The greatest amps circa 1977-80?

[Yvan_donald]

Bryston 3B , 4B ,Classe amp.

 

[VINTAGEO]

To me, they are:
Not in any particular order,
Power Amps:
Kenwood Supreme 700M, 600
Marantz 250
Marantz 500
Pioneer Spec 4, 3, 2, 1
Integrateds:
Kenwood KA-9100, 8100, 7100
Marantz 1250, 1060
Marantz 1152DC
Pioneer SA-9800, SA-9500, SA-8500, and also the Series II's
Receivers:
Pioneer SX-1980
Marantz 2500, 2600, 2385
Marantz 2275, 2285
Pioneer SX-1280, SX-1250, SX-5590, SX-5580
Kenwood KR-9400, KR-9600, KR-9050, KR-9060, KR-10000 Series I, II, & III, Super Eleven, Eleven GX, Model Nine, Nine GX
Technics SA-600
Setton, of which I do not know model #'s, but they are sweet.
Rotel RX-1603
Harman-Kardon Citation Series
And many more which I'd like to mention, but can't remember.

THAT NARROWS IT DOWN! LOL

 

[E2]

For integrateds, most people would probably put the Sansui AU-919 and Kenwood KA-917 at or near the top of the heap, excepting the stratospheric AU-X1 and L-02A. And anything Accuphase has to be up there, too.

Yes to the 919. I have it on the shelf for now, and am listening to a Yamaha CR 2040. Mine is the Euro Model. They can be a bargain since people for some odd reason aren't that fond of them.

 

[930turbo]

audio research D150 and audio research D79 . I think during that time for me they were the best tube amps available and expensive.

 

[bd1886]

"Musicallity" is an end all that thankfully allows us to enjoy something as simple as a good pairing. Accepting this as fact is as fundemental to fully enjoying music as it is is to appreciate the beauty of fast accuracy paired well. Still.....plenty of room here and hats off to the due diligence that exposes "The One" in it all for all us...in its equally due time. Hell.....have you hugged your Sherwood lately?

 

[delamostre]

Construction year: 1977
Technics SA-1000 (silver model) or SA-1000a (the black version).
Works just like it's first day, but i am on the way to recap it.

2x330W/8Ohms from 20 Hz-20 kHz with no more than 0.03% total harmonic distortion.
72,000uF high capacitance filtering, separate DC rectifiers, current-mirror loading and direct coupling.
Tremendous reserve power, negligible transient crosstalk distortion and excellent stability!
Link: "The vintage knob"

Weights almost 40kg and with dimensions: 63 x 53,6 x 19,1cm (WxDxH), is one of the most gigantic & extremely rare receivers ever built from a consumer company!!
Here is a photo from my giant:

 

[SoCal Sam]

One of the best amps from 1977-80 are the Kenwood L-09M monoblocks from 1980. Dual transformer per channel, they are beasts.

 

[gizzyman47]

The only amp I have that falls into the op's time line is my Sansui BA 3000.
My Sansui integrateds: au-717 and au-517 while nice, certainly wont topple any of the top tier units mentioned.
My Yamaha MX-2000 is a contender, although it doesn't qualify due to its manufacture date.

 

[Northwinds]

This thread just shows there was a lot of great gear and great ideas back then. I would say it was a good time to be a manufacturer

 

[doctor fuse]

I'm enjoying my b-amped system, using a NAD 3020 split as the preamp and the tweeter amp, and a Nikko Alpha II as the woofer amp. But I like playing Stravinsky and Shostakovich at ear-bleeding volumes.
MY QUESTION: What O'clock on your amp volume dial do you usually listen to? I usually listen to my system past 12 O'clock - 1-2. Sometimes 3, but that is insanely loud, where I begin to worry that my cooperative neighbours would not be remiss in phoning the cops...

 

[Rob41]

Forgive me if I'm mistaken but I didn't see any mention of any of the Heathkit Pro-series gear. My Heathkit AA-1800 and AA-1600 amps have always been part of my tri-amped systems and have never been taken out of rotation for a reason. Very under rated performers that I consider to still be exceptional amps.

[URL=http://s1223.photobucket.com/user/Rob41/media/SDC13031.jpg.html][/URL]

 

[harman/kardon]

1978 Dual CV1700, the most powerful German amplifier of that time (110WPC)

 

[dc270]

The Technics SA 1000 is rated well........
DC

 

[dc270]

Completely blew me away, the SE A7 60 wpc amp and the SU A8 pre-amp well matched and with the 7 gang rated ST S8 tuner this set has got to be heard to be believed! The spec are the strongest you will see in its class!
DC

 

[melofelo]

the first few watts from a tuned Sansui AU-719 did the trick for me.

 

[dc270]

the first few watts from a tuned Sansui AU-719 did the trick for me.

And me as well- also loved my 909 too........
DC

 

[moebuster]

thoughts on AU-9500?

 

[dc270]

thoughts on AU-9500?

I owned one for about six months, it started to develop some small problems (it is an older Sansui to be expected) so I let this independant repair guy I knew work on it. Well he got into some drup deal that went south and my 9500, along with several other nice models, all went south to pay his lawyer!
What time I had it and it worked, I liked that model quite well. The only hitch now would be its obvious aging!
DC

 

[2011etec]

Might be a little newer but what a beast and beauty.grand integra m-510 .stable to 1 ohm at 2x2.1kw of power. would love one.

 

[stacked801s]

McIntosh MC-2105 was made until 1977. I'll have that one please. :yes:

Back in the early 70's I rented a second floor apartment with my backwall slanted, back then I listened to a pair of double Advents along with a Dual 1229 TT a Tandberg 9000 RTR and a C-28 McIntosh Pre-amp, a 2105 Amplifier that system really rocked, best part was that my landlady had a stroke and that seriously affected her hearing because of that I could crank up my stereo and have zero complaints. Best landlady I ever had.