My lack of knowledge about the third item out of the Bakker bag was something of an embarrassment; I didn't know one iota about it, although I was aware that it was part of the AR sales setup at the time, and that Dynaco was a big label in the amplifier world.
Like for the amplifier, extensive cleaning had to precede switching on, so that took me a good two hours to get done. In the process I "got rid" of metal shields which were wrapped around the tubes - I found it simply impossible to replace, so there must be some or other trick to get it right. Initial research showed that the main function of these shields were the inhibition of radiation, and to some extent act as heat sinks. A few Dyna fans however replaced these metal artifacts with more modern solutions, claiming that the originals significantly reduced tube life for some or other reason.
When I powered on the set, I found performance good enough not to worry about RF drift at this stage, so I'll attend to that later. Initial evaluation? Even without a proper antenna, it was a lot more sensitive than my modern Philips, picking up stations the Philips didn't even show. The sound itself however was rolling out much too smooth for my liking, and I felt that a lot of detail was missing - the sharp points were just simply smoothed out. I hooked it up to the hi-fi network in December 2009, but was not using it too often or for too long, because it was running extremely hot. I was working on a fan cooling system, so only once I have installed that (together with the replacement heat/radiation shields), shall I have another evaluation of this set.
(2) AR Tuner
Towards the end of January 2010 the AR Tuner made one of it's rare appearances on eBay, this time in the UK, and I decided that I was going to own this one, irrespective of how the bids were going to run. AR Tuners reach auction prices between $70 and $365, with an average price of $245, so my final price of $91 was more than okay considering the very good condition of the unit. It came with the optional and very scarce walnut cover, and being an interchangeable piece for both tuner and amplifier, I could use it as template for reproducing a second cover for the AR AU.
Other than a small nick which ran from the edge of the faceplate to the edge of the cover, the visual condition was a hundred percent - I easily polished out the mark on the faceplate and filled in the scratch on the wood for a tip-top condition. Internally one the two back lights behind the tuning dial had come to the end of its life, but I managed to source a replacement set from Vintage-AR's Larry Legace. In all the excitement I threw out the power cord with the packaging, so I also had to get a new one from Larry. Back lights and power cords from the early 1970's?! The man is a magician.
How does it sound to the untrained ear? The same valve-like characteristics as the AU amp, but not as smooth and laid-back as the proper valve equipped Dyna FM-3. Still only using a piece of electrical cord as antenna, sensitivity was on par with the Dyna, so I was very satisfied.
