Personal amp evolution

CITATION 12 1974
KENWOOD LO7Ms 1979
CLASSE DR10 1991

Fisher 400 tube receiver, Amber Black Series 70 (early model), Adcom 545 (inadvertant downgrade - I read too many reviews!), Bryston 2B, Forte 4a, Conrad Johnson 11a, Conrad Johnson Premier 12 monoblocks..

Then, after reading so many great reviews of integrated amps I decided to see how far I could down-grade and be happy. Close - these are excellent amps but not quite my resting point - were Magnum 208, Mistral LFD SE, Plinius 8200 II (VERY CLOSE).... Now I seem to be quite content with my Cary SLI-80 running in triode, although Tuesday my friend is bringing over his BelCanto SET40i ... we shall see.

BTW, preamps include early Amber and PS Audio models, 3 generations of Audible Illusions (great stuff!), CJ 17LS (wonderful!), and then, ohhhh, and then, I tried the First Sound Deluxe (whatever that $4000 model is called). WOW.

If I do go back to separates it will be to use the First Sound to drive damn near anything.....

Art

Over the last 20 years:

Some nondescript Akai integrated
Naim Nait (the first one)
Musical Fidelity A1
Mission Cyrus II/PSX
SimAudio Celeste 4070
Sugden Au51P
KR 18 BSI
Coincident MP-300B

My preferences have now come into sharp focus. I'm a tube person, and I'm not likely to leave the land of the glowing botles any time soon.

It's been up and down for me over the decades (yes, decades)

Looking just at the amplification side:

Magnavox receiver (I was a kid)
SAE (can't remember the model number any more)
Golden Tube 80
Electrocompaneit
Now moving back to tubes with a Manley Stingray or a modified JoLida 302B

F7

Started with a Yamaha CR-820 receiver in 1976. Excellent product.
Next was a pair of Bryston 2B-LP amps running in bridged mode for each channel. Terrific sound. Still about as good as I've heard.
Then have gone all over the map.
A McIntosh MC-300, then an MC-275 followed by a pair of VTL 200 monoblocs (all the tubes I would ever need) and then on to an MC-162 followed by an MC-500. The MC-500 is one of my favorite amps. Very big balls and microdynamics to die for. Had everything. Very sensitive to the correct preamp though (and McIntosh has never made a good one). Tried a Sony TAN77ES (very nice) and am now hooked on MOSFETs. Best of tubes and solid state. Downsized two years ago to move into a condo at the shore. Bought another Sony, though this time it was their largest MOSFET integrated amp, the TA-F808ES. Runs class A up to 25 wpc and then AB to 100. Wonderful sound. Am now thinking about bi-amping with an Aleph 30 for the top end. Any thoughts out there? BTW, I enjoy Stereophile. Has lots of info as long as you pay little or no attention to their BS. could do without Art Dudley, the putz supreme.