Can anything beat Vintage Amps for the $$$?

Yeah, modern electronics are for the most part cleaner and faster. The only vintage gear I swear by are FM tuners. They kill the modern computer chip variety.

I agree, tuners are no contest. Amps though, give me new any day.

Try a vintage receiver like the luxman R117 or R115. If the unit was well taken care of and the electrolytes are OK they will out perform many modern pieces. Vintage amps can always have new capacitors and wiring and some updated and non updated older Threshold units are better than many modern offerings (IMHO).

hi,

I have a rebuilt EICO HF-81. I paid 550 for it. I also have a Cary SLI-80 and paid a lot more for it. The EICO does not give anything up to the Cary except some power. It's a great amp.

Larry

JTN ...

By vintage, we are talking at least 25 years old ... right?

I have been using two restored Marantz receivers for the last 4 or so years (2216B and 2240). Their tuners perform great, but the amplifiers will sound like a modern amplifier only with judicious use of the tone controls. A NAD C320BEE will best these two receivers for most tasks.

Tube to tube, I had a Scott 299 for a while, but my Prima Luna Prologue Two is just better. There is a cost difference ... but also a performance difference. I find the old vintage amps have the desired warm sound to them, but are just not as clear and clean sounding.

If you do go the vintage amp route, I am of the mind that you should consider going vintage speaker. If you research these things over at Audio Asylum, there are threads that point to how damping and slew factors, etc are different today and that speakers were voiced back then to take this into account. But as said before, restoration is really the key.

Regards, Rich