Old SS amps


What are people's experiences with old SS amps. And I'm talking old like close to 20 years. I guess this can be called vintage(though to me it's yesterday.)

 

Either you bought it new and have had it that long or you bought it used.

Is buying it used a really bad idea even though it was owned by one person with no service issues? Like an old Pass.

I hear something about capacitators needing to be replaced. Should it be avoided like the plague? Am very interested in one but don't want to be stuck with a cat in a sack.

Thanks for any thoughts.

roxy1927

Old to some, boat anchors to others, missing the bells and whistles of modern…time spent (hobby) irrelevant, its about the sound quality. The make doesn’t matter if it’s liked and breaks ya fix it new or old.

@1971gto455ho 

+1 That's exactly how I look at it. Giving great gear a new lease on life is worth the while in my opinion. Congrats on refurbishing your PC5002M, these are gorgeous amps!

I am 'Tipping my Hat' to those giving a Boost to and Promotion of the environmental considerate Circular Economy.

Land Fills need not be the Journey's End.

I know many who are Participant and unknowing, I am a knowing Participant and am Proud of the collective Walk the Walk being done.

Around the mid ’80’s Bob Carver made some very good sounding amplifiers with an unusual and very light power supply. He challenged critics to hear any difference between his M1.0 and an expensive high-end tube amp (forgot which one) - and he proved his point- they couldn’t hear a difference.
Subsequent designs like the PM1.5t and PM2.0t were made for the pro audio industry and they were immediately accepted for their light weight and superb audio quality - and now you can find these used on eBay for around $500. 
I don’t think anything these days at any price will give you better performance than these vintage Carvers- even at at ten times the price.

Only down side: A little bit of fan noise, but in a home system where these will be barely whispering, you can easily disconnect the fan, like I did with mine, running the woofers in a bi-amped system.
 

Marc Stager
and check out my cables:
https://silversolids.com/

Might not have all the numbers straight but

I like the 74ish Marantz 2035. 2135?  Cat Steven's,!  

I didn't like Sansui, Kenwood, Pioneer but could be mixed up.

Magnapans were too much for Ampzilla, Quattre.  I believe we settled on SAE.

We had Carvers and Leaches. Nice sounding amps.  The leach was reliable, Carver no.