductors and circuit design ) has moved on *vastly* since that
> time.
>
>
> Graham
>

Yeah...GAS made the Ampzilla, the "Grandson" refers to Grandson of Ampzilla,
they also made a "Son" of Ampzilla. I guess my question really boils down
to the point you bring up about component and design technology. My
impression is that the GAS circuits from the '70s were pretty darn good, and
that having the components updated via a rebuild would bring it up to modern
standards.

Keep in mind that I'm not asking an absolute question of whether or not the
GAS stuff is state of the art by today's standards, but whether a rebuilt
GAS unit is better or worse than what I could get new for the $900 that the
rebuild would cost.

Also, without going into gory detail, part of GASWorks rebuild includes some
redesign of the ground networks, etc. If anyone's interested, here's their
description of their work...

http://www.gasaudio.com/work.html

I'm hoping that someone in this group has had this done and can give me some
personal experience about it. They claim they've done over 2,500 rebuilds
so maybe I'll get lucky.

Thanks again...John

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

The original designer, James Bongiornia, does a complete revamp of this
equipment. I have the Thaedra preamp and the Son of Ampzilla power
amp.............they have been running pretty well for several years. The
only thing I needed to do was replace a couple of underrated resistors in
the line amp of the Theadra.
It is said that this equipment has a "colored" sound characteristic, but I
like the sound. I had a Levinson ML-9 / ML-10A combination..........I sold
that equipment and kept the GAS stuff. Something I like about that thumpy
low end that the GAS stuff has. My own preferences, of course!

Pete

"Rui Pedro Mendes Salgueiro" <rps@koala.mat.uc.pt> wrote in message
news2snr7029l8@news3.newsguy.com...
> John Martuch <jmartuch@mindspring.com> wrote:
>> I recently inherited a GAS Grandson amp,
>
> http://www.gasaudio.com/grandson.html
>
> 8 OHMS Less than .08% THM
> 8 OHMS Better than +/- 0.1 dB, 1Hz to 30 KHz
>
>> GAS Thalia pre-amp,
>
> http://www.gasaudio.com/thalia.html
>
>> and Visonik David and Goliath speakers. Couple of questions...
>
>> 2) In researching this stuff on the net, I found a place on the net
>> called
>> GASWorks that does rebuilds of the GAS equipment. A full rebuild of the
>> amp
>> and pre-amp will total about $900USD. Being a severely budget
>> constrained
>> audiophile wannabe, would my money best be spent on having them rebuilt
>> pre-emptively, waiting for one or both to croak before rebuilding, or
>> spending my 900 bucks on something new.
>
> With US $900 you can buy, for instance:
>
> - Yamaha RX-V750 ~$400 online multi-channel receiver with phono input
> - Pioneer DV-578A ~$130 online multi-format (DVD-A, SACD) player
> - Yamaha YST-SW315 ~$200 online subwoofer
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> total $730 use the extra $170 for buying CDs
>
> http://www.yamaha-service.de/servi [...] nglish.pdf
>
> http://www.yamaha-service.de/servi [...] SW515E.pdf
>
> http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/ [...] 63,00.html
> http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/ [...] 578A-S.pdf
>
> Or you could buy a Pioneer receiver with ilink:
> - Pioneer VSX-55TXi ~$930 online
>
> http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/ [...] 62,00.html
>
> --
> http://www.mat.uc.pt/~rps/
>
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