Seeing the over night success of the speaker evolution thread, it may be interesting to see what type of amp(s) we have all run. Same deal as the other thread-we will sort of create a puzzle of our systems you'll have to visit multiple threads to put everything together!!! ;) For me I started: Adcom GFA-565 monoblocks Rotel RB-990bx Jeff Rowland Design Group Model 5 Balanced Audio Technology(BAT) VK-60
either a CAT JL2, BAT VK-75se or Tenor 75Wp on the horizon.
1974 Sherwoood FM only 8900 Receiver 1979 Crown 1 Preamp with Dynaco(solid state) power amp 1990 NAD (3025?)Receiver '25' watt (with 6dB headroom) 2000 Yamaha DSP-A1 with Adcom GFA6000 multichannel amp for HT.
The Sherwood was an incredibly strong, honest sounding 60 watt receiver for its time, as is the classic NAD. Adcom- a solid performer, if not as refined or smooth on the upper end. The Yamaha is a competent HT amp and has some useful sound fields, but is hardly the last word in amplification. (Side note -An A-B session done with the big Apogees 30 years ago demonstrated the sonic difference between Rowland's best and Adcom's best power amps at the time. Let's just be kind and say the Adcoms didn't self destruct under a 1 ohm load. Neither were they pleasant to hear. The Rowland amplification let the magic come out of the hideously difficult to drive Apogees.)
The Crown/Dynaco combo was good, but not as good as you would expect on paper. Believe it or not, the NAD is the most musical, followed closely by my memories of that old Sherwood. (It was hooked up to a Phillips GA212 table and Hartley Zodiac 10" 2-ways that were amazing. All for under $ 800 - about the cost of a good shunyata AC plug. Sheesh! The bass from that Sherwood was comparable to a lot of 200 watt amps out today. Pinball Wizard sounded like Pete Townsend and Entwhistle were in the room. Speaker placement and room acoustics helped, but this was a great amp!)
2005 - Dreaming of the next amp for the main system. Maybe Evanna will send me a Stingray for Channukah. Or Jeff will ship me a Concentra. Or...
Kenwood receiver, KENWOOD A/V RECEIVER, [ALWAYS 2-CHANNEL HOME THEATRE INT.]ONKYO TXDS 747 RECIEVER W 5.1 PREAMP OUTS,INTO ADCOM GFA 7000 /5 CHANNEL, PLINIUS SA 100MK3. -NOW PLINIUS SA 1O2s DUAL MONO , PLINIUS P-8 FOR CENTER, SA 100 MK3 FOR SURROUNDS[TODAYS CONFIG] AND LIKELY TO STAY...
1970's Marantz receiver Sony HT monstrosity Sony ES separates VTL MB 125 monos Parasound JC-1s.
Nothing on the horizon amp wise. I think Im done for awhile although I would love to try some high power tubes, VTL 450s maybe. The JC-1s are proving to be fantastic with my Vandersteen 3A sigs and 2WQ subs.
1980 - Akai something-or-other 1984 - Naim Nait (the first version) 1985 - Musical Fidelity A1 1986 - Cyrus II/PSX 1994 - SimAudio 4070 2003 - Sugden Au51P 2003 - KR18 BSI 2003 - Coincident MP300B 2003 - Wavelength Triton Blue 2004 - deHavilland Aries 845G 2004 - Canary CA-339 2005 - Audion Silver Night PX25 2005 - Tom Evans Audio Design Linear A
With the Linear A I may be done for a while. Mated to sensitive speakers it's the answer to a SET-lover's dreams - all the SET liquidity, harmonic richness and natural midrange coupled with a level of microdynamics, extension, imaging, resolution, transparency, palpability, air and impact that is unequalled in my experience. Not bad for a 25 wpc amp that uses 4 EL84s per side, driven by op-amps. Within its power envelope it's hard to imagine better performance.
