Stereophile review- Fisher 500 C

Ahh. But I sure the "iron" and build quality of items like this Fisher 500C far surpass what you could get in equivalent gear today for the same bucks. I'd rather have a vintage tube amp than any used SS amp from today - for the same price. Hands down, no contest. In that case the dollar per performance ratio is clearly in the corner for the vintage tube gear. IMO. Sure the more costly stuff is better, but not similar priced components. Vintage wins.

tone controls are not on equipment(old or new) to correct design errors. they are a convenient way to correct sound recordings. many folks use interconnects and speaker wire to no more effect.

I've had a Fischer 500C out in the garage since the 70's, along with a pair of AR-3's.

Great for a garage ... certainly not anything to get overly excited about though.

Just my honest opinion.

The 500C is not going to sound incredible with energy hog and muffled/closed in sounding speakers, compared to todays offerings, like the early 60s vintage AR-3s. Many of the todays highly efficient speakers bass, midrange, tweeter speed is blindingly fast, open, and spacious compared to the AR-3/AR-3a days. Using the AR-3s with the Fisher 500C is like putting a cheap lense on a Hasselblad, you can still take a picture but the quality of the picture will be limited by the lense not the camera. Imagine how Ansel Adam's grand, crystaline clear landscapes pictures taken with large format film would look like if he took those pictures with a 1MB digital camera (http://www.anseladams.com/Yosemite-Special-Edition-Photographs-C110.aspx ). Get the Windex out and clean the fog on the window to what the 500C can do: leave the AR-3s in the garage and bring the 500C after cap replacements/routine maintainance into the main listening room.

I had a pair of Dynaco MK3's 60 watt tube monos,that had afew new parts put in and kept pace with an ARC Classic 60
Tube Amp.My audiophile friend and me couldn't tell them apart sonically it was a TOSS UP go figure.One was made in the late 50's the other in 1995.I think we've been duped!