my first stereo amp was a scott lk150/lc21 preamp.i built both from kits.both still working, only new amp outputs tubes all other tubes original. both circa 1963. latest is a signature sunfire 400x7.
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Scott? Never heard them? Will have to try.
Just found my dream machine: Robertson 6010. |
As a kid I began with a mighty Panasonic! Heh heh! Then moved on to three generations of JVC receivers, the last of which was RX-10VBK which I bought used after reading a few reviews so I could run 8 channel analog discreet from my SACD player. But I soon wanted more power to my mains and stole a Carver M500 for cheap. That lead to a Carver M500t and to running both Carvers in mono. I might well have stopped there but for acquiring a pair of the new Carver hand built tube monoblocks. That lead to wanting new speaks and a successful quest at landing a pair of Amazing Platinums. I also now have a Sunfire Ultimate Receiver.
The tube amps are not to be believed. |
Since 2006...BAT VK-75SE, BAT VK-150SE. |
my ist power amp was a threshold 400a.paired with a infinity fet preamp.wish i had them back.currently have a luxman M-120 MK 2, AND A AB INTERNATIONAL 422, THIS ONE IS A REAL SLEEPER. LOOKING TO ADD MONO BLOCKS IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS. |
Lemme see, I believe I started with ... Yamaha 420 receiver, NAD 3020, Harmon Kardon PM655 integrated, Rotel 110 watt integrated(can't remember the designation), Manley StingRay, Musical Fidelity A308, a Musical Fidelity KW500 and right now, KW500 that's been back to the UK for MF Fine Tuning! It was great fun getting here. |
I'm updating this. Things have changed.....again.
Arcam Alpha 10 integrated -New
Classe CAP-100 integrated -Used
Audio Research D130 -Used
Sonic Frontiers Line 1 + Plinius SA-100MkIII -Used
ARC LS-16 Mk1 + Plinius SA-100MkIII -Used
Rega Elicit -New
In Near Future - LFD, Luxman or Accuphase |
Oldelf1, it's awesome to see someone post here who built original Scott Kits. I had a LK-150 but had to sell so that I could move on. Wish I still had it! |
I have been through a few more, so an upgrade....
Fisher Receiver- not one of the classics :(
Sansui Receiver- worked great and got me through college
NAD3140 Integrated - a classic, still powers my garage system
NAD2150 Bridged w/3140(still works great)
Adcom 5300- thin and strident, one of my least favorites
Acurus A250- an ok lower end choice
Acurus A200- actually preferred the older A250 by a little
Aragon 4004MkII- a very nice ss amp for the money
Classe DR25- more refined and musical than the 4004MkII
McCormack DNA 2- outstanding bass, otherwise unremarkable
BAT VK-500- nice mids but veiled and not that good at the extremes
McCormack DNA 500- excellent for the money, nice midrange, juicy bass, musical across the board, and never runs out of steam, high frequencies don't quite hang with the best
Cary 500MB- nice midrange for SS and pretty good across the board. The McCormack had better bass and the Cary was a bit noisy in comparison.
Lamm M1.1 - These amps showed me what music in your home can really sound like, rich, dimensional, dynamic, with deep powerful bass and an in-the-room holographic midrange. Extremely easy to listen to and never fatiguing. Sonic weaknesses included a darkness of tone and somewhat rolled off high frequencies, lack of air, and limited soundstage although these were slight and in no way did they overwhelm the positives. I understand these issues have been rectified in the M1.2, which I would love to own.
Herron M1 - Very nice amps with a musical and dimensional midrange, excellent sweet high frequencies, and good but not great dynamics and bass. I understand the attraction to these, but ultimately I need more "meat on the bone" and more powerful deep bass.
