Onkyo / Yamaha / Denon / Harman-Kardon / Cambridge Audio / Musical Fidelity
I had some all in one systems as a kid, but my first real amp was purchased in 1984 and was an Onkyo TX-35 Receiver. I then purchased a a Yamaha integrated in the late 80's and a Denon integrated around the early to mid 90's. Oh, I also had a Kenwood in there for a period of about a week - but it sounded horrid. I kept the Denon until 1999 when it decided to start giving me switching problems and I purchased a Harman-Kardon amp.
As you can see - I was pretty much confined to "big-box" stores for my equipment selection and I ran the whole line of the better brands available from such stores. I can honestly say that up until the H/K I didn't hear much difference in all the others. I enjoyed the H/K quite a bit and it helped me rediscover my analog LP's which led me to upgrade my turntable (to a MMF-5) around 2002.
With the better turntable came a better amp - the Cambridge Audio 640A and a CIAudio VPP-1 phono-amp. The CA/CIAudio combination trounced the H/K in a major way!
I've again upgraded turntables this year to the Rega P5/Exact combination and couldn't resist the temptation to upgrade amps again. Thanks to Audiogon, I've got a very nice used Musical Fidelity A300 on the way, which I'm very excited about! I like the idea of having a good built in phono stage and everything I've read about the A300 leads me to believe that it will be with me for quite some time.
I had some all in one systems as a kid, but my first real amp was purchased in 1984 and was an Onkyo TX-35 Receiver. I then purchased a a Yamaha integrated in the late 80's and a Denon integrated around the early to mid 90's. Oh, I also had a Kenwood in there for a period of about a week - but it sounded horrid. I kept the Denon until 1999 when it decided to start giving me switching problems and I purchased a Harman-Kardon amp.
As you can see - I was pretty much confined to "big-box" stores for my equipment selection and I ran the whole line of the better brands available from such stores. I can honestly say that up until the H/K I didn't hear much difference in all the others. I enjoyed the H/K quite a bit and it helped me rediscover my analog LP's which led me to upgrade my turntable (to a MMF-5) around 2002.
With the better turntable came a better amp - the Cambridge Audio 640A and a CIAudio VPP-1 phono-amp. The CA/CIAudio combination trounced the H/K in a major way!
I've again upgraded turntables this year to the Rega P5/Exact combination and couldn't resist the temptation to upgrade amps again. Thanks to Audiogon, I've got a very nice used Musical Fidelity A300 on the way, which I'm very excited about! I like the idea of having a good built in phono stage and everything I've read about the A300 leads me to believe that it will be with me for quite some time.