How do we remember 1970s amplifiers?

My sonic memory of solid state amps from that era is that they never pleased me as much as the tubed Dynaco amps from a decade before.

I had only experience with solid state amps like mid 70's Pioneer beheamouth receivers, Yamaha A1 integrated.I was a newbie.
Before that it was a mono ,tube system built into a tv console. when I was growing up.

The solid state amps of the day ,never had the same sense of realism as the old tv system had, but it was newer and just had to be better and so I left it at that.I was a newbie.

Then a friend of mine got a used Dynaco stereo 70 and Pas 3 pre amp and his Ls3/5a speakers went to a new level.
We had the same Yamaha intgrated amp and speakers, cables etc.In those days if I heard a sound I liked, then I went out and duplicated it.I was a newbie.

So I went out and got a tubed Dynaco set up and was quite happy.

In retrospect, I should have quit while I was ahead.

But being a newbie, I flitted from one new "best" system to the next, and near the end of the 70's or early 80's bough a NAD 3020.

Not as good or as pleasing a sound as the tube stuff, but still better than the solid state amps I had been using in the 1970s.

This is the reason I find the new fascination for 70's solid state stuff so perplexing.
From someone who was there and listened to that stuff when it was new and all the rage, and then moving on to better things,I just can't see the interest in any of it.

Sure there's lots of features and lights and bells and whistles and shiney knobs, but at the end of the day, it's the sound that comes out that counts.

But then again this hobby has verred so far off the path from where it was when I started that, trying to achieve the sonic truth has become a no no, and any gear that is not coloured and covered in a hazey cloud of electronic mist is seen as too analytic and fatiguing.

I'll take my coffee black please, just make it a premium blend.

Transaudio-was that Trancendental Audio on the Niagara Blvd?
I remember it well when I was a newbie.

They had some Dan fellow working there that I think tinkered around with amps and may have sold a couple over the years.

I believe he is still at it to this day.

I had a couple of NAD 3020(bought new for the princely sum or $200.00 each)and never had a problem.

Maybe I was lucky, but then I've never had problems with any of my gear.

The cost to performance of the Nad was it's biggest selling point.

It also got lots of rave reviews and if I can remember, was one of very few components to ever get positive press from all the audio rags back then.

How would it perform today?
I think there is a comparison of the old 3020 to a present day unit, and the reviewer tended to still find quite a few nice things to say about it.

Sorry if it measured so poorly on the test bench or had such inferior parts, but we are talking $200.00 new.
I would presume the better measured gear with the superior parts also cost more, so really all that you can compare is how the sound of the parts used compared, and to my ears back then on Rogers Ls3/5A speakers and later Mission 770 speakers, the Nad was good enough to not warrant any updates for a couple of years.
Even then I used the pre as a phono stage and then used the two units I had as dual mono pre amps with a single power amp.

I later got into Conrad Johnson MV75A-1 and Premier Twp pre amp,and Acoustat medallian 3 stats, and onto my first foray into the High End of that era.

This was the early 80's, the gear was better no doubt about it to my ears,and yet the Ls3's are still quite well regarded and fetch more used today than I would have ever imagined back when I bought them new for $400.00 bucks.

Yes the good old days,when $600.00 bought you a decent integrated amp and a pair of speakers.

But in keeping with the OP, I still remember 70 amps as being feature laden ,pricey units that could be bettered sound wise by simpler units costing far less.

There was a thickness to the sound of some of those receivers, like my 100 watt Pioneer or thinness like the Yamaha A-1,that never really clcked with me.

The sound of 70's amps was all over the map, so pick your colouration and sing the praises.

Time marches on things get better, and there are still some sonic bargains to be had.Those who think that great sound is only available to the rich who can afford $75,000.00 amps, and turn to vintage gear for solace, needn't do so.

I really am quite impressed with my 2 Watt DecWare Zen Select amp.

It is the spirit of the 3020 today.

Peter53, will finding those old amps not just be an attempt at capturing lost youth?

Nostalgia for any of the gear that gave us our first glimpse at what was really hidden in the grooves I think is more like it.

Because a certain speaker or amp was a milestone,somehow some folks think it still will be today.

I have friend who has gone that route, thinking the best was all behind him.

He set out on a journey to replace all his newer gear with gear that he used to own.
Hoping to find audio nirvana once again.

All he found were the reasons why he let that gear go many years ago.