Great Vintage Amps-which one for you?



Hi, I'm 21 and I do have a passion for vintage amplifiers. There gems that are built like tanks with excellent components and the sound to die for. Too bad they don't make like this anymore. My favorite ones are most all vintage Pioneer, Nikko Alpha and NA Series (I have a Nikko NA-690 Integrated Amplifier), and Sansui AU Series. Anybody here have the passion for vintage gear?
Ag insider logo xs@2xhighend64
Thanks for the responses. Detlof, I never heard the ARC. How are they? Rar1, the other day I went to a hi-fi store and they had a Marantz power amplifier. The meters looks like the McIntosh ones. To bad he didn't have it plugged in.
I have a complete vintage Accuphase system with the P-300 amp. It has meters also. Great vintage amp and I have the original manual and triple boxes too.
Threshold Stasis S500 250 W/Ch Series II Class A/AB Optical Bias. Built like an armory! (98 lbs)

Mine was circa 1983-1984. I was once thinking of selling this amp but fortunately did not. I spent 2 months searching for parts to "re-cap" it (4 Mallory CGS type) I found a store which sells the units for $160 total. After replacing the caps, I was very surprised that they sound so good, much better than I can remember.

My passion towards this amp was renewed. I am glad I made a good decision to restore the unit. I love it!

Come to think of it, I was considering to sell this unit for just $600 before.

Has anyone tryed to use Dynaudio, B&W, Paradigm, or any hi-end speaker with a vintage amp? If so, how does it sound? What are the advantage and disadvantage? The reason for my concern is that I can not find info on such a match. It would be pretty intresting to see a match like Sansui/Dyanudio.
BTW, has any one heard about Phase Linear and GLI amps? If so, please comment on these. Thank you for concern and happy listening.
I have an ARC D-79, and have used it regularly with Vandersteen 2CE speakers. It provides a full, lush sound with plenty of bass. I get plenty of volume (70WPC) and the sound is way more detailed than you would expect.

Where can I find ARC? I tryed to look at audioreview with no luck. Thanks for the responses.
Yeah, it took me awhile to get the lingo down too. ARC is Audio Research Corporation. So you will find their current products at http://www.audioresearch.com Keep your eyes peeled on ebay and here for a vintage ARC.

Thanks for the response Southpark. I went to ebay and they hardly have any vintage ARC. Any opinion on mixing hi-end speakers with vintage amps? Thank and happy listening. :)
I find vintage amps work well with hi - end speakers. I use a McIntosh 2100 amp to power some Montana DPS speakers and it sounds great.
Kimmy:
Sounds like a vintage Sansui Amplifier. Check out the following website for a manual:
http://www.agtannenbaum.com/s_cat.html#SANSUI
Regards,
Rich
I presently use Audio Research D-70 poweramp. It has 65 watts per channel. It is stable at any load and the sound is incredible. Also the built quality is inpeccable.

Thanks,
BROKENTUBE!
Hey pixcja---you need to enroll into the Audiogon Bluebook service. to answer your question, the 4100 sells for $2,000.00 new and roughly for $600.00 used. I looked it up in the bluebook.

Even if you are planning to make just one purchase, or sale on Audiogon, you NEED THE BLUEBOOK SERVICE!

oops, sorry for shouting.......
The D-79 series amplifiers from Audio Research were perhaps the pinnacle of "any" amp that company has ever made! The D-150.. in their day was at the edge of the art as far as high powered tube amps go,however...that said...they are the equivalent of the older MAC stuff sonically... with a soft, lumpy and bloated bass and a rolled off top end. Musical in a way- but pretty mediocre by todays standards in vacuum tube design. The later D-115 was a great amp with some serious balls that stomped it in every which way,and would certainly qualify as a true classic that can still compete sonically with much of the esoteric modern stuff of today.Destined to become a collectors item like the D-79b and rightly so! The original Grant Lumley 100m's also come to mind as well as the original 8417 version of the Quicksilver monos.Anybody remember the Radford st-25, or the Beard st-35's from Enland? both of them make magic!If you can get by with 35 watts/side the Beard amp can compete with just about anything out there regardless of price.
There are many I would like to hear again in the context of what I know now. My list : AEA A-620, Sony Esprit and AudioLab, Citation XX, Ampzilla (I own one, a son too), Infinity Switching amp with the cool blue lights, and the Kenwood mono blocks LM-07 i think is the model. I've heard some awesome music with these amps and some great older speakers which I would like to hear also: Fried W's, Mission 770's (awesome bass definition), Dahlquist DQ-10's, Hill Plasmatronics (what 10 grand used to buy), stacked Advents, ESS Transar's and AMT-1D's,.........
hi, I own a few luxman amps which I think are awesome.I think they are a bargain for what prices they fetch on ebay, Craig.
Frankly, the Hafler kit built amps were tough to beat. Mine lasted over 20 years in my system. I gave it to my music starved brother who's using it now. The differences between it and my brand new Odyssey were slight.

