Best vintage amps (late 70s / early 80s) under $3k?


The golden age of audio was arguably the late 70s / early 80s, when corporations were willing to dump a ton of money into R&D / materials to make the best equipment possible. The downside to owning equipment from this period now is possible refurbishment and maintenance costs, but it seems good deals can still be had.

Wondering if you guys had recommendations of great sounding amps from this era? Ideally I'm looking for something that's 100W minimum, doesn't run hot, and under $3000 second hand.

I already have a fully refurbished late 70s Pioneer M-22 that outputs 30W into 8ohms. I love this amp, but being Class A it's like a radiator and not suitable for Southern California's summer months in a smallish room. More power would also be good as my speaker efficiency is 89.5db. I listen to many genres of music, so the amp needs to be a good all-rounder.

My current chain:

Turntable: Technics 1210M5G w/ AudioMods tonearm and Lyra Delos MC cart
Phono stage: Avid Pulsus
DAC: RME ADI-2 Pro
Preamp: Schiit Saga
Amp: Pioneer M-22
Speakers: Prana Fidelity Bhava
Subs: Rythmik L12
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Showing 2 responses by timlub

Well of the things that I've heard from that era,  some already mentioned. 
Ampzilla.... Although the Son and Grandson sound better. 
Any of these with updated parts are excellent. 
Heathkit  AA-1600 & AA-1800.  Marshall Leach Amps, same as the others, with updated parts,  surprisingly good
Sumo Nine... Same, New power supply caps, replace most of the ceramic disc and this is an amazing amp today.  
Sumo Andromeda,  More power, but in my opinion, not as good as any above.  Odd because the Nine updated is probably the best by a small margin. 
Dynaco ST-70  in Tubes and ST-410 in solid state.  
SAE Mark series/00 series and 01 series... (not all, but many are really good with some decent parts upgrade. 
Sony TA-N80ES  excellent
I'm sure some would say Hafler... DH500,  I Had one,  it was ok
Eagle Kinetics pretty good
The Pioneer M22 has been mentioned, didn't have the power of the Spec's but sounded much better. 
A lot of people liked the Yammys… not me
Kenwood L07M.... really not bad 150 watt mono amps
The Carvers of that Era, I did not like at all
The Adcoms everyone knows those 
Phase Linear... several liked them,  not my cup of tea 
Kinergetics Research was certainly decent to very good depending on model. 
Nikko had a ton of Amps, I've heard at least 1 that was pretty good and 1 that WAS NOT... sorry, don't remember models. 
Amber 70 was a decent sounding amp
Threshold had a couple of good amps then... 
A lot of people like the big Rotel amp out then.  I thought it was mediocre
Of course Krell had the big KSA amps out,  they were good
Harmon Kardon… Don't remember, but one of the Citation amps was good
Ok,  I'm blanking on any more for the time being,  maybe more later

@pts     Anything on my list that sounds like an M22 without running hot?  No. My old Sumo on that list is so significantly modified.  It is the best Sumo amp that I have heard,  Period.  The M22 won't hold up to this Nine.  Its been soooo long since I've heard a stock Sumo Nine, that I probably shouldn't comment between those,  but you can fry an egg on my Nine.  
The Old Heathkit's are really surprising, but again, they need a mod or two and better parts to stand up to todays amp,  but I really believe that you'd enjoy one of these models of Heathkit amps.. 
Remember, you are looking at very old amps.  Nothing wrong with good NPO ceramic disc caps, but these old amps are full of lower quality ceramic disc and all electrolytic need to be replaced to bring them up to par.... The Son of Ampzilla properly updated is also a nice sounding amp.  I actually own 3 amps on my list right now.