Whats the best vintage Yamaha amp to invest in?

I'd be looking for the older models that had the real wooden cases, they were very nicely made and sound pretty good. When they switched over to cheesy-looking metal cases that had a simulated woodgrain I thought that they took a decided step backward.

I think that the best receivers of that time were the Tandberg 20xx series - 2080, 2060, etc. the last two digits indicate watts/ch. The 2080 had a fabulous tuner and very good-sounding preamp/amp section. And they came with fabulous rosewood or walnut cabinets.

For something a little less expensive, check out the Harman/Kardon series of receivers of that time (78-80 or so). These receivers had very ballsy amp sections and good tuners. These would be the budget alternative to the Tandbergs.

IMHO, both of these (Tandberg and H/K) were better-sounding than the Yamahas of the same period...

Good Luck!

-RW-

There is no definitive "best" of anything. There are way too many variables involved. The "best" you can hope for is to find something that works well in your system. You can then say it's the "best" for you until you find something you think is better !!!!

the yamaha cr--xx20 series receiver is generally regarded as their classic--the subsequent cr-xx40 series are supposed to be sonically inferior and aren't as sought after. (their integrated amps of the same period go by the ca designation). i still own and enjoy a cr-1020, though like rlwainwright i prefer the hk and tandberg of the same era. from a collectibility standpoint, the most powerful yamaha units hold their value the best.

I agree witrh RW, the old Yamaha amps with the wood cases were very good. I had the CA-810. Yamaha was considered high end of sorts back then. There was a Yamaha power amo that had two huge meters in the front, that was a nice amp.