Partridge output transformers are mentioned in the RDH4 in somewhat
suspicious circumstances, as outlined by Patrick Turner in the
contemporaneous Williamson thread on RAT.
I don't want to mix into the technicalities of that because I didn't
measure the pair of Partridges I had on loan for a while.
Partridge was always very secretive. I seem to recall there was a Dr
Partridge, a sort of a British Reuben Lee, but less forthcoming about
his methods.
I had two Partridge PP output transformers on loan. I built a
perfectly standard trioded EL34 amp on them, to my normal conservative
spec. The Partridges sounded as good as my standard of excellence,
Lundahl.
Into the 1990's L'Audiophile in Paris offered newly wound, factory
fresh Partridge output transformers. The ones I remember were for the
Legend 300B SE kit, and just about doubled the price over the
perfectly good Tango trx that were standard. Looked to me like the
French bought into the Partridge mystique.
But there was no secret about it. The Partridge magic was just the
best iron and copper and enough of it, no skimping. A little secrecy,
a little gullible "respect" by another engineer for an ackowledged
leader in the field, and a presumed error in a largely error-free book
like the RDH4 is fully explained.
It is not generally understood how much bigger modern iron is than
even found on revered vintage amps. We recently discussed the
Mirrophonic WE91. I had a pair of the modern recreation of the
official replacement outputs for that amp, the Peerless TFA-204. Those
of you with back copies of Glass Audio can see in my review of the Dan
Schmalle/VALVE/Electronic Tonalities SEX amp a photograph of the
Peerless TFA-204 next to the known-good Lundahls transformer I was the
first to use in modern WE91 adaptation, and which is now pretty much
standard. The TFA-294 looks like a matchbox next to the Lundahl. The
difference in sound is like the square of the difference in size.
So I imagine that much of the mystique of Partridges, and the quality
of the sound, arises not so much from "magic metal" as from old-
fashioned resistance to compromise; the Partridges I've handled and
those sold by L'Audiophile were clearly not built down to a price, or
even down to a spec, but to upside margins generous enough to be heard
in the final result.
Does anyone know if Partridge is still in business and what they do
now?
Andre Jute
Visit Jute on Amps at
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/
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Partridge transformers
Hybrid Mode
