Old Amps that can still Kick Butt

I have a matched pair of Sumo Andromeda II a’s running balanced from and Audio Research pre-amp driving a similarly aged pair of Acoustat 100 hybrid electrostatics that have great slam as well as finesse. MOSFETS and Acoustats are a match made in heaven.   https://www.martindareff.com/Other/HDR-Treated-Images/i-3ZfL6Gq/A

I have the Convergent Audio Technology monoblocs. They are the CAT JL1 Signature edition. They are by far the best amps I have owned. I have owned many amps through the years but nothing comes close to these amps. They were designed in 1994 and blow away anything I have heard. The cool thing is what I paid for them. Because a design is old many people over look them. I hope to keep them forever.

I've had my ARC Classic 60 driving my Thiel CS 3.5's for over 30 years. Superb match and I've never been tempted to change. It's fed with an ARC SP 9 mk III. Never had upgrade-itis other than one change in cables. So happy my dealer helped with this pairing as I get to just enjoy it. Sure, love to hear different things, but system synergy rules! Probably saved me a fortune. At this point, getting concerned with age of caps and what to do about it.

I have a beautiful sounding Conrad Johnson Motif 50 watter  in storage along with a Scott LK150 dual Mono Tube unit needing some TLC that is also a killer sounding amp.My current unit is a late 90's McCormack DNA 1 with a board upgrade It is a solid - open sounding brute I bought when I upgrade to Magnepan's which for those who have them know they  are wonderful but "special needs" speakers

Bose 1801 was a good amp. There's one on ebay now for $300 that smoked when they plugged it in... Although it doesn't compare to ultra high-end equipment listed on this thread, still a good amp.

I'll run my EX-442 Sonata and modded DH220 until they die or I'm crisp.

Whichever comes first. 

I like Class A amps despite the heat they put out.  Have several Classe DR3 VHC, and a Belles A - not many made of any of those but still excellent sounding assuming they are in good shape (which usually means some capacitor replacement at this age). 

There is a of of classic gear that still sounds very good - I use a 20 year old CJ Premier in my main system 

Marantz 1060 - original amps provide the best sound. Refurbished becomes necessary at some point. I have mine driving my outdoor Klipsch rock speakers and am constantly amazed at the musical qualities it is able to produce. Tried a couple of more modern amps and they sounded flat and expressionless. What a classic treasure.

@orgillian
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Now that was a cost effective purchase!

One vintage piece that is often overlooked is the Fisher 400 CX-2 preamp "The President".   This was Fisher's competitor to the Marantz 7 and Mac C22.   I got a chance to hear one once and OMG, it's every bit as good as either.   A Marantz 7 will run you at least $7000 today.  A good Mac C22 will go for as little as $4500, but to get one nice will be at least $5000.   When you can find one of these Fisher preamps, in fully restored condition, will run you about $3000 - $3500.   And they're beautiful.  Really.  With that classic Fisher look.

My brother has a pair of BEL 1001 Mk V's running as mono blocks. Great sound.

Threshold S/450e

I also have a Scott Lk-150, and it is a special amplifier. It’s my “back up”, but I’ve tried it in my main system in place of a very well respected, current model amp, and it competes very well. I actually prefer it with some music. I took it with me to audio stores to compare to new amps when I was looking to buy. It sounded better than all the ones I auditioned. We’d listen to the new amp first, then put the Scott in its place and listen again. I could tell the moment the salesman realized the 60 year old amp sounded better… his jaw would drop. Literally. It’s also gorgeous to look at. I haven’t heard everything out there, but I’ve owned dozens of amps, and I’ve listened to many dozen more. Something about this Scott just sounds “real”.

Accupahse P300. H-K Citation 16, GAS Ampzilla, Meitner MT101, 

I am listening to Three Chords and the Truth by Van the Man on a Cary SL-100 / Adcom GFA-535ii combo and can find no fault. Not pushed hard, the little 535 is no slouch. It drives the large Advents really well.

