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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 martykl

martykl
3,578 posts
 
Mostly I remember my speakers (Kef) and 'tables (several). My only memorable electronics were SS models from Audire - the Diffet pre and a power amp which I can't recall the model designation of. Purchased cheap at Crazy Eddie, a large New York discount chain that somehow got the Audire line.

IIRC, they sounded quite good. Of course, that's a damn big "IF" in the IIRC. Not too much later I bought a pair of the earliest production Quicksilver mono amps which - I think - were simply great amps (of their type).

Marty
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