Hello Massimo, I hope you are well.
Having purchased a few Grundig components, and having that persistent problem with one channel playing quieter than the other on all of them, I thought I’d risk one and have it checked and serviced by a technician. The guy is considered by many as the best technician around so I decided to give it a try, hoping it should be relatively safe.
I’d told him about you and the Grundig phenomenon, and shared with him the link to some pages of your website (CCI FAQ, Grundig story, LT story etc.). Incidentally, he also has been building amps under the name of Prophetmaster, Tierra being his flagship model.
He listened to it before opening and called me straight away to say that he was very pleased with the sound. He then said that someone’s already changed a couple of capacitors in the phono section (which made me sad as I was obviously looking for a device that’s not been tampered with…). On the other hand, I thought, he couldn’t do much worse if someone’s already been inside that amp and it still plays good!
He has a blog page where he reports on his repairs of audio components and he wrote something about my V1700, which I thought I’d share with you –
https://dzen.ru/media/prophetmaster_audio/usilitel-iz-80h-grundig-v1700-biudjetnyi-po-stoimosti-no-ne-po-zvuchaniiu-641c74fd7d8ccd2ea9a1860b
(I’m assuming you can use a translation tool but let me know if you have any issues with it.). You’ll see the usual scepticism about appearance first, but – in line with how your site’s called – there was something beyond appearance…… Let me know what you think.
I picked up the amp from him this morning and am listening to it now. Finally – that – almost long forgotten – feeling of two channels playing at the same volume!!! I’m also glad that the problem wasn’t (at least now I’m 95% certain) with my TL800 – they are way more expensive than any of my Grundig amps and transporting and repairing them also would be more difficult.
On a separate note – I also bought an R7150 (which, unbelievably, has two channels playing at the same volume also… or so it seemed) and CF7250. The tape deck is faulty so I gave it to Mr. Prophetmaster to help me…. But the R7150 plays super super nicely.
And now, he’s reported a quick comparison of the V1700 and a Xindak amp here – https://dzen.ru/a/ZCCkEFtxYX5fcc3m
Beyond appearance, indeed!
That’s it from me. Thank you again for your deep and inspiring work.
Bye for now.
Boris
I am pleased that this little amplifier (which no one had in their hearts before I mentioned it on my site in 1999) and which more than any other represents the demonstration of how sound follows “far different rules” than those normally considered important, is to be known also in Russia.
Best Regards
Massimo