Amstrad Speakers. Value?

[stripykate87]

In addition to the four Bush Valve Radios I have, I also have a set of two Amstrad Loudspeakers (see photos) from a great uncle. They have never been used and remain in original packaging.

May I put this out to the forum for some price guidance please?

[paulsherwin]

Alan Sugar never really understood the HiFi market so these are unlikely to attract much interest. £10 tops I reckon, though if they're absolutely pristine there may be an Amstrad collector who will pay more for them. Again, eBay is probably your best bet, but don't get your hopes up.

[duncanlowe]

Yes. It has to be said that Amstrad audio was not regarded, even in its day, as quality gear. I seem to remember it was the lower end of the stuff sold at Woolworths. So without wanting to appear rude, it's not something that is worth very much in any circles I'd be aware of. Even brand new and boxed, I would struggle to see the market at all.

[paulsherwin]

Amstrad did produce some halfway decent HiFi at the bottom end of the market, but they never understood the importance of reputation and snobbery to the potential buyers even at the entry level. If you were a HiFi News and Record Review or Gramophone reader in the late 70s you wouldn't have seen many articles telling you to buy Amstrad kit.

[Techman]

I think these are the ones that have coloured LED lights behind the grill cloth somewhere near the top that flash something like green to red depending on the music and volume - this feature alone should put another tenner on the price!

These are not good quality speakers and are designed for their looks and gimmicky additions, but could well be of interest to an Amstrad collector in the original and mint condition that they're in.

[electronicskip]

I used to sell Amstrad HiFi for a living in a previous life, the stuff went by the lorry load as i recall.
Lord Sugar always said he was the FORD of the HiFi market and not the Rolls Royce .
He was the first manufacturer to introduce vinyl look alike wood on his speakers instead of wood veneer .

I have one of his original Amplifiers the Amstrad 8000 .

[BulgingCap]

Many many moons ago I was invited for a pint with a friend (high-end audio retailer) who brought along a chap who had worked as a design engineer for Amstrad.
He related an amusing story of the design process, along the lines of: Big meeting around the table to establish the basic design concept for a domestic stereo. The first parameter was the retail price and could the unit be made viably to sell at that. Then the various flashing lights and gimmicks to attract the target market. At the end they all turned to him and said "Right, Dave, amp and housekeeping electronics. You have, let's see... £2.43p for the lot. OK? Right, off we go then".
(I forget the actual figure but I recall being amazed.)
BC

[Craig Sawyers]

What's in the box? You can't handle what's in the box.

On another forum I was waxing lyrical about the original and iconic Cambridge Audio P40, introduced in 1967.

Another guy said rubbish - the Amstrad (forget the number) knocked it into a cocked hat sonically. So I looked it up. the first version used Toshiba 9014P hybrids in the input circuit, and re-badged Toshiba 9013P power amps (good for 20W at 1%). In one off in 1968 the 9014P was £1.42 and the 9013P was £4.29. Sugar would have negotiated a massive discount for volume of course, so the total active device cost of £11.42 would probably have been £3 or thereabout.

In V2 of the same amp he ditched the preamp device and spooned in two discrete transistors instead (for the cheap'n'cheerful RIAA), but retained the rebadged 9013P for the power amp.

And it looked like the typical Amtrad, and not the Design Council award winning P40.

Craig

[Max Ripple]

I think Alan Sugar understood the hi fi market very well indeed!
Cheap n cheerful would describe Amstrad,and they never pretended to offer anything else.
I worked for Comet(remember them?)back in the early 'seventies,and we shifted container loads of Amstrad,to a largely happy target market.
Build quality and reliability were a bit iffy of course,but when working,they could often sound quite good.
It introduced many people to better sound quality,after they had been languishing with the "Dansette Damage"standard of performance!
Naturally too,it made the other manufactureres look at their own offerings,and re-jig to compete,and gave the industry a good wake up call.
Budget hi fi became a big market,which boosted the recording industry too.
Nick

[music-centre]

I remember a mate at school getting a system using an Amstrad IC2000 Mk1 Amplifier when it was a current model - 1970? I thought it sounded good and a decent veneered case.
I guess those speakers are more recent though and if they do have flashing Led`s thats not a good sign!
The £10 predicted sounds about right to me.
Steve.