Clayton M200 - Initially had trouble integrating these into my system with my single-ended preamps until I interfaced with Jensen PI transformers and now the background is black/quiet. These are the real deal in just about every way, with clarity, neutrality, and excellent deep bass. They may ultimately lose out to the Lamm M1.1's in the areas where Lamm's are strong, but they are at least close in every way, and better in the areas where I listed the Lamm's having weaknesses. One of the best SS amps available. |
quad 405 stereo version
adcom gfa 555
threshold 400a
threshold SA/3
threshold s300
marantz 170 dc
dynaco mk iv monoblocks
dynaco mk iii monoblocks
harmon kardon citation ii
VTL 300 deluxe monoblocks
threshold t200 white audio labs a100 mk ii |
Marantz 2020B 40 watt reciever
Nacamichi Reciever
Yamaha integrated amp 65 watts
McIntosh reciver 1700
B & K 202 Plus
McIntosh MC206 |
1980's: Sony receiver, Carver m1.0t
1990's: Yamaha
2000+ : Threshold Stasis 7.0, Hafler
Currently: Threshold S/500 II, Wolcott CA-250 Instrumentation-Grade Monoblocks. |
Wow, this is a great thread to really go back in time and see all the things done.
1. Onkyo reciever, not sure the model back in late 90's though.
2. Conrad Johnson MF2250
3. Rotel RB 1080
4. Conrad Johnson MF2500
5. Conrad Johnson Premier 350 (demo for couple months)
6. McIntosh MC2301
7. BAT VK600M-SE 600 watt mono blocks
The two I enjoyed the most prior to the BAT was the Premier 350, just an amazing SS amp for sure. Then the Mcintosh 2301 was very nice as well. I would still like to hear the premier 350 with better gear than I had when did the demo on it. That amp was very, very nice indeed.
That said the BAT is now here to stay for a while and it is one great pair of amps. Quick and powerful and flawless in delivery IMO. |
Well..Ive been all over the place with amplification...but I think Ive found my sonic pot-o-gold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow... with the MC2000.
1977...Technics SA-200
1978...Sanyo DCA311
1983...PIONEER SA-9500
1990's...Musical Fidelity A100/A1000
Bryston 4B-ST/4B-SST
Krell KSA-250/FPB 200
McIntosh MA6200
2000's...McIntosh MC2100/2105
McIntosh MC352
Present..McIntosh MC2000 |
Aragon 4004
Aragon 8008
Krell KSA 250
Krell KSA 300s |
Not an audiophile, more of a musician, I guess.
Early 1950s: Army issue hand cranked record player
1958 Went electric with a console mono player
1960 First "stereo" long gone.
1964 Dyna SCA 35
1966 EICO
1969 Tired of tinkering, bought McIntosh 5100
1989 Mac dies after 20 years of daily use, bought MC 7270
2005 Needed amp for second house, bought MA 6900.
2010 Listening mostly to Miniwatt through 40 yr old spkrs.
Next will be a reasonable SET outfit. Can't believe I wasted all that time on SS. |
Optonica something (out of college)
Denon rcvr
Naim Nait 5i int-amp (sweet .............!
Marantz 2250b (sweet ........!)
Paradigm Studio 20s (first "real" speakers) |
1989 B&K st 140
1990 B&K ST 202
1999 Pass kit a40
2005 Sim Audio w-5 still awesome amp, great synergy with ------------Calypso
2008 Atma-sphere M-60
2009 Conrad Johnson Premier 4 |
Aragon 4004
Aragon 8008
Krell KSA 250
Krell KSA 300s
Mark Levinson 532H |
B&K_Symphonic Line_Graff_Chapter Audio_Hegel H10 |
hmm, lemme see if i can remember:
Marantz 1115 reciever
Harmon Kardon something - 80wpc, sounded nice
Sumo 9 - Class A
Cyrus Straight line - [*embarrassed*]
GAS - son of ampzilla
Mark Levinson No.27
Pass Labs Aleph 5 - better than all the rest
what's next???
hopefully an XA.5 series! |
Quicksilver Silver Monos
B@K 4200? I think?
