wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin) (01/16/91)
Everybody on the planet gets these catalogs from "COMB" and mostly the stuff they sell is overpriced junk with excessive shipping charges as a hidden price hike, but I figured this item might actually be worthwhile: NEC M-50 single channel power amp: $99 plus $9 shipping, item # C1229-6094 Interestingly, this amp has a front-panel "volume" control and 3-position input selector. (It might be that the inputs selected are filtered vs. flat, instead of the filters being switched independent of the inputs -- I can't tell from the brief description.) Original list price was supposed to be $375. It's not all that easy to find a reasonably-priced mono amp these days, so this might be good for a bench test amp or a mono PA or extension-speaker run for a basement or the like. Having the volume control and input selector makes this a bit more flexible for such purposes than a straight no-control power amp, but you're not paying extra for the front end of an integrated amp when you don't need those functions. I have no idea if the amps are good enough to use in a higher-quality multi-amped system. There's other NEC hi-fi & video gear in the catalog, but this is the main thing that caught my eye. COMB is at 800-328-0609 for orders; customer service is 612-654-4800. Regards, Will