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

Hi Everyone,

For me, the 1980s were a real "golden age" of amplifiers. Dr. Leach’s paper on building a low TIM amplifier had been widely distributed and relied on by budding designers, and lots of boutique brands came. It was also the era of the biggest of the Conrad Johsnon tube amps as well and the invention of the MOSFET.

For me, brands I cared about:

  • Threshold
  • Sumo
  • Perreaux (New Zealand, very pretty)
  • Tandberg
  • Hitachi
  • Kyocera
  • Nikko
  • Krell (of course)
  • CJ
  • ARC
  • Yamaha (professional)
  • Carver
  • Mark Levinson
  • Amber 
  • Tandberg
This was also the speaker era of Snell and Apogee and Martin Logan. I am not sure there would be a Krell today if it wasn't for Apogee's 1 ohm speakers.

I’m curious who is still listening to these vintage pieces, and which brands you think have stood up both in terms of reliability and / or sonics ?
erik_squires
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
1,019 posts
 

I was in this camp as well and believe it was the best sounding era of all up till the new Class D designs which have been a dream come true. From around 1993-recent (with the exception of a few) the sound of amps have been bland and smallish staging and uninvolving.

Now with the Class D (tuned properly) mated with low mass speakers HEA amps are in serious trouble. I was also a huge fan of B&Ks early models. The days of B&K and Superphon was a pretty amazing time. Lots of great amps back then, but when the next generation came along the musically became hard to find as compared to some of these brands best efforts. Not their most expensive efforts but their best!

Michael 

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lou_setriodes's avatar
lou_setriodes
672 posts
 
I'm sorry, what does HEA stand for?

IMHO, I have found the class D or Chip Amps all are missing something.  To me, they all sound a little dry and all need a tube preamp to compliment them.  They are quite musical though :)  
mrdecibel
2,898 posts
 
HEA=High End Audio. I have had so much gear in my lifetime. What is interesting was / is the transition of the " hard wired " power cords on most of this vintage equipment, to the now widely use of IEC inlets. One of the many tweaks I did on all older components, of all kinds, was to change the factory cords out to heavier gauge cords I purchased from wire supply houses. In every case, on every piece of gear, the improvement in sq was quite noticeable and enjoyable. Now, power cords are actually no longer accessories, but components......But, I digress, not to get off of Eric's thread...…..Enjoy ! MrD.
mrdecibel
2,898 posts
 
SQ=Sound Quality
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