show me your 90’s solid state gear!

Ah.. The Krell KAV-300R. Produced for a short time in the late 90's and not easy to find. It's basically a Krell KAV-300I integrated with a tuner by Day Sequerra. It puts out 150 WPC into 8 ohms and doubles to 300 into 4 ohms. Put together with the build quality you would expect from Krell. Even the remote is solid metal.

All made in the USA to boot.


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I drooled over that one when I was just getting into this fun, it was out of my reach then. Very nice!
 
Big issues which affects things. Heavy cost cutting due to the economy A/V beginning to take over. Lots of IC chips not easily substituted when they fail. Which means mainstream common brands had fewer survivors. And the better gear went upmarket a notch or two. So, not all 1990's gear can be judged the same, and depends on what you have.
The cost cutting of mass market audio equipment actually started in the late 1960's. The manufacturers figured out how to produce power amplifier design that met the FTC test requirement and show very low THD and S/N using low frequency bandwidth and high gain (thus, high negative feedback) circuit. They are easy to design and made, but sounded universally bad. That helped gave birth to Gordon Holt's Stereophile magazine and the US high end audio industry.

In the 80's, the mass market manufacturer usually diverged. Their low end arm made economy A/V receivers using more IC's and created high end arm to make expensive gear to compete with the US industry too.
 
I recently acquired a Harman Kardon AP2500 preamplifier sold from 1996-1997 with a MSRP of $600. It was sold with a companion power amplifier PA2400.

The Harman Kardon AP2500 preamplifier is one of the more recent MC phono design that uses all discrete components, no IC.
I also have a Rotel RC-980BX PreAmplifier which Rotel calls Stereo Control Amplifier. I first thought it was earlier, but turned out that it was sold from 1991 and on.

The Rotel RC-980BX preamplifier is part of the British designed, Japan made Rotel BX 900 series, includes three power amplifiers, two control amplifiers, three integrated amplifiers, a pair of CD players, two cassette decks, two tuners, a tuner/preamp and two integrated receivers in the early 1990. The targeted audience is entry level high end for people who wants good sound, but has limited resources. If you like the British sound, but do not have full confidence in the quality control of UK manufacturers, this is the "British designed, Japan made (good or bad)" preamp for you.

I got the Rotel RC-980BX preamplifier for its phono section. The line amplifier is very capable too. It is a minimalist preamp with NO tone control circuit.
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Well a lot of my equipment is from around mid 80s to late 90s and I feel it was a golden time for audio.

My McIntosh C100 preamp is form 1998, my SOTA tables are from the mid 80s-90s and are still being made today. Most my speakers are mid 80s to late 90s, I have VAC tube power amps from 1998. My SOTA phono staging is from the late 80s.


 
Well a lot of my equipment is from around mid 80s to late 90s and I feel it was a golden time for audio.

My McIntosh C100 preamp is form 1998, my SOTA tables are from the mid 80s-90s and are still being made today. Most my speakers are mid 80s to late 90s, I have VAC tube power amps from 1998. My SOTA phono staging is from the late 80s.


Very nice stuff, and it's always great to hear Nat King Cole.
 
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