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How do we remember 1970s amplifiers?

I would be curious to hear some of the memories and impressions associated with the following short list of 1970s amplifiers:

- McIntosh "first generation" SS amps, MC2105, MC2505, MC2300, MC250, MC2100
- Dynaco Stereo 400 and Stereo 120
- Phase Linear 400 and 700
- Bang & Olufsen "slide rule" receivers (i.e. especially blackface Beomaster 4000)
- Original Ampzilla (not Son of Ampzilla)

I've chosen this list mainly because they cover a wide range of approaches to solving the issues of early semiconductor technology, and they were all pretty mainstream products in the U.S. I'm excluding the Japanese receivers/amps not out of predjudice; it's simply that the circuit designs varied quite a bit with each model, and thus harder to broadly classify their characteristics.

I'm interested in impressions of both sonic and non-sonic attributes, and a preferred ranking of the above, if you like.
kirkus

Showing 1 response by albertporter

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albertporter
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Some model Yamaha receivers were very good for the small amount of money they cost. A few were as low as $149.00 or $199.00 including tuner.

BGW was a great amplifier for commercial application, a southern California company that came to market about 1971 as I recall.

I sold a few to "rock and roll" stereo customers, certainly it was a superior sounding product than the Phase Linear that was more popular at that same time.

http://www.bgw.com/about/

Dave O'Brien of McIntosh clinic fame tested lots of Kenwood KA6000 and spoke highly of them. About 50 watts per channel at multiple output impedances and sturdy power supply.

Link below shows it with matching tuner of same era.
http://www.mcintoshaudio.com/images/kenwoodpair.JPG
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