Amps from the 1980's -- What gear holds up sonically? Reliably?

ask yourself this -- who designed them?

go thru the list of brands in the OP, and you'll find a lot of xlnt engineers...

Hmm, another "back in the day" thread. I guess its inevitable to recount how good the high end was back in the 80’s, and no doubt the good brands have lasted year after year. But 30+ year old components are going to develop issues and start to operate out of spec.

Yes I know that there will be individual amps that it seem time can’t kill, but those would be in the minority. And to find a tech that really knows old electronics is getting rare. But it’s okay, amp design is not exactly rocket science, and many technological advances have occurred since the 80’s.

A lot of new gear these days is actually pretty good too.

Hi 213!

For many of us who have been in the hobby for a long time these threads are ways of us sharing our experiences over time and connecting with other long-time hobbyists. A trip down memory lane if you will. This is also a good way to talk trends/fads and look at the winding road Hi-Fi has been on.

At the same time, all of my audio gear is less than 4 years old. :)



Best,


E

Eric, perhaps my jaded view has something to do with my experience with 80's gear.  My Luxman R-115 developed a volume and intermittent channel problem that got worse with time.  A yamaha cd player starting skipping after a few years.  My buddy's proton amp went south after 20 years.  Though I guess neither one of those would be considered high end.

The thing is, the beginning of the 80's was when all the big brands reduced the quality of their lines from what was offered during the golden age of audio, the 70's.  I suspect the truly high end managed to avoid this.  The Conrad Johnsons and Mark Levinsons of the era probably did just fine.  Carver made quite a name for themselves, but their gear didn't last forever.