Which are for you best vintage power amplifiers?

I don’t know, but I have a Yamaha MX-1000 rated at 260 watts @ 8ohm that will blow the fuses in 400 watt speakers, so I guess the amp is a bit under rated. But it is the best sounding amp I’ve ever had....
 
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While they’re often overlooked these days, I’m still happy with my 30 year old Adcom “triple nickel” (GFA-555). The series 1’s were Nelson Pass designs, rated at 200wpc into 8 Ohms, 325wpc into 4. Enough power for me, and sound decent too. Maybe not “the best”, but a budget audiophile bargain for many years.
 
While they’re often overlooked these days, I’m still happy with my 30 year old Adcom “triple nickel” (GFA-555). The series 1’s were Nelson Pass designs, rated at 200wpc into 8 Ohms, 325wpc into 4. Enough power for me, and sound decent too. Maybe not “the best”, but a budget audiophile bargain for many years.

Agree with you MisterDK. I still have my GFA 555 II purchased new in the early '90's. I later bought a five channel GFA 7500 (rated at 150wpc into 8 Ohms) to match with it for my surround system needs. Still happy with both units as they continue to provide great sound in my system (s). Even if I did consider upgrading, I feel as though I would have to spend serious dough to significantly upgrade for a material improvement.
 
Hello friends, I open this 3D because I want know which are for you best vintage power amplifiers, I mean most powerful vintage power amplifier, amplifiers like Phase Linear 400, 700, 700B, SAE 2600, 2600L, Harman Kardon Citation 16, 16A, Bose 1801, Gas Ampzilla, etc.
I have a pair of JBL L-150A and I will buy a pair of L-220, I listen dance, disco 70-80 and a lot of others kind of music, so I need a really powerfull amplifier.
Now I have a HK Citation 16A and I think that for have enough power I must bridge it and so use two of these, one for every speaker.
Thanks!
Bye


Good afternoon

Here is a pic of my Bose 1801 and matching preamp. Just incase no one has seen this paring

Shane
 

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Good afternoon

Here is a pic of my Bose 1801 and matching preamp. Just incase no one has seen this paring

Shane
I also have this stack which is in the basement listening space and it's gives all the power I’ll need as well. 3 Yami professional P-2200 and 1 P-2100. And Tuesday I’ll be adding one of each P2200-2100 to the stack
 

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Another vote for the big Pro Yamahas! You can get a PC2002M for short money and have more power than you are likely to ever need...

jblnut
I have my JBL L-100s and the JBL B460 sub hooked iinto a pair of Carver 4.0t. The L-100s are going at 375wpc and the Carver has been bridged for the 1000 watt Mono sub. The unit really sings!!
 
I also have this stack which is in the basement listening space and it's gives all the power I’ll need as well. 3 Yami professional P-2200 and 1 P-2100. And Tuesday I’ll be adding one of each P2200-2100 to the stack
These Yami’s will be pushing a pair of JBL 4638 bass 2446 compression driver 2402 bullet tweeters and 8340 JBL surrounds
 
I don’t know, but I have a Yamaha MX-1000 rated at 260 watts @ 8ohm that will blow the fuses in 400 watt speakers, so I guess the amp is a bit under rated. But it is the best sounding amp I’ve ever had....

I just bought one of these last week from a trusted ebay seller.

It's easily the best amp i've ever had in my system.

The little watts gauge was reading 310 watts yesterday into my dynaudio focus 160s playing little wing - zero clipping and could have kept pushing no problem.

I've had krell 300i, luxman M117, quite a few adcom gfa 555s, a few other adcoms...none of them could perform like this not even close. The only amp I've had that could compete with this in all aspects is a PS Audio Stellar s300 - that is a killer amp as well.
 
I have a NAD C-272, and the moment I hooked it in, I could feel the difference. After my Yamaha A-32 died, I put an Onkyo M5010 that used to drive the outside speakers at my last house,
I put on Al Stewart Last Days of the Century, and I could feel the plunk on the bass, which I'd never noticed before.
 
I have had NAD C-272, Quad 303, Pioneer Spec 2, Sansui B-2101, Yamaha P-2100, and I still have 2 x Bose 1801, Yamaha M40, and McIntosh MC2205.The Bose 1801, without any hesitation, can drive my Kef 107s with ease. I used the Yamaha M40 for a while until I could arrange some help to bring the 1801 up from the basement. It did a good job, but it couldn't drive the Kef 107s with the same authority as the Bose 1801. I did an AB years ago between the Bose 1801 and the McIntosh MC2205 (I thought it was easier to bring the MC2205 down to the Kefs, wouldn't even consider it now). I did it for my own sake, and completely unbiased. A good friend of mine dropped by while I was comparing them, so I asked his opinion. We both thought the Kef sounded best with the Bose 1801. In fact it wasn't a difficult decision. It was immediately obvious to us. I liked the NAD C-272, although I also felt it had a darker voicing. Just keep those vents clear with lots of airflow. It would have been interesting to hear the Kefs driven by the Pioneer Spec 2. That was another amp that you feel is driving any load, effortlessly.

If there is anywhere I think the Bose 1801 doesn't shine, it is with classical scores with lots of dynamics. I feel the highs get a little brittle in those times.
 
While I still have an early Adcom 555, it probably needs a recap so its been sitting.
The Adcom got moved out of my system and replaced by this monster - a Krell KSA-100. 100 watts of pure class A power - it doubles as a room heater.

Yes, it needed cleaning & dusting when I brought it home…

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BTW @Sgt Shultz - each of these big caps is 40,000MFD @ 75V. I’d hate to be touching anything in there with ‘em charged..

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BUT, my current favorite power amp is an old 40 watt tube job.
A Harman-Kardon Citation V…

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What nice sounding amps these ^ Citations are..!
 
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Seeing as this thread is being currently populated then I will add my comments. Currently I have a few NAD amplifiers (2 X C270, 2 X 2700 THX, & 2400PE). I would consider these to be mid-fi but to me they serve my purpose. I intend to get the C270s and 2700 THX recapped and serviced so they can be updated as much as possible.

On another note, I'm surprised there are no mention of Perreaux or Brystons or maybe I just missed them. But I'm curious if anyone considers vintage Perreaux or Bryston to be worthy of mention.

Thanks

Don
 
For tube amps, there is only one. Mcintosh MC 3500's MK I. For SS the Mcintosh direct coupled MC 7200 and MC 7100. If you want a little warmer sound and less power the MC 502. Other brands A Marantz 8B and Western electric built by Mcintosh. Rather a short list. My favorite amplifier to audition speakers: MC 1201 or MC 1.2K. They work great at 1 watt levels for Klipsch, JBL, EV, and Altec efficient speakers. etc. and of course at much higher levels, too. But then you might want something else for Magnaplanars. But as I am not interested in them I am not searching for these limited production types of amps. Yes 1201's and 1.2 K have a sound of their own some would say. But if its about auditionng speakers you want to use the same reference amp and don't ever want to run out of power either. With a 1201 and 1.2K capable of putting out 1800 + watt peaks who is going to run out of power. Pre-amps is a tough one. For tubes I guesss a C-22 III or for a even warmer sound the Frank Gow C-2200 with an all tube phono stage. As I love flexibility and knobs and switches I will go for the older C-40 as a SS unit. . The new pre-amps aren't flexible enough for me. I would have to add a MP 100 for MC cartridges. I am not a tube pre-amp fan, . I also love Graphic tone controls. So a MQ 112 would make an excellent accessory, as Does a DBX 3 BX, MEN 220 and a MPI-4 just to keep an eye on things.
 
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