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How do we remember 1970s amplifiers?

I would be curious to hear some of the memories and impressions associated with the following short list of 1970s amplifiers:

- McIntosh "first generation" SS amps, MC2105, MC2505, MC2300, MC250, MC2100
- Dynaco Stereo 400 and Stereo 120
- Phase Linear 400 and 700
- Bang & Olufsen "slide rule" receivers (i.e. especially blackface Beomaster 4000)
- Original Ampzilla (not Son of Ampzilla)

I've chosen this list mainly because they cover a wide range of approaches to solving the issues of early semiconductor technology, and they were all pretty mainstream products in the U.S. I'm excluding the Japanese receivers/amps not out of predjudice; it's simply that the circuit designs varied quite a bit with each model, and thus harder to broadly classify their characteristics.

I'm interested in impressions of both sonic and non-sonic attributes, and a preferred ranking of the above, if you like.
kirkus

Showing 2 responses by peterr53

peterr53
184 posts
 
Hi Lacee...

You are most likely right about the "we left it behind" and should really not go back there. But with that said my new DDX 1000 (after a lot of upgrades) sounds
fantastic, although it cost me thousands of $$$ to get there..LOL
My new speakers are coming in a few weeks and I'll decide if vintage is the smart
way to go... :-)
peterr53
184 posts
 
It was 1978, (in Sweden) and I just got my first job cooking in a restaurant.
No debt, and nothing to spend my cash on "Forced me" to check out the stereo store in the neighborhood. Wow I loved it, the smell of warm amps and the big
VU-meters pulled me in to it's warm embrace. I think I spent more time in the store then the owner for the next six months....LOL
One day the owner come up to me and said, why don't you buy a system and you can enjoy some tunes at home. I walked out with Magneplanar Tympani 1D's,
two Sansui BA3000 amps and matching pre-amp, and the turntable was the
Micro Seiki DDX1000 with two tonearms.
I still remember how fab that system sounded, and I just bought the DDX1000 a month or so ago to revisit my youth. If I can only find two Sansui
BA3000 in mint condition I'll be in heaven :-)

Peter
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