Power of Items Engineered to Last

 

I am about to hit 47 years of age. Which means that the amplifier shown here has been with me for something like 30 years. Having saved up money from jobs in pubs, nightclubs and lawn mowing, I put down the cash for the Technics SUA900 Amp, which was the toppest of the range from Technics at that time. It says Mos Class AA on it. Class AA is indeed a (Matsushita invented) name for an amplifier topology consisting of both a class A stage as a voltage control amplifier as well as a class B stage for the current drive—plus a so-called "Class AA Bridge" which links together the two amp stages.

Last year the left channel stopped pumping out sound. And for the past months I have been trying to find someone to help me fix it. Finally, I found a shop in Puchong. Naturally, the technician is an old timer. Someone that grew up with this type of equipment. Old school: Fix what can be fixed, don't just throw it away. 

And today I picked it up. You think I am excited most of the times. You should have seen the owner of the shop! He had that thing in his showroom, blasting away.... Beaming like a child on Christmas.. "Oh, this one SUCH A GREEEEAAAAT sound!" One could tell that this beast still have a lot of anger in it and that it will continue to smash sounds once hooked up to the speakers.

Just seems that they don't make them like that anymore. Show me any type of gear these days that you can lug around 3 continents, running it in heat, cold and day in and day out without a hitch for 30 years!

Now, If you would excuse me, I would need to play some music! As for me, I am as excited to power this up as I was when I first unboxed it in Germany some three decades ago.