Hammer
I have a Phase Linear amp that is almost 30 years old, and it is still cranking. I am going to have it worked on though, as I was advised that some of the internal parts need replacing from time to time. When I get it back, I will put it into a vintage system, that I just recently started using again. All of the other pieces I bought in the 70's, as well. It all still sounds great!
Sonny
I've owned a ARC D-115 Mk 2, Dynaco ST-70 and still have MC-60's all of which are great vintage gear. So far as looks go, definitely the McIntosh amps which I still have. So far as sonics go, the D-115 Mk 2 is a great performer though I found the bass a bit fatter, not as defined, and the highs a bit beamy, and glassy at times than the better crop of current tube amps although it has plenty of slam. This amp has one hell of a soundstage and a great midrange and plenty of power, 100 watts. A real classic, I hated parting with it but you can't keep them all.

Most of the all tube ARC amps from the 70's and 80's including the D-70 M-100's, D79, D-250 are all quite desirable and great vintage stuff.
I've owned a Beard P-100 since about '94. Bought it used for $500. Put a little work into it: added caps for storage, brimar and mullard tubes up front, Svet KT-88's or better yet, GE 6550A's in the rear. I would think you'd have to spend $8-10K to get better sound. The amp has balls and slam and can be as delicate as a bab'e bottom-with Thiel's, or Martin Logans or whatevah!
I regret selling my Berning EA-230 tube amp. It made my LS3/5a speakers sing!
I have a soft spot for vintage it's the only spot in my system where vintage takes it's position. I regularly switch between my Marantz 8b (put together as neat as a button), Futterman H3; still lifts layers of haze compared to any real world transformer coupled amp, and a totally tricked out Citation II.

One of my fondest memories was of a ARC D79 driving Beveridges about 30yrs ago..I don't think I've ever heard anything as good since...AJ
I just bought a hafler dh-500 amp, and i was going to run it with a mcintosh ma5100 preamp. I was wondering what speakers would sound the best with this set up.I also was wondering where i could find a rack handle for this. When i bought it one was missing, any help would be apreciated thanks.
Dyna Mk. III mono tube amps with vinyl and a good tube preamp from the 70s-80s like Bruce Moore's Audible Illusions "Dual Mono".
That's for me,
JT
Jeff, have you tryed the tube cd player from Luxman? I'm really curious about its sound.
Are you talking about the luxman d-105u 18 bit tube cd player? i have one , it is a well built smooth yet detailed sound,it is well specified and has a host of good features, eg:fixed and variable output,display cancel,tube preamp stage,very nice vintage cd player , around the late 80s there were a host of well built cd players, Technics sl-p 999, stax quattro 2 , i owned both of these as well, back to the original thread my favorite vintage amp was the accuphase e-202 i had for a few years.
Last year i bought an old EICO st-70 here and had it modded by Scott Frankland.Great sound matched with VSA VR2s and a Cary 308 cdp. It uses 4 RCA 5791s .
Hi Jkaway.Yes, A very nice sounding vintage amplifier even in stock form. I am certain Scott Frankland's work took it to a whole higher level. PS: RCA 5791's...must be a typo? I'm sure you meant to type 7591's.
No, sorry, I have not heard it. But I have a sentimental fondness for Luxman stuff from the old days, if it is still the same company. They put out some really outstanding tube products.
JT
I love vintage gear....have had, and have tons of amps. One of the best I have owned is the Soundcraftsmen MA5002 with the analoque meters. Tons of guts. Fast tight bass, and nice mids and highs too. And talk about vintage: The looks are, well it is a real good looker too.
Precision fidelity C7A...for its phono section
Levinson M 27.5...worked damned well with any speaker I threw at it
PS Audio 2C plus...great sounding little 40 watt basic amp..responds well to mods...wonderful amp and can be bridged

McIntosh MC225...this is the one piece I regret selling a few years back..I should have restored it and modded it.
C123666
I Wouldn't call the ML 27.5 vintage just as yet.I bought mine brand sparking new about 8 years ago from BRACK ELECTRONICS up here in TORONTO CANADA,it was my first high-end piece and had to save my money to be able to afford it at the time.Having said that I absolutely love it and wouldn't ever sell it.Sound ,looks,build quality is all there plenty.But I don't think is a vintage at this point in time,perhaps in twenty years from now.
Best regards.
George.
This might sound funny but in the flea market, you could find a tons of vintage gears. Today I found a Yamaha CR-1040, Rotel RX-855, and a few Scott and Pioneer SX Series receivers. If my pocket would be bigger, I get them in a jif.

Alfredo