Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
I believe Crown would have the sales title but by the mid 80s these were pro amps bought by the truck load for stadiums concert sound systems and other large venues.
For home stereo the GFA-555 was a big seller but most only bought one or two. We see bay ads for walls of Crown amps at times and who hasn't read about that guy that bought up to a dozen from a theater or some other venue replacing old with new.
For home stereo the GFA-555 was a big seller but most only bought one or two. We see bay ads for walls of Crown amps at times and who hasn't read about that guy that bought up to a dozen from a theater or some other venue replacing old with new.
Aragon 4004 mki came out in 87 200wpc Brute doubles down to 400wpc into 4ohms all the way down to 1 ohm stable!
Phase Linear 400 series II and it's big brother 700 series II
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Define "best" .........best looking? best performing? best price? best specs? best value? best long term investment? or just plain ol best sounding????
jbailey930
AK Member
Owned a GFA-555 and a PL400. Great amps and excellent buys.
I’ll be that guy and add Mcintosh 2255 to this list. Sold from 81 to 86. 250w rated but measures higher.
I’ll be that guy and add Mcintosh 2255 to this list. Sold from 81 to 86. 250w rated but measures higher.
runnin'
Super Member
I was referring to the home market, but could have made that clear. Very few were buying pro amps for home audio systems back in the 80's.
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
There were a few Krells that can be on the list. Manufactured in the 80s.
Krell KMA-200 1987 200 W MONO
KRS-200 1987 200 W MONO PAIR
KSA-200 1987
Since I have an interest in the high end amps, not the folks that made a bunch of receivers and their names are well known, I glanced at the Orion and got this short list. A longer look at the Blue Book would probably provide more entries but this is a mention of many of the higher end brands that lots of folks don't know. That McCormack crack I made above, well seems the Orion puts them into the 90s. Of course, this stuff is from Orion a known entity that is rife with errors. All these amps are 200wpc or more, some are mono amps sold as singles and one or more may be mono amps sold in pairs.
Bryston 4 series 1977-1992
6B-500watts
Harman Kardon Citation XX 250 watts 1982-84
McIntosh MC-2200
MC-2205
MC-2255
MC-2500
MC7200
MC-7270
Levinson ML-3 1979-1987 200w
No. 23 1987-1991 250w
Marantz SM-1000
MFA Systems M-200
Conrad Johnson Premier 1 and 5
Sony TA-N77ES TA-N900ES
Spectral Audio DMA-200
Tandberg TPA 3009A
TPA-3016A
Technics SE-A 3
Threshold S-500
S450e
S-1000
S-1600
SA/12
There are some great amps on that list and probably better than the more well known brands. Seems we need folks to step forward with these amps and give some opinions.
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Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
Crown had the PL, PS and SA lines for the home market at the beginning of the 80s. Ask BMWCCA how he likes them and get a full page in response. Great amps.
And since Crown is on the list of amp, Reliability should be on the list of 'best". Their amps were extremely reliable. Missionary Tough.
Define "best" ?? Whatever turns you on. All of the above, say I.
Now there's a phrase I've never heard before. I guess missionaries had to be tough, living in the tropics w/o modern medicine or military support.
However I'm betting you mean 'mission tough'....
Now there's a phrase I've never heard before. I guess missionaries had to be tough, living in the tropics w/o modern medicine or military support.
However I'm betting you mean 'mission tough'....
a_retent
In memory of Trixie woo-woo
Also to include the m400 model line up plus the m1.0t.
For more horsepower the 1.5t and 4.0. That's not even mentioning several of the tfm models.
MannyE
Exterminate!
Fantastic list! I'm going to use it as a guide for the next time I buy an amp! Especially Krell pure class A
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
I have been trying for years to discuss these amps on AK but everytime they are mentioned in Solid State the receiver clan comes out and drowns out the discussion. Tried a few times in the top performers (ak doesn't want to use the term high end, polarizing) but the amps seem to be lumped together in a single thread. The use of the word vintage in that forum further confuses many new folks thinking their old unit no matter what is vintage so they throw the question into the forum. A forum meant to discuss the best of the vintage gear. Should be for separate components and make solid state for receivers. but not my board, they can do what they want.
There are a bunch of amps on that list I would like to try. Gonna be an uphill battle the Luxman MB3045 slays the McCormack DNA-1 all day long.
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
Clarence Moore was a missionary and built gear to withstand the rigors of field use and maintenance. Changing the belt on one of their tape decks is simple. The belt is exposed on the rear and just pull off the old one put on the new one. From their brochure on the CX/SX-700/00 machines:Define "best" ?? Whatever turns you on. All of the above, say I.
Now there's a phrase I've never heard before. I guess missionaries had to be tough, living in the tropics w/o modern medicine or military support.
However I'm betting you mean 'mission tough'....
and an excerpt from that page:
Crown Broadcast is still independent selling off the audio division to Harman International, now a Samsung entity. The Broadcast group is still concerned with missionary tough equipment.
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