These are my personal amps, in order of purchase starting in 1971. I think it is a fairly short list for 35 years. The amps I still have are marked with an asterisk. Dynaco Stereo 120, Harmon Kardon Citation 12, Dynaco Stereo 400, Phase Linear 700B, Phase Linear 400, Dynaco SCA35*, Dynaco Stereo 70*, Audio Research D51*, Audio Research D75, Dynaco Stereo 35*, Berning EA2-30*, Berning Personal Amp*, Berning EA2-150, Tact 2150x*.
Fisher Receiver- not one of the classics :( Sansui Receiver- worked great and got me through college NAD3140 Integrated - a classic, still powers my 2nd system NAD2150 Bridged w/3140(still works great) Adcom 5300- thin and strident, one of my least favorites Acurus A250- one of the better lower end choices 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 not as good at the extremes McCormack DNA 500- the best I have heard, nice midrange, juicy bass, musical across the board, and never runs out of steam. I am sure there is better, but I suspect the price of admission for a noticable upgrade would be large (the CJ Premire 350 looks tempting though...)
Starting in 1977 to present:Sansui 8080 receiverSansui AU-717 integratedNAD 2140Adcom GFA-555Counterpoint SA-20Audio Research D125Audio Research VT100mkIII
Very simple really: Musical Fidelity FX followed by Pass Aleph 5. Played with a Musical Fidelity F19 alot, but never owned it. All of them are great in their way, but am currently still in love with the Aleph!
Hold on to your hats- lots of experience and insight to share. Have had many amps that I have owned, bought and sold.
Bias- I have owned and listened to many amps over the last 29 years. Do not listen to the mags, the reviews, the advertisements- you just have to go and listen. Very well designed tube amplifiers (and there are only a few manuafacturers out there that do it right) just convey a more enjoyable listening experience. Solid state amps can provide clean sound with great bass and dynamics. What they cannot provide is a solid, full sounding mid-range that has real texture and depth to it. They sound electronic!
Now for the amps I have owned.
I will asterik the ones that are definite keepers!
Kenwood KA-701 Integrated Hafler 200 Apt One Denon PMA 500 and PMA 700 Quicksilver KT88 - three sets of amps NAD 2600 Quicksilver M-60 Berning EA-230 * great for mini-monitors Berning EA-2101 Bryston 3B NRB Bryston 4B NRB YBA 3 DT - Two diff amps- one Alpha and one Delta Berning EA-2100 Two amps * YBA Integre - Two Different Alpha versions * Linn Klout Bel Canto Orfeo SE2 845 SET Mono Amps * Music Reference RM-9 MK1 Two Amps *
Keepers: The Berning EA-230 is great for mini monitors- natural timbre, soundstage and sense of air around instruments. It cannot provide adequate bass for full size speakers though.
The Berning EA-2100 - same as EA-230 but with more power, like the Ea-230- hybrid design by a designer who knows his stuff.
YBA Integre- Alpha, Delta, Sigma- they all sound the same- best buy for sweet grainless solid state- but do not have the texture and body of tubes.
Bel Canto Orfeos - 30 watts of SET power- think of a 300B amp with gusto- not good with speakers with over done crossovers- with others- pure sound delight.
Music Reference RM-9 - a ballsy, natural sounding tube amp that gets voices right and whose dynamics give you the feeling of live music.
If I had to keep only one of these amps- regardless of power and based on sound and build quality, reliability, flexibilty - I would pick the Music Reference RM-9. It can drive anything, easy to care for and built to last. Above all- it makes you forget about all this silly amp hype and you just get into the music.
1975: Sansui 771 reciever (a fantastic piece) 1980: Sansui integrated (not nearly as good as the 771) 1992: Carver TFM 45 (oh my goodness, I thought this was the holy grail) 2002: Carver Silver 9t monoblocks (holy grail #2) 2003: Sunfire Signature (very good, but I preferred the Carver monoblocs 2004: Carver Silver 9t monoblocks again (bought 2 pairs of them to biamp....holy grail #3) 2006: Pass Labs X-600 (I bought 2 pairs to use in a biamp config.)
