Top three vintage power amps, submit your votes

[E-Stat]

Old thread, but I'll play:

Audio Research D150



Conrad-Johnson Premier One



Threshold 800A



Bit of trivia:

The hifi shop I worked for in college during the 70s picked up Dayton-Wright. The rep was none other than Dan D'Agostino who recommended driving the demanding speakers with Dunlap-Clarke. Then he introduced us to an incredible product from a newcomer named Nelson Pass...

 

[Bostown]

Bit of trivia:

The hifi shop I worked for in college during the 70s picked up Dayton-Wright. The rep was none other than Dan D'Agostino who recommended driving the demanding speakers with Dunlap-Clarke. Then he introduced us to an incredible product from a newcomer named Nelson Pass...

Thanks for playing... and for adding some very cool trivia too. Oddly enough there is a comment from Nelson Pass on one of the boards , probably DIYaudio mentioning meeting Ron Dunlap .
If I recall, someone was looking for the Schematic for the Dunlap Clarke Dreadnaught 500 and Pass said he recalled peering inside a Dunlap Clarke amp and seemed to indicate that good parts were used and that the design was pretty straight forward or "simple" or something like that.

 

[rdka]

Levinson ml 23.5/Jeff Rowland model 7/Futterman OTL. Hard not to have a Krell ksa in there somewhere & so much depends on the pre-amp. Levinson likes Levinson pre-amps best. Same with Rowland. So that is a big factor itself.

Other amps like the Krells above mate well with pre-amp choices a little better. Probably have to think about that mating thing & that makes things like those nice Spectral amps a strong candidate as well

 

[willie-aspen]

Vintage means at least 30 years old????

Ones I've heard in my system....

Levinson 23
Threshold Stasis 2
GAS Ampzilla (rebuilt my Mike Bettinger in 2011 - not sure if that still counts)
Rowland Model 3s

I can't count very well or y'all get a bonus...take your pick!

 

[UncleBingo]

Old thread, but I'll play:

Audio Research D150

View attachment 1442126

...

Whew! Nothing personal, but that Audio Research may be the ugliest amplifier I have ever seen! (I know, I'm supposed to look with my ears; like a bat)

 

[Bostown]

Whew! Nothing personal, but that Audio Research may be the ugliest amplifier I have ever seen! (I know, I'm supposed to look with my ears; like a bat)

Ehh... it looks like a piece of lab equipment. I can see where they were going with that. Not a minimalist piece for sure.

 

[UncleBingo]

Ehh... it looks like a piece of lab equipment. I can see where they were going with that. Not a minimalist piece for sure.

Yeah, I get that. I guess I like my ugly lab gear more... um... Frankensteinian. : )

 

[E-Stat]

Whew! Nothing personal, but that Audio Research may be the ugliest amplifier I have ever seen!

You might find the VTL amps I currently use even worse.

 

[E-Stat]

Not a minimalist piece for sure.

With arguably the very best midrange response of any amplifier of that era.

 

[UncleBingo]

You might find the VTL amps I currently use even worse.

Hahaha! Nah, those look okay.

 

[Bostown]

Hahaha! Nah, those look okay.

I agree, those are fine. Now the Mystere amps? They look fine without their cage, but throw that cage on and it looks like KITT from Knight Rider

 

[twiiii]

Brands: Marantz, Mac, Sansui. Models. MC 3500, Model 9's, and MC 30's or MC225.

 

[david1111]

I really think I should offer amps that I've owned or at least heard in my system, but I'm also throwing in one that I've read a ton of good things about:

McIntosh - used to have an MC2105
Pass Labs - want to get an X250.5
Adcom GFA 555ii - have one now ...

Cheers.

Dave

 

[onemug]

Marantz 9's
Marantz 8b
McIntosh 225

(I like the new Mac 275-VI A LOT, but it's not technically vintage)

 

[Zarathustra]

Surprise: - Mark Levinson ML-2
- Threshold SA/1
- Conrad Johnson Premier One (b)