Your Most Reliable/Best Sounding/Easiest to Maintain Amp/Receiver?

[birchoak]

For fun; anyone taking this thread too seriously will be forced to read all of the short stories I wrote in college or re-cap a Yamaha CR-800 with a pistol-grip soldering gun.

Ahem. We love our gear, don't we? Sadly, it doesn't always love us back and can be prickly to maintain over the long haul. So, rather than split hairs over the most powerful or best-sounding amp/receiver, how 'bout

1. Best-sounding (highly subjective! Let's not start a war over this one.)
2. Dead-reliable (within reason--ok if it needed to be recapped, had a new bridge rectifier installed, some transistors replaced, etc.).
3. Easy to maintain (by the Common Man, not an electrical engineer! Should not require extensive and expensive test gear--a DMM, a DBT, and some TLC should be the main tools required to tune up this sexy workhorse (oxymoron?).

From my modest hoard, I nominate the Sansui AU-555A:
1. No FM/AM boards to deal with.
2. Only 3 boards, two of which can be unplugged and worked on separately.
3. Cap-coupled, so no DC offset to worry about once you've replaced those output caps.
4. Rugged, solid aluminum knobs and face plate with engraved writing (holds up to cleaning without taking the lettering off).
5. Only one lamp to change.
6. Setting bias is very straightforward and center voltage can be gotten close enough with multimeter readings.
7. PRE/MAIN jumper pins vs. a switch = one less thing to go wrong (although they do need to be kept clean).
8. Well-known on AK as one very sweet-sounding amp.
9. The un-restored unit I have still plays rather nicely, without nothing replaced yet except the speaker fuses.

Chime in with your own examples! Argue with me about the 555A! But let's have fun, ok? Peace out.

 

[mkane]

DIY Class D's.

 

[arts]

Well, I'm a strictly tube guy, so you won't be getting any hassles from me on your Sansui.
Can I throw in some glowing stuff?

While some of my nominated gear is presently in the "I desperately require a full restoration" pile as it is still almost completely original and 50+ years old, the following have served me flawlessly for many, many years, requiring only occasional tube replacements.

There are multiple listings due to multiple systems;

Audio Research Corporation D70MKII, D76A, VS110, SP3A-1
Mcintosh MC240 & C20
Fisher 400

 

[gslikker]

Sansui AU888
HK Citation 17
Not for the common man, they better put it on my doorstep dead or alive

 

[birchoak]

Well, I'm a strictly tube guy, so you won't be getting any hassles from me on your Sansui.
Can I throw in some glowing stuff?

While some of my nominated gear is presently in the "I desperately require a full restoration" pile as it is still almost completely original and 50+ years old, the following have served me flawlessly for many, many years, requiring only occasional tube replacements.

There are multiple listings due to multiple systems;

Audio Research Corporation D70MKII, D76A, VS110, SP3A-1
Mcintosh MC240 & C20
Fisher 400

Glad to know tube stuff is serving you well! I understand that MC240 is a corker!

 

[birchoak]

DIY Class D's.

Ooh, tell me more!

 

[birchoak]

No one else? Is everybody outside raking leaves? Not me; I've made eye contact with them but that's about it so far. Much more fun to talk about hi-fi.

 

[rickb119]

Is everybody outside raking leaves?

Yes. Seriously. I just came in for a break.

 

[Blue Shadow]

Luxman MB3045 for sound quality
Crown DC-300a for reliability. I mean when Scott borrowed it, well I was storing it at his place, one strand of wire was connected to both the red and black binding post for one channel. Worked great until it got very hot on just the outside edge and shut down, thermal overload. Cooled and came back on, repeat. Fixed it a couple weeks later when I visited, no harm to the amp. Try that with regular gear and stuff smokes and the unit goes to the tech.

 

[slow_jazz]

I've owned a Yamaha CR-2040 and it's never let me down.

Got some burnt out bulbs and that's it.

 

[birchoak]

I've a Yamaha CR-800 that continues to be reliable but man, stuff is packed in there like a Swiss watch and recapping the tone board required a combination of prayer, fresh underwear, and cast-iron nerves.

Crown DC-300--wait, who the hell is Scott and did you give him a beating for that?? That was a really funny detail. That DC-300A looks to be bulletproof, damned simple, and I love how the tranny and caps hang out in the breeze--little danger of overheating something that doesn't even have a cabinet around it! And all that heat sinking...

That Luxman must be on the, ah, pricey side--those trafos are absolutely huge!

 

[Lavane]

The tube amplifier I built in my avatar. It sounds really good and needs no adjustments. It uses TV sweep tubes, 1 per channel. Each tube has the driver and output in one bottle. So if a tube ever fails, a replacement is only $5 since there aren't many old tube TV's around anymore and these tubes aren't usually used for audio.

 

[Blue Shadow]

That Luxman must be on the, ah, pricey side--those trafos are absolutely huge!

Luxman started as a transformer company so they have good ones and they made em look nice..

No beating for Scott. Reliability of Crown is the reason I bought Crown. I could have bought a Blaze Linear or any number of other devices that would blow up with that kind of error in hook up. Had mine in a cabinet, got hot at times. I used to play a game crank tunes until it shut down thermally and then ride my bike to class. That would have taken longer if I had bought my amp a year or so later as the Federal RMS power rules were promulgated the week I bought my amp. Mine had heat sinks like this one, the whole amp is actually a heat sink being aluminum extrusions. The perf plate was a later addition mine had slots for air circulation.


