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20 Year Old Amplifiers compared to 2017

Just a random thought, but I’m curious just how well the state of the art solid-state amplifiers from 20 years ago compare to some of today’s better offerings. For example, what does a pair of Mark Levinson 33Hs or a Krell FPB 600 sound like if compared to the latest offerings from Pass Labs or Ayre Acoustics?
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Showing 2 responses by craigl59

craigl59
307 posts
 
Whenever one of my class A mono blocks needs service, I pull out a 20-year old Hafler P3000 studio amp from the garage and replace it for a while. Always have the same two reactions:
1. Surprised at how good the Hafler sounds
2. still, can't wait to get the mono block back
Have recently tried a Nord class D amp and did not find it in the same league as class A amplifiers.
craigl59
307 posts
 

seanheis1:

Your comments by Bruno Putzey are incisive.

Have noted as well that large weight, quality, and expense are regularly pitted against small weight, almost as good quality, and cheapness and the latter always wins. This has been the case with plasma versus led tvs, acoustic versus electric pianos, and now class a (and or a/b) versus class d amps.

My experience has been that the less you mess around with the waveform the better the result.

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