Parasound HCA 3500
McCormack DNA 225 |
started with hafler dh 200,moved on to denon poa-2200,moved to tubes dynaco mark 3s,to bob carver prototype 180s,to logan labs a1-70,s,hooked on tubes |
Started with HK 500 A modded as a pre-amp and a Hafler DH220
then a Melos 90 st to a Jeff Rowland model 8 with choke and now
have added an ARC d-70 mk2 as a tube alternative along with the
Jeff Rowland. |
Jadis DA-60 -> Mark Levinson No.331 -> Mark Levinson No. 33H -> DartZeel NHB-108 -> Pass Labs XA160.5
The Pass XA.5 series is very very natural sounding. Tonally excellent. |
Going way, way, WAY back to junior HS: Curtes Mathes compact stereo (ick)
High school: Kenwood KA6006 integrated (60 wpc) -- headed in right direction
Post-college graduaton: Yamaha receiver (can't remember model)
Yamaha dies after about 14 years, and replaced with Rotel 100 wpc integrate -- now we're getting somewhere
Move to Surround sound -- Rotel processor and 5-way amp (probably lateral move, soundwise)
Seriously upgrade stereo capabilities: Ayre K-5xeMP preamp, Ayre V-5xe amp
Ahh...
Happy listening. |
Various "no high end amps " then i build my own Hawk audio kit amps 2 times 20 watt class A/AB.
Meridian 557
Marklevinson 431
Graaf GM 200
Krell evo 400
next will be probably zanden amps but they are a little expensive and big transistors also have some qualities of their own so maybe a zanden pre wil do the job |
ADCOM-GFA555-200W PER CH
ONKYO P-103 PRE
DENON 1910CI DVD
INFINIYS SM 112S
H/T
37 TOSHIBA
YAMAHA RX-V665 AVR
YDS-11 DOCK
KLIPCSH 500 W/SUB |
trying to build up my system after the amp , next was speakers. So on C/L I saw aprair of pristinte SM112 W/ NOTHING WRONG and the foam surroundlooked like they were professionally done.Yes sonically there weak on the bottom end,but I'not into GOTH, H/M M/M RAP and other heavy on the bottom rock.So the guestion is leave it be or pick-up apair of Hereseys that are in very good condition. |
It took a while, starting with a Panasonic SA6500, then started to get serious with Mac Mx112 and 250 until I got hold of an Electrocompaniet EC4 preamp some dufus footballed. The Mac couldn't keep up and as EC does not have a dealer here updated to Audio Research 100.2. At last I have an EC AW220 and my living room is like Powell Symphony Hall. The bad news is, Electrocompaniet no longer makes this model. That is all. |
I'm only 28 and I'm not sure I can remember my entire hi end amp history. Off the top of my head:
Marantz 1060B
JoLida 1501RC
Plinius 8200 MkII
VTL TT-25
Wright 3.5
Fi 2a3 monoblocks
Firstwatt F1 now updated to F1J
Dynaco ST-70
and I'm on the prowl for a successor. |
Latest amp added is the darTZeel NHB-108 B. |
My every other year post #4. Went through a few more changes but recently put a Primare integrated in the system. This is an older model (30.1 built in 2000) but had just been rebuilt & completely gone thru, so it was fresh. Actually I believe it still needed a bit of final break-in when I got it.
I'm pretty impressed & have once again started to seek out more music, which is always a good sign. Sometimes I just get in audition mode w/gear moving from one piece to another-not searching for "that final piece" but looking for something to really enjoy. Well, this might be what I've been looking for.
I'll check back in a few more yrs. & see what took place. |
1968- 1972: Early 60's tube-type, All-in-one Concord model 555 stereo tape recorder. My old man showed it to me when I was a wee lad. I bugged him for years to give it to me, on my tenth birthday 1968, she was all mine.
1972-74: Lafayette (Pioneer rebranded) Integrated amplifier 25-30 watts/chan.
1974-76 Lafayette (Pioneer rebranded) Receiver 45 watts/chan
1976: McIntosh MC300 monoblock amps with separate power supplies. 300 watts each! I could barely lift them as separate units. House burns down soon after :-(
1976-1994: Pioneer SX- Reciever 55 watss/chan direct-coupled output. (no output decoupling capacitor, you had to occasionally rebalance the output stage) I bought it Tech Hi-Fi as a year-old Demo, they used it to demonstrate their speakers. Demo units are usually the last thing I buy, but they doubled the warranty and dared me to try and break it. They where right, this unit is bullet proof, I don't know how innocent speakers went to an early grave because of this bad boy. The low frequency range could make woofers hit their stops at both ends. It's still around, still working, doing garage duty.
