EICO HF-81 Ultimate Sam Kim Rebuild, Amazing Sound

This is The Best the EICO HF-81 can be! This is a complete chassis upgrade, complete repaint, and rewire with Sam's custom circuit. All new high grade Inputs/Outputs, and cleaned inside & out. All parts replaced and upgraded. There are also some excellent input tubes in it, though the output tubes will need to be replaced. See below for details. This piece really sounds fantastic, and looks great as well. A rare animal indeed.  See pictures for details.

EICO HF-81 integrated amplifier

 

by Peter Breuninger, Stereophile Magazine

June 2006, New York, NY

 

Restoring Vintage Hi-Fi Equipment -- The EICO HF-81 was restored by Sam Kim at Sam's Audio Labs, in Montreal, Canada. The work done included replacing the output and filtering capacitors and all out-of-tolerance resistors, rebuilding the volume control, rewiring the undercarriage, and resoldering every connection.

 

Sam Kim's restorations are not the drop-in-and-solder jobs I'm used to. I've replaced coupling and filter caps in many components but have never taken the time to rewire, resolder, and check out the circuit to determine which values of modern-day parts are the best choices. Sam Kim does.

I compared the restored unit to two other HF-81s, and Sam Kim's restoration was superior in detail retrieval, soundstaging, and low-frequency extension and speed. This was the unit I sent to John Atkinson for bench testing.

 

"I place Sam Kim in the company of the Audio Gods..."

 

A second HF-81 from a prior restoration was sent to Sam's Audio Labs for identical work and consistency testing. This unit's coupling caps were replaced with designer-grade Auricaps provided by Audience (footnote 1). Auricaps are metalized polypropylene capacitors precision-wound in the US, and are considered by many to be the finest DC-application capacitors available.

Restoring audio equipment is an art form. Over the years, I've listened to many restorations but have yet to experience, see, or hear anything close to the work done by this humble man. I place Sam Kim in the company of the Audio Gods: Hiroyasu Kondo of Audio Note and Nobu Shishido of Wavac (both of whom are no longer with us), and Noriyasu Komuro of Komuro Audio Labs.

 

Sam Kim is a master audio artist who has memorized more than 500 schematics. One of 20 men selected in the 1960s by the Korean Government for training in PhD-level electronics engineering, he was the top engineer in the Korean Radio Regulation Department of the Ministry of Communication. He now lives modestly in Montreal, where he performs restorations that capture the magic of music.

TUBES:
12AX7 IEC/Mullard Great Britain 720/1000 12AX7 IEC/Mullard Great Britain 620/1000 12AX7 Amperex Bugle Boy 720/1000 12AX7 Amperex Bugle Boy 680/1000 12AU7 IEC/Mullard Great Britain 820/1000 12AU7 Mullard Great Britain 600/1000
6BQ5 Working Quad of Output Tubes. Test weak and should be replaced.

Decibel Audio is a retail store and custom installation business in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago.  We have serviced the Chicagoland area with new, used and vintage equipment for over 20 years.  Visit our brick and mortar store at 1429 N Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL 60622.   

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