Until the Pass Labs amps, I had been in mid-fi and didn't know it. The Pass Labs amps made me see the light.
Back to tubes again, should have never left! Will this ever stop??
Akai Receiver Nakamichi Stasis Receiver Van Alstine Omega III 440HC Electrocompaniet ECI-4 SE Integrated Amp Spectron Musician II Parasound Halo JC-1 ASL Hurricane 200DT Berning ZH270 Joule Electra VZN-100 Plinius SA-102 Ayre V-5X BAT VK-600 w/BP McCormack DNA-500 Conrad Johnson Premiere 350SA BAT VK-500 w/BP (currently own, favorite SS amp) Dodd 120 tube monoblocks (ahhhhh toobz! EL34-based, borrowed these from a friend for 3 weeks, loved 'em, ordered 'em, now have to wait a couple months for my very own pair. Sweet!)
I never understood why anyone would even consider buying SS amps when for the smae price or even less you can get a much better sounding tube amp. Beats me????????????? Paul
UPDATE Started back when I was in Jr. High: DeWald integrated tube amp, about 30 WPC (fried it) 1960-1978 Nikko integrated ss amp, 40 WPC (sold it) 1978-1980 Hafler DH-200 ss amp, 100 WPC (gave to my younger brother) 1980-2003 Odyssey Stratos ss amp, 150 WPC (sold it) 2003-2005 Krell KAV-400xi integrated amp 200 wpc (I think I'm done) 2005 - present
>For me I started: >Adcom GFA-565 monoblocks >Rotel RB-990bx
That is interesting because that is about how I started. (GFA-555 - I listened to this one level matched in a blind test with GFA-545 and the 555 sounded better - a little less grain.) Then got the Rotel which I liked more, and now am looking at a used Counterpoint.
1. Hafler (built as a kit) 2. Adcom 555 3. Classe 150 4. Dynaco ST-70 (Rebuilt Van Alstine kit) used as headphone amp. 5. Deja Vu pushpull 45 amp (still kept as backup/alternative) 6. Audionote (uk) Kageki (parallel 2a3 SET)
Started with a Hafler DH500, then progressed to a Kinergetics KPA 200, Plinius SA 50 was next, then the Gamut 200, VTL Tiny Triodes, and finally the Edge NL10.
Let's see... My mom bought me a Sylvania Receiver Then I bought a Yamaha B2 Then Kenwood LO7s Michaelson and Austin TVA-10 (which I bought from Bill Lowe) Moscode 300 DK Design VS-1 Mk III NuForce Ref 9s
1. Kenwood receiver (100 wpc, baby cakes) 2. Opera Audio Consonance a120 Hybrid Integrated (sweet) 3. Van Alstine Ultra 550 (hybrid, pure music)
I have no plans on replacing the 550, unless I somehow, unexpectedly, acquire a load of cash, or my wife leaves me for some young, flat-bellied pool boy. I might then want to try a pair of ASL Hurricane 200's. Otherwise, I think I'll be happy with the 550 for the duration.
Pretty impressive lists. Anyone know which member has one of the most impressive lists? I've not had a chance to go through all 8 pages. It'll take me a few more yrs yet to post a list. I'm just starting. :-(
Update to my system last month.... Still loving the Eico HF87 but have replaced the old Heathkit Preamp with a Decware SE84CSP. Wow! How cool is this! The sound just jumps out at me and images like crazy! I'm now in heaven.
My 20-year list is somewhat long with a (currently) happy ending: 1. Kyocera R-851 2. CJ Premier 11A (I still have it in a second system) 3. Monarchy Audio SE 160 Hybrid Monos 4. Lamm M1.1 Hybrid Monos 5. Stellavox PW1 Monos 6. Van Alstine Ultra 550 Hybrid 7. McCormack DNA-500
Paired with a deHavilland Mercury 2 pre, the DNA-500 is cranking even as I write.
