Who made the best vintage audio?

And it was such a successful design that everyone in the industry copied it........................

LOL
Kind of expensive. I think that amp was around $3k at the time, so there’s a good chance no one would bother unless they had a subsidy to absorb some of the R&D costs. STAX had such a subsidy from the Japanese Gov. Quite a few of the halo products out of Japan were the result of subsidies.
EDIT: Marantz used a forced air cooling tunnel on the 500, 510, SM-700 and the SM-1000. But you knew that.
 
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sigh. Marantz built all of their amps to shift from class A to class B at a certain wattage to avoid clipping.
Class AB operation was found in the 1949 Williamson tube amplifier. Its use was quite common by the mid fifties with inexpensive Dynaco amps like the Mark II and higher powered Mark III.

It wasn’t about avoiding clipping- you can overdrive amplifiers of all classes. It was simply a more efficient mode of operation allowing higher power output for a given output device.
 
why don't you prove that statement with some actual print article from the time period. The radio museum has several decades from multiple publications available online. Or better still, publish your own comparison data from 45 year ago.

Many audio reviewers were paid well by manufacturers for a great review back in the day. Old reviews, like new ones, are opinions not facts.

Also, I’m biased as I don’t want or use vintage gear, but I have respect for much of it. I grew up with it, but now prefer more modern gear for digital music.
 
rob brandt not only believes his Marantz amp is the best amp ever made, but also seems to have a near-pathological compulsion to convince others of that claim...and when he cannot, he resorts to name calling, denigration, etc. As you would expect, he cannot stand it when someone corrects him as regards any errors of fact...such corrections always generate a wave of nasty posts. This behavior is on display in numerous threads, and seeing it yet again, I finally got annoyed enough to call it out.
 
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rob brandt not only believes his Marantz amp is the best amp ever made, but also seems to have a near-pathological compulsion to convince others of that claim...
Each person has his own point of reference, but mine is apparently quite different from his.

I worked part time for a hifi shop in the mid 70s. It was there I was introduced to Audio Research and Magneplanar. My reference as of '74 was Tympani IIIs tri-amplified using Audio Research electronics sourced by a Linn Sondek table with SME arm and Ortofon MC cartridge. The owner later carried Acoustat and Dayton-Wright electrostats. In '76, Julian drove his XG-8s with a Threshold 800A amp using a Mark Levinson JC-2 preamp. That was a phenomenally good sounding system at the time.

Met Acoustat designer Jim Strickland at the home of TAS reviewer and mentor Dr. Cooledge (JWC) who reviewed them for the magazine. Purchased a pair of the model X in '77.

While I use Sound Lab U-1PX speakers in the main system today, I still use Acoustats (albeit a different model) in the HT system.
 
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Just revisited this thread - for what it's worth, I will mention Thorens turntables. I've owned a lot of vintage gear, and have mixed and matched them in myriad ways, but the one clear, unequivocal difference maker in terms of sound quality is when I got my Thorens. My friends who were into hi-fi agreed.

I'm sure the Linn turntables of the time were even better, but out of my price range.

But looking at the big picture - it's a privilege to even have an opinion on vintage hi-fi gear! It means we have been enjoying this great hobby.
 
Just revisited this thread - for what it's worth, I will mention Thorens turntables. I've owned a lot of vintage gear, and have mixed and matched them in myriad ways, but the one clear, unequivocal difference maker in terms of sound quality is when I got my Thorens. My friends who were into hi-fi agreed.

But looking at the big picture - it's a privilege to even have an opinion on vintage hi-fi gear! It means we have been enjoying this great hobby.
I owned a Micro Seiki turntable (one the direct drives) back in the early 80s. Great turntable. I remember at the time one of Micro Seiki's top of the line turntables weighed over 250 pounds and sold for over $10,000.00. That was a lot of $$$ back in the day.
 
I worked part time for a hifi shop in the mid 70s. It was there I was introduced to Audio Research and Magneplanar. My reference as of '74 was Tympani IIIs tri-amplified using Audio Research electronics sourced by a Linn Sondek table with SME arm and Ortofon MC cartridge. The owner later carried Acoustat and Dayton-Wright electrostats. In '76, Julian drove his XG-8s with a Threshold 800A amp using a Mark Levinson JC-2 preamp. That was a phenomenally good sounding system at the time.

