2. speakers
  3. 1323153106

Why amps, pre-amps, integrated amps???

OK, having thusfar asked questions on this forum that have exposed me to the odd raised eyebrow and snicker for my gross audio ignorance, I shall go farther still, and venture to ask: What, exactly, are amps, pre-amps, and integrated amps??. More to the point, what, exactly, is their purpose; what do they do? And why do pre-amps and amps still exist comfortably in the audio market when you can get them combined as an integrated amp?? I just don't get it. Would much appreciate your learned revelations - after, of course, you've finished with your hoots, knee-slaps, and cat-calls.
georgester
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 

12-10-11: Hifihvn
I'm not 100% sure, but I think the "Heathkit" amps from that time frame may have been made by Harman Kardon.
Not Harman-Kardon, but Zenith, who acquired Heathkit in 1979, two years before the AA-1600 amp was produced.

12-10-11: Orpheus10
There is no better way to buy, than buying good designs that have withstood the tests of time, and that is the reason the price is going up on the best used equipment.
The Heathkit AA-1600 is the best vintage amp I had never heard of. Its big brother, the AA-1800, is better known and often fetches $500-600 on eBay. It's a full dual-mono monster rated at 250wpc but actually built to put out 350 wpc.
hifihvn
943 posts
 
Johnnyb53, who do you think made the amp.
hifihvn
943 posts
 
Then again, maybe not. The Harman Kardon were way more costly.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
12-11-11: Hifihvn
Johnnyb53, who do you think made the amp.
Heathkit itself probably made the amp parts. It was sold in kit form only, so ultimate the purchaser assembled it. Heathkit had been around since 1912, and had started offering electronics kits in 1947, so by the time Zenith bought Heathkit in 1979 heath had a well-evolved design and manufacturing facilities. In fact, Zenith bought Heath to get a leg up on home computer technology as Heathkit had a thriving personal computer product line.

The AA-1600 was one of the first amps to take transient intermodulation distortion (TIM) into account. This type of distortion was so new to amp design that Heath's specs for TIM qualified the numbers as "after Leinomen, Otala, and Curl." This may have something to do with why it is such a departure in sound quality from the "classic" amps of the '70s and an intro the much better sounding amps of the '80s.
hifihvn
943 posts
 
Heathkit itself probably made the amp parts.
Could have. But, in the past, they used transformers from companies like Acrosound, Peerless, UTC, and other upper brand transformers in their well known amps, that collectors seek. Sometimes they seek their old amps for these parts made by other companies. Not all of their products were kits. Even some of the speakers made by JBL.
The AA-1600 was one of the first amps to take transient intermodulation distortion (TIM) into account.
It seems they may not have been the leader in seeking ways to measure and work on this. [http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=10255]
Maybe the good old no-feedback design was right in the first place.
More to discover