Can anything beat Vintage Amps for the $$$?

Thanks for your comments Rich. I was fortunate to find these vintage items already restored. I bought them from a local tech who had owned them for many years. He had been a design engineer for 20 years with Motorola and these were the amps he used in the lab for testing. When our local Motorola closed down a few years ago, he bought the amps from them and opened up his own repair shop. He went thru them all to assure they were up to spec and he said they should be good for at least another 20-30 years before they needed a tuneup.

I have no doubt that alot of modern equiptment is wonderful and surpasses vintage, but I do feel vintage has alot of offer those who don't want, or can't afford new.

Happy Holidays!
Steve

Larry, that is an extremely interesting article. It certainly brings up another common debate: tubes vs. S.S. One must admit, those studies certainly don't make S.S. look good.
Joe

I have had modern equipment such as Musical Design amps and pre, Adcom, Lazarus H1-A hybrid amp, platinum audio, Mission, Odyssey Loreleis Quad ESL-63's, Pinnacle Classic Gold Aerogels, Tannoy DMT12's and others..
Currently my main rig is a pair of early 1980's David Berning's EA-230's and his TF-10 preamp.

Vintage wise I have a McIntosh MC250, Scott 299, Fisher 400, Allen organ amp (6L6), Allied tube amp and tuner, and a Scott LT-10 tuner as well.

I find myself lately listening to the vintage stuff hooked up to Tannoy Monitor Gold 12's or EV12trxb's...Especially with the Scott, I dont find the difference to be that tremendous...Only my Berning amps seem to be a bit in a different league. I have found the same relationship either with vintage or modern speakers.

I think that if the vintage equipment is up to spec, the differences will not be that great, especially in tube gear. SS may be different. I do have a Pioneer SX-850 and I just dont find its sound that engaging.

To me there is something special about having vintage gear with beautiful walnut cases..a treat to the eyes and the ears.

Also, I have modern sources...VPI Scout and Parasound CDP-2000...I think that its actuallyt a good idea to have modern sources...More music to be gone thru the vintage magic. I also found the vintage gear to be quite good with modern sources as long as they can drive the loads well.

Old Dynaco amps like the ST 70 and the Mk.III monoblocs are a great deal at $300.00 to $700.00 If they have the upgraded binding posts, input jacks and newer electronic parts in them, they are fabulous! You would have to spend thousands to get anything better.
A lot of the newer amps are just rip-offs of Dynaco designs anyway!!