Description
Heres a very rare gem for the adventurous audio collector. Audionics of Oregon was a high-end audio component design and manufacturer company that got its start in late 1960s, settling in Beaverton, Oregon. It later became Fosgate - I dont know the details of when/where/how, but Audionics of Oregon eventually ceased to exist. I do know they had a few cutting-edge products on the market for a few years, a preamplifier (the BT-2), a power amp (the CC-2), a turntable (the LK-1), a stereo ambiance recovery system and SQ decoder known as their Space and Image Composer, and a few others. What this gem in the pictures is, though, I cant be sure. I bought this at a garage sale almost 30 years ago as part of a package with some other components - It had no accompanying literature, and as you can see, there are no identifying marks or labels on the front, save for the Audionics lettering. So I stuck it in storage, fully intending to follow up with it and figure out what I had. You can probably guess the rest of the story...I blinked, and 30 years passed, and I never did anything with it. Now Im finally getting rid of a bunch of stuff thats been hanging around far too long, and this piece falls into that category. I thought it would easy to go online and find out exactly what this is - alas, many hours of detective work have returned very little. Theres a fair amount of info out there on Audionics, but I cant find a blessed thing on this unit. It appears to be a preamp - It looks very similar to the BT-2 preamplifier, which was a highly regarded unit they designed and started selling back in the early/mid 70s. In fact, the rear of the unit is almost identical, in both inputs and outputs, layout, lettering, and specs. The front is similar as well - both units have a light, and four switches, but this one has one more knob. The BT-2s switches are labelled filter defeat, tape, mono, and off, and the knobs Volume, Balance, and a selector knob with Phono, Tuner, and Aux. It would be reasonable to assume the switches have the same functions on this unit, and that three of the four knobs perform the same functions, but Im guessing. Real audiophiles could probably shed more light on the subject, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to try to track people down and put more time into the project. I tried emailing a few people who used to be associated with Audionics and got no reply. Im left to surmise that it may have been a prototype unit that was never put into production, or something they introduced and promptly discontinued - Either way, its pretty darn rare, as it doesnt match any of the many photos Ive unearthed online related to Audionics. Having said all of that, Ive never used this - Ive only ever plugged it in and turned it on. The light turns on, but other than that, I can make no guarantees as to how well it works. I would put it in the well-used category...The far left knob is missing, its pretty scratched up, the feet are somewhat loose, there are a couple of large washers glued to the top (for reasons unknown), and I left the tape pieces on the back from the previous owner. So no guarantees made or implied as to how well it works or what the capabilities are. But its rare, and I know itll be of interest to some of you audiophiles, collectors, and eccentric electronics geniuses.
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