Love questions like this, great question, interesting answers. Lots of good info.


I have an Adcom 555II that I am trying to decide whether to rebuild from the resistors up, not just the caps. Nelson Pass design, how bad could it be with a soft start circuit added into it?

KSA 200S
KAV 300i

One of my all time favorites was the old mid 80s PSE Studio II (80/150W) paired with my Audible Illusions - Modulus II Pre. driving Vandi 2Cis and then in the early 90s upgraded to the  Studio IV. (100/195W) driving my Quad ESL 63s. Incredible sounding and performing amplifiers. By anyone's standard, then and even now, might be considered sonic gems......Jim 

I still enjoy my 35 year old Tandberg 3006A with 3008A preamp driving ADS L1290s in my second system. Very easy to listen to.

Any of the old Hafler Excelinear amps.....
I have run the XL280’s vertically biamped to Vandy 2ci’s forever!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/hafler/?ref=share

I have a pair of  McIntosh 501 mono blocks, 18 years old and Still Kick Ass!  750 bench measured watts!  My Maggie’s love the current.

are you sure your 501's are 18 years old?

McCormack DNA: Excellent when new 30 years ago, phenomenal when rebuilt by the designer at SMc Audio. 

^^ This! ^^

VAC  PA 90D. Still, a truly wonderful amp. Looks great, sounds even better. 

I'm just an amateur here, but have been using a pair of MFA M-200's for over 20 years. Paired with GAS Thaedra that I bought in the mid 70's and have maintained well.

Conrad-Johnson does it for me. American made quality components. 

You talking about an old amp that kicks butt. Try a Threshold T200 or a Plinius SA250 MkIII

I am not prepared to pay $6K for Doug-Shredders Class-D love affair. My Mark Levinson 23.5 is Kick-ass, paid about $1000 and I enjoy my sound a lot.  Jim Bongiorno's designs are also great and I still have a Son of Ampzilla. My 'The Nine', about 60W class-A by the same designer is exceptional but was stolen unfortunately.

Hey @coltrane1, I fondly remember listening to a Plinius and was very impressed. Can't remember the model but it did everything right.

My ML23.5 is about 30 years old. I wonder if the Legacy amp mentioned will go the distance.

Denon PMA-S10II - haven't found anything better.

Nakamichi PA-7

Late seventies Luxman M-4000 dual mono.

http://www.thevintageknob.org/luxman-M-4000.html

Clayton M-100’s

The Aragon 4004 MkII by Mondial Designs on a design by Krell’s Dan D’Agostino. It’s been serving me marvelously for the last 20 years feeding into a pair of Kef 104/2. 

Second that Coltrane 1

I have a 1999 Plinius SA100 Mark 3 matched with the M16 Pre.
Amp recently juiced by Ralph Abramo of Pliniusrepairs.com. (the Ultimate upgrade) with all new caps, relays, switches, etc.  What a difference he made to an already wonderful amp. Drives Dynaudio C1 Signature monitors through Tara Labs cables.
Even the Plinius integrateds  are wonderful.

@calvinandhobbes, I belong to a similar school of sound, i.e tonal accuracy and timing being the fundamental goal.

Check out Croft amplifiers from UK.
http://www.croftacoustics.co.uk/

Marantz 8B in triode mode.

Blue Circle Audio BC206. Hybrid stereo amp with 4 - 6922's at the input and massive power supply.
Totally holds it's own to Lamm gear, etc.
Huge footprint and quite heavy.
If you can find one  - buy it! cheap.

The Music Reference RM-9 Mk.2. THE classic tube amp, better than the Marantz 8b and 9, the Mac MC75, and the ARC D76.

For low impedance loads, the RM-200, "Class A" rated in Stereophile by Michael Fremer since 2002. The only tube amp I know of that puts out as much power into 4 ohms as it does into 8.