[Welsh Anorak]

Wasn't the IC2000 the one that accidentally was better than most others on the market? It used the Toshiba power amp unit and looked cheap with its trendy sliders but actually sounded pretty good with some decent speakers, but was a bit fragile. Then Amstrad careered downhill, including your speakers. Demand for big speakers, even quality ones, has fallen off I'm afraid.

[Radio Wrangler]

Perhaps their greatest value would be as props for someone dressing a 1970s set. Amstrad stuff was very common in the day, but little has been preserved. It's never been seen as valuable enough to put any effort into saving or storing.

The price of something depends on someone wanting it. A re-make of Only Fools and Horses?

David

[Hartley118]

I remember having a lengthy chat with the Chief Engineer of Amstrad - early 1980s I think. I ended with a significant amount of respect for their commercial approach.

I remember that the target Amstrad customer which Sugar wanted everyone to hold constantly in mind was a 35-year old lorry driver and his family who wanted a stereo system that worked and looked 'proper'. For example, he admitted that the strobe mouldings round the turntable were non-functional, but reminded the customer of the appearance of more exotic equipment.

Once Amstrad had evolved to make and sell word processors and PCs, there were fewer corner-cutting opportunities and the kit established a decent reputation, including in professional office markets.

Whilst we cognoscenti may disparage the Amstrad technology, there's no doubt that, unusually in the audio business, the company was sufficiently successful to make its founder rich, rather than suffer the sad bankruptcy that awaited some other much more technically respected names.

Martin

[Craig Sawyers]

Originally Posted by Welsh Anorak

Wasn't the IC2000 the one that accidentally was better than most others on the market? It used the Toshiba power amp unit and looked cheap with its trendy sliders but actually sounded pretty good with some decent speakers, but was a bit fragile. Then Amstrad careered downhill, including your speakers. Demand for big speakers, even quality ones, has fallen off I'm afraid.

Thanks for reminding me - that was it!

The Tosh data on the hybrids is attached. It is in Japanese, but the schematics are understandable, as are numbers in the text, the specs PC layouts and overall designs.

Craig

[AC/HL]

Originally Posted by Hartley118

Whilst we cognoscenti may disparage the Amstrad technology, there's no doubt that, unusually in the audio business, the company was sufficiently successful to make its founder rich, rather than suffer the sad bankruptcy that awaited some other much more technically respected names.

I once read a quote that the first duty of business is to survive (especially apt at the moment). Added to the premise referred to earlier that they were a driving force in the wider evolution of home audio they were a remarkable success. Nothing stands still though.

However, the point of this thread is to comment on a pair of speakers, and post 2 seems to be the answer the OP wants.

[Beobloke]

Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers

Another guy said rubbish - the Amstrad (forget the number) knocked it into a cocked hat sonically.

No he didn't - he said that the Amstrad was at least a basically sound design, whereas the Cambridge wasn't, which was a valid point.

As to the Amstrad speakers the OP has, I'm afraid they are worth as much as anyone will give you, but I wouldn't plan to retire on the proceeds!

[Spec-chum]

Those speakers are for the Amstrad TS88 MK2 tower hifi system, roughly dated 1983. There was a pair as upgrades that was identical but as tall as the tower system and had 2 full range speakers, and 2 tweeters in each speaker unit. I had a pair of them from the same system. They aren't flashing led one's though. They're 4ohm, and don't quote but I think about 15 watts max.

[Bookman]

I would suggest to Stripeykate that everything has a value but when it comes to technology there will be a limitation on how the technology is perceived. For example my wife (bless her) would not know the difference between a £5K Hifi system compared to one costing £50. Once the music starts playing she sings along with it and that fundamentally meets her needs.
Using the latter philosophy I often donate systems to charities such as Dogs Trust or other animal charities where they can be sold to the benefit of others. You can be assured that it will sell for an amount someone is prepared to pay for it.
Good luck with your endeavours.

[AD360 Rob]

My very first "HI FI" amplifier was an Amstrad EX220, I bought it brand new and in the box from a bloke who had a shop full of this sort of thing in the town where I went to school. It certainly looked the part with its smart brushed aluminium facia festooned with buttons and knobs. I seem to remember it worked fairly well until one of the power transistors failed and took every other piece of silicone with it (except the rectifier) I did rebuild it and it soldiered on for a couple of years until I started work and bought a JVC tuner amp.

[crackle]

Together with the original hifi tower system they came with, I bet they will be better quality than any system being sold by Argos for around £100 today.

Mike