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Amps from the 1980's -- What gear holds up sonically? Reliably?

Hi Everyone,

For me, the 1980s were a real "golden age" of amplifiers. Dr. Leach’s paper on building a low TIM amplifier had been widely distributed and relied on by budding designers, and lots of boutique brands came. It was also the era of the biggest of the Conrad Johsnon tube amps as well and the invention of the MOSFET.

For me, brands I cared about:

  • Threshold
  • Sumo
  • Perreaux (New Zealand, very pretty)
  • Tandberg
  • Hitachi
  • Kyocera
  • Nikko
  • Krell (of course)
  • CJ
  • ARC
  • Yamaha (professional)
  • Carver
  • Mark Levinson
  • Amber 
  • Tandberg
This was also the speaker era of Snell and Apogee and Martin Logan. I am not sure there would be a Krell today if it wasn't for Apogee's 1 ohm speakers.

I’m curious who is still listening to these vintage pieces, and which brands you think have stood up both in terms of reliability and / or sonics ?
erik_squires
erik_squires OP
16,008 posts
 
The thing about Sumo's consistently is they sounded deep. Side by side with a Hafler, the Hafler's of that era would sound weak and thin and compressed.

Though for mid-range and treble transparency and quietness, I wouldn't trade my modern amps for them anymore.

Best,

E
gyneguy225
93 posts
 
Speaking of Ampzilla and Mr. B, I owned a Son of Ampzilla in the 70's. I didn't like the lack of on-off switch, and called Mr. B about it. He just said fine and sent me an outboard switch to install myself. -Never used the switch but liked the amp a lot. I traded for a used Naim amp and pre just to get the mc phono card in the preamp. Before it was over, I had a Linn-Grace707- Supex 900 E plus super set up. Those were the days.
-Sorry, but this stuff brings back fond memories.

passet02's avatar
passet02
267 posts
 

Reliable ? 

 Honda and McIntosh

Post removed 
mschott's avatar
mschott
132 posts
 
I have an Adcom 555 but it has't worked in years and is not worth the price to repair (over $500.00) but it was a fine amp in its day, tons of good clean power but a bit harsh at higher volumes. They powered Snell E3's in my system. The Snell's were definitely fine speaker but modern speakers image leave them for dead. Sold the Snells for a decent price about a year ago.
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