For a year or two Crown supplied the amp with these heat sink add ons which allowed them to easily pass the 1 hour preconditioning needed for the FTC mandated power test.



But these sinks were removed from later amps, note they are just clipped on to the fins of the original heat sink design, as they were not really needed. The DC-300a to have in my book is one with these sinks and the IOC (input-output comparitor) LEDs that generally indicate clipping.

 

[birchoak]

So danged rugged and simple. I love it. Aluminum is much better at shedding heat than steel but costs more; I love it when a mfr ponies up and uses good materials. I don't understand what your game was; you'd play it hard until it shut down, then ride away on your bike? Can you tell me more or is that the whole story? I'm guessing you could overheat it endlessly and, after it would cool off it'd be right as rain again? I've an Alesis RA-100 that might be in that category; then again, maybe not!

 

[Blue Shadow]

That was the game, crank tunes before leaving for a morning class a few miles away. With the thermal shutoff, set to keep the amp from getting too hot, yes cycle and repeat. Great tunes to get me going in the am. At Scott's only the left two inches of the faceplate got hot, fairly hot, and it would shut down. Taking 10-15 min from cold start but every few minutes once warmed up. I found the issue immediately when I went over to see what was up. Scott didn't know gear.

Back to the morning jam session, unfortunately that was a poorly chosen place to live, other side of the river from the "student ghetto" around the university, so not the right neighborhood. The locals got some of the stereo we had, but that Crown was sitting in the middle of the floor when we got home one night. Thieves weren't smart, took two speakers, one Advent, one AR-5, leaving the others. Of well, stuff happens.

 

[Blue Shadow]

So danged rugged and simple.

That experience, rugged and reliable is the reason I will buy cheap Crown gear because it probably works. Heck I bought a used D-150 amp that had a wire in it that was never soldered in place...worked great. Found it on internal cleaning and did the soldering 25 years after it left the factory. A former Crown employee said that wasn't unheard of, not common but it did happen. That's what warranties are for.

 

[birchoak]

If I run into a Crown DC-300A I will buy it unless it's stupid money.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

If I run into a Crown DC-300A I will buy it unless it's stupid money.

I witnessed two Crown DC 300A amplifiers fall out of a Ford F 150 pickup truck I was riding in. I was the Soundman coming home from a gig with a band (friends of mine). Our driver had to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting a skunk. The amps bounced out of the back of the truck. They fell into the median of the highway into the mud. I helped load them into the truck again. They came home with me (older out of warranty). I hosed them off. Cleaned them with distilled water. Used a hair dryer to dry them out. Left them to dry for several days. The band came to the house, we hooked them up to some sacrificial speakers, and a mixer. They worked fine. Bench tested them, still better than specification when new. Two of the gentlemen in the band still use them daily to drive their home HiFi systems. Crown did want them back for inspection, and could find no faults and did not charge the band a cent. Built Crown Tough aka Missionary Tough!!!

 

[twiiii]

I had 3 DC-300 A's for close to 30 years, two D-150 A's, for 12 years and a PSA2 for 6 years. All of which were bought new. All the DC's had to be returned to the factories for total rebuilds after 10 years and again 10 years and then after another 9 I traded them all in and returned to Mac Power amps. When the Church owned Crown all I had to pay was shipping one way. They rebuilt the amps and returned at no charge. When Harmon took over they wanted a fortune for repairs. That IC was special and very low noise piece which I don't think is available anymore. The reason I changed to Crown was for the high damping factors and great signal to noise for tri amping my speakers. When Mcintosh introduced the MC 7200 I knew my Crowns were obsolete especially when operating at and below 4 ohms. Every time the Crowns went to the factory all the small caps and driver transistors and that pesky IC were replaced. Even signal diodes were replaced. When I traded the Crowns in I only got half what I expected as the amps would not meet specs after the previous rebuild 9 years previous. The PSA2 was definitely a superior product and held up great for me for the 6 years I had it. The DC 300A was great below 400 HZ, acceptable to 8.000 hz and miserable above 8,000 HZ at high power levels. Buit as my super tweeters were 16 ohms the Crowns did pretty well and had to put out more than 30 watts. The D-150's were used for surround and remote speakers. The PSA2 replaced the bottom DC 300 a to drive the woofers directly until sold. I replaced the 3 DC 300 A's with a MC 207 and the rest of the amps with a MC 206, which this year I replaced with another new 207. So my first 207 I bought new 10 years a go and the second one replacing the 206 6 months ago. The two 207 are so much better than the Crowns. They don't quite have the authority of the to dry 300's and PSA2 but the sound is so much more realistic and not as fatiguing. I alwys thought the Crowns were a great value until I hd to face the total rebuilds every ten years. If I hadn't workf for a Crown dealer I am sure I would have sold the amps much sooner and returned to Mcintosh.

 

[birchoak]

Damned unreliable Crowns! If I run into a Crown DC-300A I will NOT buy it.

Are there no constants in the universe!? I realize we live in a state of perpetual decay but c'mon, I thought we could at least count on the Crown DC-300A. The thing's a heat sink with filter caps stuck to it's back for Pete's sake!