Either of those systems would have been phenomenal. That is some truly high-end gear.
 
Just revisited this thread - for what it's worth, I will mention Thorens turntables. I've owned a lot of vintage gear, and have mixed and matched them in myriad ways, but the one clear, unequivocal difference maker in terms of sound quality is when I got my Thorens. My friends who were into hi-fi agreed.
A TD-125 with SME was a killer combo. I opted for a similar approach using an Ariston RD-11s (cousin to LP-12) with SME3009.
 
Anyone remember Scott? i thought it was great until I was introduced to my brother's Sansui G-6 or 7 series, can't recall the exact # Anyway I preferred TEAC decks, Technics turntables and the no need for a subwoofer Cerwin Vega AT-12 speakers coupled with an old Crown amp.
 
Class AB operation was found in the 1949 Williamson tube amplifier. Its use was quite common by the mid fifties with inexpensive Dynaco amps like the Mark II and higher powered Mark III.

It wasn’t about avoiding clipping- you can overdrive amplifiers of all classes. It was simply a more efficient mode of operation allowing higher power output for a given output device.

First, I'm a complete electronics nerd, so I'm going to make a couple corrections, but don't take it the wrong way, I totally agree with your point!

The Williamson is from 1947, not 1949. and Class AB was well established way before the Williamson came out. The original 6L6 data sheets from 1936 had data for Class AB operation, and it is described in the preface to the 1934 RCA Tube manual, but not the 1932 RCA tube manual. I am not sure exactly when it was invented, but suffice to say it was commonly understood by the mid 1930s.

The intention of Class AB, is to avoid the nasty curved portion at the bottom of tube operating curves, and as such, eliminate crossover distortion which is present in Class B operation, but at the same time enjoy increased power output compared with Class A operation. Other than specialized and expensive Class A designs, nearly every push-pull tube hi-fi amp ever made works in class AB.
 
There was a 1947 version and a 1949 version with a revised circuit.


I chose an arbitrarily earlier amplifier to illustrate that the concept was not new.


Yes, that's what I observed.

Understood, you just got me thinking hey who was the first to use Class AB?. Both versions use the same operating conditions on the output stage, shown here:

http://www.sowter.co.uk/pdf/Williamson Amplifier.pdf

Much as I've analyzed the circuit and read about it, I've never actually heard one. I'm curious how good they really are.

I guess I'm going off topic, focusing on a detail as usual.

To try to return to topic "who made the best vintage audio?" I'd say if that question had a clear answer, this hobby would be a lot less fun, because I'd just buy that agreed upon best item and stop fooling around.
 
Understood, you just got me thinking hey who was the first to use Class AB?. Both versions use the same operating conditions on the output stage, shown here:
BTW, my post contains a hyperlink (blue text) to the same document. Click "1949 version". :)
 
rob brandt not only believes his Marantz amp is the best amp ever made, but also seems to have a near-pathological compulsion to convince others of that claim...and when he cannot, he resorts to name calling, denigration, etc. As you would expect, he cannot stand it when someone corrects him as regards any errors of fact...such corrections always generate a wave of nasty posts.
I've read through this thread and slowly realized that. Instead of being entitled to his own opinion he thinks he's entitled to his own fact. Entertaining to witness.:rflmao:
 
I can't type one brand as a lot of manufacturers back in the days made great audio gear but considering to my experience since im repairing audio stuff since years and i had touched / repaired / owned thousands of them i would say (ofcourse im talking about mid end/ high end stuff)

A sound that suits me:
1. Sansui
2. Accuphase
3. Sony

Build quality:
1. Sansui / Accuphase
2. Sony
3. Mark Levinson / Marantz / Pioneer / Krell

Reliability:
1. Accuphase
2. Sansui / Sony
3. Krell

Unique system solutions:
1. Sansui / Accuphase / Sony
2. Luxman / Kenwood / Technics


Which company contributed the most to the development of audio
1. Sony (you just cant deal with that, sony made very much for audio
2. Philips / Technics

Easy to repair:
1. Sony / Sansui / Accuphase / Marantz
2. Pioneer / Kenwood / Luxman / Harman Kardon
3. Krell / Audio Research / Mark Levinson

I dont mention brands like onkyo, yamaha etc etc since they dont made that much stuff which i would consider as hi-end and outstanding
 
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