This is my Project/ONE Mark XXI Integrated amplifier.
Early in my hi-fi journey I had a Sansui 551 receiver, Epi 100 speakers and a BSR 2260BX turntable along with a TEAC A103 cassette deck. The year was 1976 I was 14 years old and pretty happy with my setup.
It’s funny, because I still have the Sansui and it's one of my all time favorite pieces that I still listen too, along with the Epi 100"s. The BSR is in a box some where.
Working in a mall where I had daily access to hi-fi stores Playback, Radio Shack and Stereo Studio, I would walk-in and listen all the time. Salesman were always pressuring me to trade up, get something better. You need at least 50wpc to make your EPI’s sing they would say. Reading all of the High-Fidelity, Stereo Review and Audio magazines I could get my hands on I was convinced that my set up wasn’t good enough and I needed to upgrade.
I eventually decided that I wanted an integrated amp. My hi-fi mentor and school teacher Jim Doner had and integrated amp (a McIntosh MA6100, which I eventually purchased) and I really liked his reasoning. By eliminating the tuner, you get more for your dollar. Made sense and was absolutely true.
I couldn’t afford McIntosh or the Sansui AU717, I was considering a Pioneer SA8500 which was well respected, looked great and sounded good. The Pioneer was listed at $695.00, but I could get the Playback house brand Project/ONE Mark XXI for about $550.00 with an employee discount. The Project/ONE had more power, more features, looked just as good and came with a beautiful walnut cabinet.
Playback always pitted Project/ONE against Pioneer, since they look very much the same. Pioneer knobs were plastic covered with thin aluminum. Project/ONE was solid aluminum. The Project/ONE chassis was made from heavier steel, the face plate was also thicker. Playback would often set up a display and pull the top cover off of the Project/ONE Mark XXI and compared to the Pioneer SA_8500. The layout was so clean on the Project/ONE and this was an effective sales tool. For those to whom it mattered, the Project/ONE looked clean and elegant inside, the Pioneer looked a bit messy. Most importantly, the Project/ONE sounded superb, as did the Pioneer. Below I have a shot of a Pioneer SA_8500 and the Project/ONE Mark XXI with their covers removed. You can see what I mean.
The salesman at Playback were quick to point out the polished all metal chassis in the Project/ONE, the fact that all of the tone controls, volume pot and selector switches are all shielded under a top metal cover plate. The amplifier section transistors sit vertically and are cooled from venting top and bottom with heavier heat sinks. The layout was so clean and tidy compared to the Pioneer.
The Project/ONE also had a three year warranty. I watched Playback sell tons of Project/ONE gear. Amps, receivers, cassette decks, speakers. Rarely did anything ever come back for repair. So, saving my money I purchased the Project/ONE Mark XXI on October 13, 1978. I was happy.
Many mistakenly say that Pioneer built Project/ONE amps and receivers. They did not. Foster Electric in Japan built them. I know this, because that is the company that Playback ordered them from. Foster Electric is better known for making sound reinforcement and recording gear and speaker systems for professional studios.
Well known for their excellent sound boards and mixing boards, they also made multitrack reel to reel tape decks under the Fostex brand name. Today, Foster Electric is known as Foster/Fostex.
Foster also built the Stereotech 1200 receiver for McIntosh in the mid seventies. The Radio Shack Realistic STA-2000 receiver was another private label built by Foster. Other companies that Foster built gear for was Telefunken, and Toshiba. So Foster was well known for excellent manufacturing and engineering and are still in business today. You can find My Project/ONE amp with the famous Telefunken label as the Telefunken TA-700 integrated amp from time to time on vintage hi-fi sites. These were sold in Canada and Germany up until about 1980.
I used my Project/ONE for maybe two years, when I had an opportunity to purchase my friends McIntosh 6100, along with his Dual 1219 turntable. Then, I packed it up and put it away, forgetting about it for 46 years. During a move I recently opened a box marked Advent 201 (I have many of these) and there it was, carefully wrapped up in pristine condition.
Well, I just had to listen to it again. It has a balanced, accurate sound which reminds me very much of McIntosh. It’s especially smooth sounding, with plenty of power. The tone controls are gentle, loudness just right for low listening levels. The sound stage is wide and open. Every feature one could want is on tap. Just an excellent unit. I pulled the cover and was reminded how well made this unit is. Really exceptional, it’s what you would expect from a company like Foster with exceptional build quality. Just look at how clean architecture of this unit.
This amp is easy to live with, when I was listening to it, I wondered why I ever wanted anything else? It’s that good. Every bit as good sounding as the McIntosh that replaced it, and certainly as well made.
I took the unit to my tech, and asked to have the phono board recapped. I thought it had a bulging cap, turned out to just be the plastic wrap on the capacitor that I was seeing. He recapped it anyway.
If this had the Telefunken label, or a Foster Electric label, I think it would get more respect. Surprisingly, many here in the Midwestern United States, know how good the Project/ONE label was and seek them out. Sometimes they can be found at bargain prices, other times they are just as expensive and occasionally more than the Pioneer counterparts.
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