1994-2009: Apt-1 (Tom Holman) pre-amp/Luxman MB3045 Monoblock tube amps. My first foray into really nice equipment, made me wonder why I didn't take the plunge sooner. The Apt eventually developed noisy switch problems I could never quite keep clean. I think they were just plain worn-out.
2009- present McIntosh MA6600 solid state 200 watts/chan.: The receiver I always knew I would own eventually. Interestingly it isn't quite as good as a match to the Klipsch Cornwalls as I had hoped. Fortunately I kept the Luxman monoblocks, and use the MAC front-end. Perhaps I'll trade the CW3's for B & W 804, 805, 806? which I hear are a better match for the MAC. |
Here goes (from consumer audio to audiopile)!
Yamaha
Rotel
Sunfire
Cary 88
McIntosh 6900
Pass X350.5
First Watt J2
Going to be hard to move away from Nelson's products... |
* Mid 80's I purchased a Technics rack system, it had an integrated amp
* Late 80's - Denon PMA 300V integrated (My friend from High School that got me into audio still uses this)
* Late 80's - Heath (I don't remember the model, but it is in my basement. The aforementioned friend had a brother that worked for Zeinth, the parent (?) company, so I purchased it cheap. Another friend purchased it from me years ago, but I borrowed it a couple years ago and it sits in my basement now, he doesn't want it back.)
* 11/1991 - Forte Model 6
* 8/1997 - Meridian 557
* 8/2000 - Mark Levinson No.383 integrated
* 12/2001 - Moscode 300 (modified)
* 3/2002 - Mark Levinson No.383 integrated
* 1/2003 InnerSound ESL
* 2/2003 BAT VK-200
* 6/2003 Jeff Rowland Concentra II
* 12/2003 Pass X150.5
* 8/2004 - Classe CA-2200
* 3/2005 - Musical Fidelity kW500
* 12/2005 - McIntosh MA2275 integrated
* 5/2006 - McIntosh MC402
* 11/2006 - (Tried another Jeff Rowland CII, but key the Mac gear)
* 1/2010 - Luxman L590A II integrated |
I started with technics 4 chanel CD4 8300 I think then a sony intergrated, that was the first couple years. Then I had 3 Mcintosh mc2205s 2 bi amped my front speakers the other drove the rear channels my second try at making 4 channel work. Then I sold the macs and got a conrad johnson p1 with el34s then modded it and ran 6550s then had it rebuilt and ran it with KT88s. Just retired that amp for ayre mono blocks. Preamps were Mac mc32 then Sonic Fronters proto type, now the Ayre top of line. I am adding a Ayre phono stage. |
Upgraded from an Air Tight ATM 2 to a 300B. My last amp ever. |
A series of Rotel, Arcam and Musical Fidelity integrated during college years, graduated to Primare, Krell and Densen integrated, Densen pre and power combos, including the 350 mono's, a brief spell with Clearaudio balance pre/power, Pathos Inpol, Graaf Model One and 5050 power-amp, Graaf 13.5 and GM 100, Karan Acoustics KA Line and 270 power - DIVORCE - back to Densen (B-200/B-310) and now Audio Analogue Bellini-Donizetti (x2) combo. When I upgrade, either higher-end Audio Analogue gear or Audia Pre/50-100 combo. |
started with a deck/amp unit with speakers as a kid, then went seperates
Teleton SAQ15
Consort 20/20 (some obscure brand in the 70's from a high volume retailer)
Arcam A60, had this for years.....then heard tube, and never went back, well I did, backwards in technology
Leak TL12+
Home built Williamson 15 watt amp
Leak stereo 60
Radford STA100
currently using
Ming Da MC34AB and ASL Monsoon Mk1 with AQ1600pre amp |
Electrocompaniet AW-120DMB stereo amplifier (Used to own)
Mark Levinson No.332 Stereo Amplifier (Used to own)
Mark Levinson No.33H Monaural Amplifiers (Used to own)
Krell Master Reference Amplifiers (Currently own)
Tube Research Labs Platinum GTR 800 Mono Amplifiers (Waiting for delivery)
Dynaudio Arbiter Mono Amplifiers (Waiting for delivery) |
Kenwood integrated/high school > JVC receiver college> Adcom 5802 until 1 year ago, then I was cured of transistor disease.
