@kalali
Roger, I’m honestly curios, don’t you think there’s been improvements in the way electrical components are made since the 50’s? People’s hearing could have been better but that’s also open to debate at another time.
A Marantz Model 8B of the 1960s is as good as anything I can do today other than make the power supply caps bigger. Now big uFarads are cheap but were not then. Otherwise what Sid Smith did was exemplary. I had the honor of lunch and did a yet unpublished interview with him and separately one with Saul. The designs are entirely Sid's work. I copied his tertiary feedback winding for my model 9 (before the interview, just from looking at the schematic and wondering). My Model 9 is starting to rise in value on the used market, so a new generation is catching on.
The 8B is one of my benchmarks. BTW, the loved my many Citation power amps of the same period are not.
I read Stereophile religiously. Go right to the measuremets, then the review. Im not impressed with what ARC, CJ, Cary etc are doing. They are making models with high distortion, poor damping. Just look at Atkinson's measurements and comments. Its a wonder they send them in knowing they will be inspected under JA's test routine.
As to resistors and capacitors. The expensive hype ones do not interest me. I dont need Nude Vishay resistors where the leads break off if you look at them. I dont need oil coupling caps that take on moisture and pass DC. I replace them with good Mylar or PPN caps that last forever.
Not sure what you mean about people's hearing?
