Soundcraftsmen PE2217 Preamp-Equalizer
A preamp with "a $1,000 worth of control for $499.50" - and the pushbutton patch panel to back up the boast.
Overview
Soundcraftsmen's own advertising billed the PE2217 as "the NEWEST Preamp" with "the most controls... the most flexibility... the most functions... the most useability." The pitch ended with a claim that it packed a thousand dollars' worth of control into a $499.50 price. Collectors who have lived with one tend to agree the control count was not marketing inflation. This is a preamplifier-equalizer that behaves less like a hi-fi component and more like a small switching studio in a box.
The equalization is the core of it. The PE2217 offers discrete-octave control across ten octaves on each channel, with ±12 dB available at each octave. That is far finer than the broad bass/treble shelving of a typical preamp, and closer to what owners wanted from a dedicated outboard equalizer. Soundcraftsmen paired it with a full-spectrum level control on each channel, so the user can shape bands and also ride overall level.
The switching architecture is what separates the PE2217 from a plain EQ. The manufacturer described it as having "all the CONTROL flexibility of a patch panel," done in pushbuttons. All the pushbuttons are interlocked to prevent inadvertent program destruction, which counts for a lot on a preamp with this many routing choices. Tape handling is where the flexibility really shows. The unit supports tape dubbing between two machines, with optional simultaneous equalizing and monitoring, and double-dubbing into two recorders at once. Separate system selection lets every other function stay in use during a dubbing operation. Front-panel tape input/output jacks are provided for easy hookup of a second or third tape recorder, and either tape can be monitored at any time.
Monitoring and level management get the same attention. Light-emitting diodes provide automatic continuous monitoring of the output circuits, giving a visual warning of overload. A separate set of LEDs handles zero-gain balancing on music, white noise, or pink noise, with pushbutton selection to turn the test-lites on or off. There are two stereo headphone jacks, mono selectors for left, right, or both channels to both outputs, and a reverse-stereo mode. Phono input is generous: two low-level phono inputs feeding four independent phono preamps. The rear panel carries six AC outlets, four switched and two unswitched.
The chassis is an electroplated ferrous design built in eight sections. Soundcraftsmen says this provides optimum shielding to minimize magnetic field-coupling. A single-point system ground connector is there to minimize ground loops. The unit includes a walnut-grain cabinet, or can be had in rack-mount form.
Pricing drifted over the model's life. The 1974 advertising pitched the PE2217 at $499.50. By a 1977 Soundcraftsmen brochure the suggested price had risen to $529.50, listed alongside stablemates like the SG2205, RP2212, RP2204, 20-12A, and TG2209. The used market has since settled far below those figures. Audio classifieds through the late 1970s and into 1980 show PE2217s trading hands at $325, $300, $275, $250, and even $1300 in one optimistic listing. By 1995 a dealer listed an excellent example at $149.
Period coverage exists but is thin on hard measurement. HiFi-Stereo (September 1974, p.40) ran a feature headed "Soundcraftsmen PE2217 Preamplifier-Equalizer," treating the unit as a serious piece of gear. The surrounding copy in that issue discusses ferri-chrome tape performance and cassette machines, so the review sits in a broader equipment-test context rather than an isolated lab report.
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