In my now tubulous audiophile life, I have a vintage, fully serviced (new caps, tubes) Berning 230 amp (30WPC) in my main system and a new Music Reference 10MKII with V-caps in the bedroom system. I which I had been cured sooner. I walked the earth like a zombie listening to equally zombied out transistorized music for decades. Hyperbole aside, the imaging, body, and to use the cinematic phrase "suspension of disbelief" that I am listening live is meaningfully closer with carefully chosen tube gear vs transistors. Merry Christmas all. |
'70s Marantz receiver
Kyocera R-451
ASL Wave 8's
Dynaco ST-70 with Triode Electronics mods
Cyrus One integrated--last version with toggle power switch
Sherwood S-7210 receiver
Sure TK2050 class D amp extensively modified
Magnavox 6V6 8802 console amp
McCormack DNA-0.5
I still have the last five, though the McCormack is what I usually listen to. The little Maggie 6V6 is a great bedroom amp. |
This may seem like a lot but is over 55 years
Dynaco ST-70
Moscode 300
Audio Research D115
Cary 805
Cary 2A3
Miniwatt
Korneff 45
Transcendent Sound single ended OTL
Oddesey Khartego
VTL ST-80
Antique Sound Lab Hurricanes |
at 16 an itergrated electrical store deck and speakers
then went seperates..
Teleton SAQ25
then some weird 20 watt amp I cant remember (japanese 1 off type)Consort. concerto??
then the evergreen Arcam A60 kept this for almost 10 yrs
then went 'retro'
Williamson 'stereo' amp with 6L6's
Leak TL12plus monoblocks
Leak Stereo 60
Radford STA100
ASL Monsoon mk1's
Now have, and keepers!
Ming Da MC34ab and TRI M88SE monoblocks |
NAD 3020 integrated
Bryston 3B
Krell KSA 50
VTL ST-80
Sunfire
Air Tight ATM-1
BAT VK-60
Spectral DMA-180 II
Cary Rocket 88
Berning ZH-270
Atma-Sphere MA1 MkIIs
Dehavilland Aries 845G s
Balanced Audio Technology VK-150SE s
Cheers,
Spencer |
About 20 years ago, my wife got us a full Sony ES line with Kef speakers. Decent system and with children coming shortly worked for us.
The amp, GX57ES, went crazy. CD player and cassette likewise. Ultimately got both amp and cassette working again, but that is another story.
From the Sony I moved to the Onkyo A-9555, the first batch before Onkyo stopped and then restarted making them again. It got good reviews and did nice things with my Dahlquist DQM-9s.
I finally was able to build a 2 channel system and spent quite some time researching and assembling it. Thank you to many folks here for thoughts and opinions over the past few years. I finally have a Counterpoint SA-12. For a preamp I am using the Dolan PM1.
Next steps are... I am not sure yet. Right now I have Soundsmith Monarch speakers and love them. I think the driver for the next round of upgrades are when I get a fuller-range floor stander. |
Let's see:
Hafler 500, then I modified it with that musical concepts kit
Sonic Frontiers SFS80
Graaf GM20
CJ Premier 11a, and then another to vertically bi-amp
Opera Consonance Cyber 211 mono blocks - love these |
Started with and still have a Yamaha CR-820 receiver
Marantz CA500 monoblocks
Yamaha Z1 Surround receiver
Classe CA100's X 2
Nuforce 9 SEV2
Halcro MC50
Pass Labs X350.5 my current (pun intended) beast |
Top of the line Radio Shack!! |
