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 siliab

I lucked into owning, perhaps the sexiest components of all time, the Nakamichi 600 cassette deck, 620 100 wpc amplifier and 630 tuner/preamp. Spinning the tuning wheel of the 630 was a particularly sensual experience, as was the light show of the center-tune indicator. The system also featured a Philips 312 table with a Signet TK9E cartridge, and A/D/S 300 speakers with an M&K subwoofer. This system was very good with the classic rock I was mainlining at the time but considerably less good with the Jazz I was beginning to become fascinated with. I remember acoustic bass sounding particularly hollow and disembodied through this system. In retrospect, it was most probably the tendency toward one-note bass of the subwoofer that was mostly to blame.

Economic necessity led to my parting with the 620 and the 630, but I still have the 600, which still sounds great when properly setup. It didn't take long to find components that sounded considerably better, but I have yet to own anything nearly as great looking.