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| Vintage Audio (record players, hi-fi etc) Amplifiers, speakers, gramophones and other audio equipment. |
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17th Mar 2018, 8:45 pm
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#1 |
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Triode
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Tamworth, Staffordshire, UK.
Posts: 19
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Loakes Explorer II
It always amazes me when no amount of googling brings up any info whatsoever on a particular named item. In this case the item is a vintage Loakes Explorer II Stereo Valve Amplifier.
As far as google is concerned Loakes is a high end, shoe manufacturer and nothing more. Has anyone on here come across a Loakes amp before? |
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17th Mar 2018, 8:51 pm
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#2 |
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Dekatron
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: St. Frajou, l'Isle en Dodon, Haute Garonne, France.(Previously: Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, UK.)
Posts: 3,184
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Re: Loakes Explorer II
Hi,
Not a very useful observation, I'm afraid. But it has 'Leak' look about it, Cheers, Pete.
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17th Mar 2018, 9:38 pm
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#3 |
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Wembley, Middlesex
Posts: 7,225
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Re: Loakes Explorer II
It looks like a cross between a Leak and a Rogers. More like a Rogers
Whats the valve line up? Any chance of a picture of the underside of the chassis? |
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17th Mar 2018, 10:56 pm
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#4 |
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Dekatron
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Southwold, Suffolk, UK.
Posts: 8,338
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Re: Loakes Explorer II
Never seen or even heard of this before. Suspect the valves we can see are ECL86s which dates this to mid-1962 or later. However there may be other valves out of sight?
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Edward. |
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18th Mar 2018, 1:34 pm
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#5 |
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Triode
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Tamworth, Staffordshire, UK.
Posts: 19
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Re: Loakes Explorer II
Sorry no info as to the valve line up and no other pics available. It's being sold local to me but the seller doesn't know anything about it either! I agree it is somewhat like the Rogers/Leak amps of the time. Just hope it's not Rogers/Leak money!
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18th Mar 2018, 3:08 pm
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#6 |
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Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 17,864
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Re: Loakes Explorer II
The very low s/n suggests not many were made.
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18th Mar 2018, 4:11 pm
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#7 |
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Dekatron
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Derby, UK.
Posts: 7,735
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Re: Loakes Explorer II
It certainly does look very "Rogers-ish", and even the naming is a bit similar; explorer as opposed to cadet, maybe someone was keen on outdoor adventures! Possibly a small company formed by ex-Rogers staff, that ended up not going on to great things? The legends on the rear panel look as though they were done using Letraset as opposed to screen-printed, which sits well with the low serial number (33 is almost a prototype!); they obviously weren't making enough amplifiers to justify the extra tooling costs.
The output valves do look like ECL86s. They can be expensive if you have to replace them, but probably will be fine. Do check the outout transformer primary windings, though; and the DC blocking capacitors on the pentode grids (a.k.a. "that capacitor"; times two because it's a push-pull amplifier, times two again for stereo). Have you got a multimeter?
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If I have seen further than others, it is because I was standing on a pile of failed experiments. |
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21st Mar 2018, 7:33 pm
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#8 |
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Triode
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Tamworth, Staffordshire, UK.
Posts: 19
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Re: Loakes Explorer II
Good call on the Letraset there Julie. The amp has gone now but at a price that was out of my league for something with no provenance. I wonder if the chap who laid down £230 knew a bit more about it.
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21st Mar 2018, 7:37 pm
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#9 |
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Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 16,536
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Re: Loakes Explorer II
Whatever its provenance, that doesn't sound unusual for any sort of 10wpc or so all valve stereo amplifier.
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