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Best vintage amps (late 70s / early 80s) under $3k?

The golden age of audio was arguably the late 70s / early 80s, when corporations were willing to dump a ton of money into R&D / materials to make the best equipment possible. The downside to owning equipment from this period now is possible refurbishment and maintenance costs, but it seems good deals can still be had.

Wondering if you guys had recommendations of great sounding amps from this era? Ideally I'm looking for something that's 100W minimum, doesn't run hot, and under $3000 second hand.

I already have a fully refurbished late 70s Pioneer M-22 that outputs 30W into 8ohms. I love this amp, but being Class A it's like a radiator and not suitable for Southern California's summer months in a smallish room. More power would also be good as my speaker efficiency is 89.5db. I listen to many genres of music, so the amp needs to be a good all-rounder.

My current chain:

Turntable: Technics 1210M5G w/ AudioMods tonearm and Lyra Delos MC cart
Phono stage: Avid Pulsus
DAC: RME ADI-2 Pro
Preamp: Schiit Saga
Amp: Pioneer M-22
Speakers: Prana Fidelity Bhava
Subs: Rythmik L12
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tomic601's avatar
tomic601
13,017 posts
 
@roberjerman i for one would like to see a listing of all the cool vintage stuff you own !!!!  Of course the walker stuff was great sounding, orange knobs included...we were a Quad dealer in the Midwest - just imagine the askance looks....and then the music starts...ha


@mrdecibel  I think you confuse the logical construct of argument w fighting....glad you enjoy that amp, I am sure I will dally seriously with one soon. But I have a T-200 to install first in the Florida system...
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
13,017 posts
 
@lous replacing a 200c with the T-200 so I can it competently gone thru....its a solid amp, perhaps it will earn a way back in...
belvedere2
41 posts
 
I agree with your assessment on the M22 running hot. But its difficult to give up the sound it produces. I compounded my heat issue by also running a CJ tube pre. I suggest central air and a fan in the room. On a more serious note, I can recommend Threshold. I have an S/200 and an S/300. They don't give out the heat the M22 has and are very smooth in sound. Still, they are not cool running. I also have VTL 100s but I'll wait till winter to use them. Lol. I have had other amps but none produced the sound I wanted. We have to suffer a little I guess for what we want.
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