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Anyone read TAS's Ten Most Significant Amps?

Wow, seems its the ten most significant amps of the 50's, 60's, 70's, a little 80's. No mention of the Pass Alephs, Hafler TransNova, Krell FPB, Halcro, B&O ICE based or Tripath designs. I think this all goes to show that the Audio rags are run by a bunch of old timers, not that its a bad thing, just seeing the same names over and over again. Yes we all know, CJ,MAC,AR,DYNACO,HEATH but funny enough if you go back far enough there are even older Significant audio companies/designs. Maybe I should just shut up and go to bed. Let the carpet bombing commence! :^)
jffyg
mt10425
1,138 posts
 
So, nouveau-audiophiles without historical perspective and limited experience should be writing these articles? I realize we "old timers" are disposable and resist buying in to the "flavor of the month" audio.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,633 posts
 
Isn't the H/K Citation 2 on that list? I would not regard that as an old-timer's issue- that amplifier *is* pretty significant- it has wide bandwidth, low distortion and decent power (for the day), and if properly refurbished keeps up with modern amps with no trouble at all. Today they are commanding very decent prices, always a good indicator. If you look around you can find a lot of today's amplifiers that are a tip of the hat to that design.

History will be the judge on the current crop of class D and the like. I would not be surprised if those amplifiers will someday be seen as significant as well.
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,826 posts
 
they have no 'sound'
tmsorosk
1,013 posts
 
I'll have to agree with TAS on this one . Although the Pass amps were nice enough I wouldn't put them in my top ten list . Maybe top twenty .
As far as digital amps go I finally heard one that I liked ARC's DS450 .
tzh21y
1,654 posts
 
They did not say they were the best sounding amps of all time, they just said they were significant for one reason or another at the time.
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