Personal amp evolution

It took a while, starting with a Panasonic SA6500, then started to get serious with Mac Mx112 and 250 until I got hold of an Electrocompaniet EC4 preamp some dufus footballed. The Mac couldn't keep up and as EC does not have a dealer here updated to Audio Research 100.2. At last I have an EC AW220 and my living room is like Powell Symphony Hall. The bad news is, Electrocompaniet no longer makes this model. That is all.

I'm only 28 and I'm not sure I can remember my entire hi end amp history. Off the top of my head:

Marantz 1060B
JoLida 1501RC
Plinius 8200 MkII
VTL TT-25
Wright 3.5
Fi 2a3 monoblocks
Firstwatt F1 now updated to F1J
Dynaco ST-70

and I'm on the prowl for a successor.

Latest amp added is the darTZeel NHB-108 B.

My every other year post #4. Went through a few more changes but recently put a Primare integrated in the system. This is an older model (30.1 built in 2000) but had just been rebuilt & completely gone thru, so it was fresh. Actually I believe it still needed a bit of final break-in when I got it.

I'm pretty impressed & have once again started to seek out more music, which is always a good sign. Sometimes I just get in audition mode w/gear moving from one piece to another-not searching for "that final piece" but looking for something to really enjoy. Well, this might be what I've been looking for.

I'll check back in a few more yrs. & see what took place.

1968- 1972: Early 60's tube-type, All-in-one Concord model 555 stereo tape recorder. My old man showed it to me when I was a wee lad. I bugged him for years to give it to me, on my tenth birthday 1968, she was all mine.

1972-74: Lafayette (Pioneer rebranded) Integrated amplifier 25-30 watts/chan.

1974-76 Lafayette (Pioneer rebranded) Receiver 45 watts/chan

1976: McIntosh MC300 monoblock amps with separate power supplies. 300 watts each! I could barely lift them as separate units. House burns down soon after :-(

1976-1994: Pioneer SX- Reciever 55 watss/chan direct-coupled output. (no output decoupling capacitor, you had to occasionally rebalance the output stage) I bought it Tech Hi-Fi as a year-old Demo, they used it to demonstrate their speakers. Demo units are usually the last thing I buy, but they doubled the warranty and dared me to try and break it. They where right, this unit is bullet proof, I don't know how innocent speakers went to an early grave because of this bad boy. The low frequency range could make woofers hit their stops at both ends. It's still around, still working, doing garage duty.

1994-2009: Apt-1 (Tom Holman) pre-amp/Luxman MB3045 Monoblock tube amps. My first foray into really nice equipment, made me wonder why I didn't take the plunge sooner. The Apt eventually developed noisy switch problems I could never quite keep clean. I think they were just plain worn-out.

2009- present McIntosh MA6600 solid state 200 watts/chan.: The receiver I always knew I would own eventually. Interestingly it isn't quite as good as a match to the Klipsch Cornwalls as I had hoped. Fortunately I kept the Luxman monoblocks, and use the MAC front-end. Perhaps I'll trade the CW3's for B & W 804, 805, 806? which I hear are a better match for the MAC.