@bdp24 My friend has an RM-9 Mk2. It is excellent. But so are McIntosh 225 and 240 amps.
While this is a current amp, the Prana Fidelity Class D amp has no shortcommings. At the LA SHOW yesterday, I heard the $10K 400 watt 8 ohm amp driving the Prana two-way average efficiency speakers off of a Townshend Allegri Reference Autotransformer preamp, Silversmith cabling and EAR Classic CD player. Best in show sound (it was a limited size show with only about 70 vendors). Other than deep bass, it had superlative coherent sound, dynamic and involving. Better than a twice the price Harbeth 40.2 anniversary. Listened for 45 minutes (analog too). Never heard a autotransformer pre-amp with such slam/dynamics and colorful sound. I heard the amp several years ago and was impressed.  Our records and CDs, classical, vocal, jazz and rock.  Now, the entire chain of music was magnificent! https://pranafidelity.com/index.php/project/purnama-amplifier/

I use a combo of classic amps, EAR 890, radical modified Dyna ST70 and a pair of custom Altec 1459 (transformer and case only original parts). The Prana is definitely in the running to replace the custom pair and 890.

The Nelson Pass Designed an built Threshold SA-4e. 100w/ch of pure class A, and a ridiculous amount of current. Yes, it's a space heater, but I too will have it serviced in lieu of replacing it. It makes my Martin-Logans sing!

Nelson Pass improved designed Adcom 5400.

Back in the mid-1970's I was the second owner of a mint-condition McIntosh MC225 tube amplifier.  I didn't make that much money back then and was offered a huge price for the amp and sold it.  I wish I had that amp today!

I bought my VAC PA 100 100 tube amp and ARC LS15 tube pre amp back in 1995 and they are still going strong with no issues
I just replace the tubes on both units as l thought it's probably time to replace them
Just recently l bought a used Spectron musical MK ll class D amp to drive my Maggie's and l love that old amp and how it  
makes the Maggie's beg for mercy!

Any amp from David Belles still sound excellent and can show many amps the door 

MEITNER.

Luxman CL36 Ultimate

Bedini amps! I had a 25/25 that I regret selling.

@atmasphere --

...

I have a lower powered Radio Shack amp that sounds fine as long as you don’t push it hard. It tends to make the 2nd harmonic as its primary distortion product and that masks a good deal of the higher orders. But at higher volume levels there isn’t enough lower ordered content to mask anymore- and so it gets harsh. But if I run speakers that have enough efficiency, the amp never gets to those volumes and it sounds fine.

Put another way, even though a lot of the amps mentioned so far can make quite a bit of power, matching the speaker to them (using an easier to drive speaker) is paramount to getting the most out of them.

Interesting info (not quoted) re: feedback. Apart from the traits of an easier-to-drive speaker with higher impedance load (i.e.: >8 ohms), benign phase angles and high to very high efficiency, getting rid of a passive cross-over is another vital measure to ensure the amp(s) is seeing an easier load, even lessening its importance the same way higher speaker impedance render cables less important.

I’d even wager much of the (in my view) ludicrous tendency of over-built (and insanely expensive) amps from the likes of D’Agostino, Boulder and others are a symptom of the heavy load they’re presented with, and how they strive to be less affected by it (until thermal issues will arise in the speaker). Complex passive cross-overs are very much to blame for this, effectively making a rated, limited sensitivity somewhat of a variable (i.e.: potentially lower) - depending on the amp driving it; one that is more or less impervious to load will see the speaker deliver closer to its full potential at its rated sensitivity (insofar it’s correct to begin with), whereas an amp that is not will obviously hinder a speaker’s performance and its clean dynamic range.

My 30 watt pure Class-A Belles SA30 is coupled directly to a pair of EV compression driver + horn combo with 111dB sensitivity (8 ohm version) - covering from ~600Hz on up. So, there’s another factor to consider: the range a given amp is going to cover. The Belles is practically freed from anything below ~600Hz - again, coupled directly to the CD without any intervening passive cross-over - meaning that in every conceivable way in a domestic setting it’ll simply cruise along under the best of conditions. Maybe that amp is even overkill as it is, but I’ll never part with it.