This is it ... the end of the road. Once I tire of music, I'll not replace anything (system: Cains, Almarro, Lector, Guerrilla silver ICs, DHLabs, Acoustic Zen cords)
"What a long strange trip it's been"(GD)...took me years to find out how good the CAM-350s are. They pretty much encompass characteristics(I like) from all the above amps that I went through, taking the best from them all IMO.
Started with; Sansui model 400 Receiver Sansui AU222/Tu555 Sansui AU555a/Tu666 (still have) Dynaco SCA80 Citation 11/Citation 12(still have amp) Marantz model 15 Mac 5100 Quatre Dynaco ST70 (still have) Marantz Model 8B Tube God ST70 mod (still have the kit unassembled) Son Of Ampzilla Kenwood L07 Counterpoint 100 Advent Receiver (still have) Audio Research D75 (still have) Fisher Stratakit integrated (still have) Lux MB3045 (still have) Golden Audio SI50 MKII (still have) Audio Research CA50 (still have)
Sherwood integrated of some caliber Harman Kardon Citation 16 McIntosh 240 Harman Kardon Citation II (McShaned)currently in use Harman Kardon Citation V (To be McShaned) EICO HF81 (in pieces now)
well this goes way back, first was a eltravoice receiver back in the 60s, next came a marantz model 30 integrated, then a model 250 using the 30 as a pre, then in the 80s a kenwood basic power amp, i got into surround sound and got a rotel 1075 which i lost to katrina, i started over again with a nuforce ref 9 and just had it upgraded to SE status, glad i got the nuforce gear they are super fine amps top to bottom,
Yamaha integrated years ago. Can't remember model number but I still have it. Stored it at home during my college days.
Small pocket cassette recorder during my college days (very poor at that time but constantly surrounded by live music!) No, I don't have that any longer.
Back to the Yamaha integrated for a number of years until I could pay off some of that college debt.
=== and then came a real job...and real money!!! ===
Rotel power amp for my start into higher end audio. Again, I can't recall the model number, but I still have it sitting around. I had this hooked up to a nice N.E.W. P3 tube preamp and it sounded fairly nice...for a while.
Proceed Amp 2 was the next venture into power amps. Sounded very nice connected to the P3 preamp. But I wanted more!
CJ SA250 Sonographe was next. Liked them alot and they were relatively inexpensive, so I bought 2 of them and biamped my system. Their "tube-like" sound wasn't cutting it for me, so I sold them...back to the Proceed for a while. Then...
I've always wanted an all tube setup, so I debated between the Cary Rocket 88s and the AES AE-25 Superamp that I'd been reading about for some time. I found a pair of Superamp Monoblocks and took the plunge.
Now I have the all tube system that I've wanted for a while. My phono preamp is also tubes and I'm liking it alot. I may have to go for a tube CD player at some time.
I'm still surrounded by some great live music (professional musician) and am cursed by wanting to have my system sound like live music. Is there a system out there that will do that? I'd like to know...but I'm sure I couldn't afford it if it exists.
I sold the big Ayre earlier this year & wound up with a BAT VK-200 after trying a handful of amps, including tube monoblocks (which were very nice!). I actually sold my entire system and it wasn't because I was unhappy with the sound. The VK-200 is paired with a BAT pre and I have to say this system is quite enjoyable. I've purchased/acquired more CD's so far this year than the previous two, so I've been trying to make more time to listen than before. One thing I've learned over the years is that a good amp design, be it SS or tubes, is a good amp design & will give you quality sound. A bad amp will do the opposite, period.
Pioneer integrated AV amp AMC pre and power amp Audio research SP-8 Then I am happily settled with Audio research SP-11 and Audionote 300b conquest monoblock
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