UTC A-10 & A-24 Set for La2a Build

[analogstudio7]

Hello all !

I've been a pretty quiet member here for several years. But decided now, finally after I have retired to build, at long last, a La2a clone.

So I've been searching for parts and was wondering about the UTC A-10 and the UTC A-24 transformers that this company is selling on eBay, link below. Can someone tell me, are these indeed the transformers originally used in the original La2a ?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/387401872739

Thanks much!
Greg

 

[ubxf]

Yes those 2 are the ones, the older models has a HA-100X for input instead of A-10

 

[analogstudio7]

Yes those 2 are the ones, the older models has a HA-100X for input instead of A-10

Great, thanks!
Do you think the price the seller is asking is about normal or too high for the set of 2 ?

 

[j.colt]

It will be hard to find them cheaper and sold as a pair "right now". A-24 are routinely $300 and the A-10 is often $400. If you need them "now", then i think the price can be justified.

 

[analogstudio7]

It will be hard to find them cheaper and sold as a pair "right now". A-24 are routinely $300 and the A-10 is often $400. If you need them "now", then i think the price can be justified.

Thanks! Great advice!

 

[deleteduser]

WOW. I make transformers that would kill these sonically. but they're not tube transformers. wow.

 

[CJ]

That's a great price for the condition there in,

 

[AusTex64]

I agree with CJ. They will only go up in price. Most UTC transformers have over doubled in price in the last 5 or 6 years.

 

[emrr]

Bonkers. I remember buying eight A-10’s on ebay for $200 once. Days long gone.

 

[CJ]

Actually I like the Jensen 10k to 10k for input as the gain on the LA2a is way up there.

 

[LoudSpeakerPro]

Theoretically, transformers should just couple the audio magnetically, and introduce little or no coloration. The fact that sometimes they do introduce coloration generally is a result of less than optimum loading. The manner in which a device is employed is often as important as the device itself. Having said that, I would volunteer that you can buy vastly superior transformers from the Reichenbach tradition: i.e. Cine-Mag, Jensen, Bauer, even Edcor ... whose characteristics are orders of magnitude better than the old classic ones, and you can get them for a third of the price of the old UTC's and Triads. The use of high nickel cores and intimate winding techniques have improved performance by orders of magnitude. The LA-2A was a killer product because of the circuit designs, not because of its transformers.

 

[CJ]

i like the 40 KC limit on the A-10, nice and mellow, great for vocals,

 

[emrr]

You generally don’t get the original design inductance in a modern transformer. That may or may not be important, depends on the source Z, here the source Z can drive a modern output without loss of low frequency. Other circuits, it’s a problem. Only Hammond seem to still make transformers (800/850 series) that perform to spec under matching conditions, with winding resistances that resemble vintage transformers, and they sound much more like them. I’d argue they are superior with regards to those metrics.