Vintage JBL SA 660 Amplifier

Hi and thanks for looking guys!

For those short on time.... Price is RM 1800 and condition is such that it needs repairs. You are buying a non working item here. So for most of you, best you move on and read the next item for sale here. I've saved you some time as 95% of folks would naturally want a perfectly functioning item!

But for any classic hifi lovers here, some info for you. I am selling off this JBL SA660 amplifier as I am clearing out my store room to raise funds for my little video studio. This amplifier was used to drive my Tannoy Monitor Gold 15's which i just sold here in hifi4sale yesterday.

This amplifier served the previous owner very well. It almost worked perfectly for the late owner for almost 40 years! I say almost perfectly because the amplifier has a light orange bulb inside for the power indicator (1960's... LED's were not invented yet ) and that little bulb gave up. But apart from that it served the owner admirably. A testament to old school American engineering. It also helps that JBL employed some good case ventilation... lots of holes on the top.

Anyway what happened was that one day there was no audio output. And so the amplifier was moved aside and passed to me. 

As some of you may know, 99.99% of all amplifiers use capacitors. What happens over time is that some of these capacitors dry out. And so after an extended period of use, or the passing of many years, or both, these capacitors need to be changed. Now not all capacitors need to be changed. There are different types of capacitors. The ones that need changing are what they call electrolytic capacitors.

Now, i started going down this path and changing some of the electrolytic capacitors. I started off with doing the power amp section. That got it working again for a while. But what happened was the problem came back as I had not changed all the capacitors. There was still the preamp section to sort out.

Changing all the power amp capacitors was a real pain in this amplifier. This was due to the way everything is put together. But that part has been sorted out already. The preamp part would be very easy to do.

There was a guy on eBay selling a service manual and so I bought that. I however need to go dig that out as its lost somewhere. Need to put aside half a day to find that.

Anyway.... I have been monitoring the prices on eBay and I have seen this amplifier sell for in excess of 2000 USD !! So this is a very rare and highly collectible amplifier. At least for some vintage audio lovers. In it's day this is what JBL used to drive there famous JBL Paragon horn speaker system. Indeed when the JBL Paragons were first demoed new in Australia this is where the original owner first saw this amplifier and bought it. This is a 60 watt amplifier. It's a very clean sounding amplifier. If you go on YouTube you might find a few videos on it. When I last looked a year ago there was one video by a Japanese bloke shown testing it out. There is a good case to make that this is one the top 3 solid state amplifiers that one could buy in the 60's. Please note that this is a SA660 and not a SA600.

Also please note that I don't have the time to fix it myself. But where I can I would be happy to run through with whoever buys it how to go about sorting it out when they collect it. I haven't taken any pictures. If anyone wants to, best they just come over and view the unit in Section 5, Petaling Jaya. At least that way I get to see a real person and can make you a cup of tea. People hardly talk anymore!

Well, if there are any classic hifi lovers who want something that is unique, sounds good and will appreciate in value, or your looking for a "father and son hifi project", then give me a call! My name is Zahari and my number is 0124040190. Cheers!

A picture of the JBL amp posting here is worth a thousand words said. Lol

Loo Peng Woh wrote:A picture of the JBL amp posting here is worth a thousand words said. Lol

Couldn't agree more..

Thanks for the messages guys! I'm busy the other side of town these next few days getting rid of my lathe. I'm also there looking for the service manual for the amp. Can't remember where I last put it! I will come back to ya in a few days with some pics. Thanks again