A bit of history: I have a set of Nakamichi components -- CA-7A preamplifier, ST-7 tuner, and PA-7 amplifier that I purchased new from Paris Audio in Log Angeles in the 1980s. I haven’t used the preamp in several years, nor the tuner for maybe 20 years (I’m sure FM tuners are pretty much worthless these days). I am, however, currently using the PA-7 amp to drive B&W 801 speakers in my family room and it works just fine and sounds great. We use this setup to watch movies as well and the switching and decoding is the main reason I’m using a Marantz AV-8801 instead of the CA-7A. I’ve never been tempted to get a subwoofer or even a center channel as this combination can rattle the entire house when necessary and provides a rock-solid center image under the wall-mounted TV between the speakers.
Before switching back to the PA-7, for 10 years, I had a Sony STR-DA9000ES 200WPC A/V receiver and that did a fine job with the 801s as well -- but I was only using two channels (tried bi-amping using 4 of the 7 channels and could never get that to work). When I got the Marantz, I used the Sony as an amplifier and that was fine as well -- but it died a couple of years ago and I went back to the PA-7. The only downside is that the PA-7 has a small audio delay, presumably a result of its Nelson Pass/Threshold design that isn’t important for audio but results in a very slight lip-sync delay when watching video, even with the Marantz set to 0ms delay (it can’t go negative). It’s not really noticeable unless I think about it. Then it annoys me but I quickly get over it. The other downside is that it doesn’t have a remote trigger to let the Marantz turn it on and off, and it runs pretty warm (charitably put) so I don’t want to leave it on all day. It did come with an outlet strip that the Nakamichi CA-7 used to remotely turn it on and off (the CA-7A has a remote control as well that switches inputs and controls the volume), but the relay in the strip stopped working a long time ago and I just stopped using it.
So, after that background, at some point in the next year, I’m looking at adding surrounds, and getting everything into sync means replacing the PA-7 with something that can still drive the B&W 801s but would be expandable to handle surround channels as well. I liked the sound of the digital amps in the Sony DA9000ES with these speakers and the Emotiva amps look intriguing, expandable and cost-effective but I’m wary of marketing hype. Please let me know if that’s clearly not appropriate for this setup -- I have been satisfied with my setup and haven’t paid much attention over the last 10 years -- I see a lot of new names mentioned. In any case, that’s a question for another day.
What I’m wondering right now is the state of the vintage audio market. When I’m ready, would it be better to offer the CA-7/PA-7/ST-7 as a set, or to offer them individually? If the latter, I could let the CA-7 and ST-7 (if anyone wants a tuner these days) go sooner while I figure out what to replace the PA-7 with. But if collectors interested in vintage audio are interested in the complete set, it would certainly be better to wait. The PA-7 was serviced by Nakamichi not long after I bought it to remove some overly-conservative current limiting (I only lived 15 miles from the Nakamichi service center at the time), and has never had a problem. The CA-7 has never been serviced, and I suspect that it could use some cleaning -- I’ll have to hook it up and do some testing.
Anyway, advice would be most welcome. And if this kind of stuff is considered worthless these days, I’m happy to hear that too.
Here’s a link to the amp:
http://www.audiophileaddicts.com/2015/01/nakamichi-pa-7-power-amplifier/
