What's Your Take on This ?

This was also when (1983-1997) HEA had it’s biggest and most actively productive membership. I was so disappointed when the quest for $$$$ became the driving force instead of the sound that so many of these companies provided. The basic models sounded much better than the over built ones and the designers knew it, but the pressure was on to get the gravy train in full gear.

Fortunately the mass produced companies picked up where these basic audiophile products left off.

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net

Oh, I should probably add this for a point of reference. During these years I had my own HEA stores. I spent a ton of money trying to get the most out of the pricy products, but started to feel guilty selling them when I knew the basic models were able to out perform them. Same thing happened as I was doing trade shows. Because I was providing a popular acoustical product the high enders wanted me to do their products in my own rooms, but again it was a conflict for me.

Some great amps are being mentioned on this thread. I still pick up some of these to tune with.

On the B&K ST140, if you were lucky enough to get Steve’s design of the amp (first 6 months of production) you will see why people said it was one of the best amps for tube sound of it’s time. And the other major plus was how well it mated with the excellent sounding preamps of the day. Stan Warren also did a nice job with his 220. The list of amps during that time I would say were among the very best HEA ever offered at any price. Names are floating through my mind by the scores.

On the 535, I think most here have nailed it’s performance. I think this is the best product Adcom ever produced. The 555 never made a dent for me, but when listening with AC I understood where he was going from his point of view at the time. Some times you have to be listening with the guy themselves to have them explain where they were going, and what they were looking for.

One amp that totally went under the radar, that I stumbled across as I needed something fast to plug in then totally fell in love with was the Marantz MA700 mono block. I’ve probably own 50 of these for myself and sold another 100 (maybe more) sets to folks. An absolutely killer mono block to tune. I think I used this amp in 3 or 4 shows. I also hooked up 5 or 6 studios with these.

As far as I am concerned this thread should live on forever so folks can learn about the golden age of HEA.

Michael Green

www.michaelgreenaudio.net