Best Vintage tube amp / preamp manufacturer

Thanks for the responses.
I currently have in my collection the following

Macintosh C 20

McIntosh C 22,  

MX 110 Z restored 

MC30’s restored

MC 225 restored

MC 240. Restored
Fisher 202 T. Restored

Fisher X 100 Restored

I run them with

Tannoy MG 12’s restored

AR LST2’s restored

many others speakers along the road.  

I love them all. It’s hard to say what I like most. I think the C20 may be the best of the pre amps, for my ears anyways, and it’s unrestored. I hesitate to have it restored. At normal listening levels I find the amps don’t make that much of a difference. The Fisher X 100 with a Hammond Transformer really has something special. It can be a little loose in the bottom end but that can be tweaked with the bass knob.  I’ve had friends come over and say Wow, that old thing is making that sound!  Lol. . Go figure…. The cheapest one of the bunch. Great vintage gear just has a look and feel of quality.
One thing I will add about this high end vintage gear is this. I also have a top-of-the-line digital Meridian system with analogue capabilities. The vintage gear  easily keeps up with it in everything other than the low end of the Meridian at higher volumes. it really is quite spectacular. But I would sooner look at my vintage gear any day of the week. So for me  it really is a tossup between the two age groups. 
 

PK

Dynaco was likely never considered "best" in sheer performance, but it could certainly be argued that they were best bang for the buck.  Very good gear for the money... they sold a boatload, and are still somewhat relevant today.

Eico, Scott, Stromberg Carlson all had a presence too.

Why are Western Electric so expensive?  Is it primarily collectibility or

sound?
 

With Western Electric, it is both sound and collector value that makes its gear so expensive.  The circuits tend to be simple and one can find clones made with modern parts.  Many such clones sound quite good, but, when one hears a vintage amp in good condition, or clones using expensive original parts, it is clear that the quality of the parts sets their gear apart.

What distinguishes Western Electrics is the terrific sounding midrange and very dynamic, yet natural sound.  The downside of the sound is a soft, somewhat restricted top end and a lack of extreme bottom end extension too.  

I worked on a lot when I was putting myself thru college working as a service technician.

The best preamp from that time for me has been the Citation 1 preamp from Harmon Kardon. I prefer it to both the Marantz 7 preamp and the Mac stuff. I don't know of a solid state preamp from that period that was really in the running; the best of those I worked on was the old Accuphase, which in my impression was built a lot better than it sounded, although it didn't sound bad. Of course this assumes that the equipment is properly refurbished.

The best power amp of that period also seems to be an HK- the Citation 2 although I never liked the power supply in that amp as it needs proper attention to detail when rebuilding it. If properly refurbished it easily kept up with ARC of the period, as well as anything from Mac or Marantz. None of the solid state amps of that era were on the same level, although some of them were quite interesting simply out of what they accomplished at the time. Semiconductors were not up to snuff in the 1960s and barely so in the early 1970s. Funny though, the colorations of early semiconductor effects pedals for guitar make them really popular and collectable nowadays.