Your short list of most iconic audio products

The Pioneer is not the same. It is made by Hanpin in China on the Super OEM mechanism. A clone of better than average quality. But not Technics in any other area. I like them for a current turntable if one can't find a genuine SL-1200 variant for average music lovers, DJ types, and the like.

 

Forgot about the K-horn, didn't like the sound but definitely an icon.

 

OK.... my very personal list

ADC XLM
Fidelity Research MkI
Koeutsu Rosewood
Fluxbuster

Marcoff (too much hiss, but it was cheap)
ARC SP-14 & SP-15 (phono pre-amps)
Pass Ono

JVC UA-7045 (tonearm - adjustable VTA, FR-64 on the cheap)
Lou Souther tonearm
SME V

AR turntable (ripped off the arm, and installed a SME-III
Ariston RD-11S (Linn on the cheap)
VPI Mk IV & TNT (jr too)

Dynaco Mk IV (interesting piece, generally forgotten)
SAE 31B (cheap and good for the time)
Ampzilla (ditto)
Threshold Stasis 3 (couldn't drive Maggies, but DQ-10's? wow)
Pass Aleph 3 (chamber music amp)
Pass X series (anything music amps - I'll give up my X-150 when I die)

Audio Research SP-3a; SP-15, 14 - lovely pieces, too expensive new, decent used
Pass (line stage and regular pre's and Adcom GFP-750 on the budget side)

Mac MR-78 - easily a top 10 all time when the word legend is used
Onkyo T-4055 (budget classic)
Kenwood KT-917 (one of the greats, and somewhat attainable, unlike some of the very rare high end models)

ProAc EBS - a revelation at the time
Verity Parsifal - a revelation in any time - I would take these over any under $20k speaker I've ever heard
Maggie MG-1 or MG-2 - budget master pieces
Maggie 3.3 (or later) - later time frame, some very sweet treble, all the ribbon treble Maggies are excellent)
Martin Logan XLS-IIz - vast mid range. I had these is a 15x14x11 room with lots of sound treatment. Should have kept them.
Martin Logan Vantage - better imaging then stuff like the SL-3 which I also owned.
Apogee Duetta - monster to drive, a case where cable matching is key for amps of the time.
Quad ESL-57 and ESL-63 - very nice, I could never relax with them expecting any crescendo would blow them up.
stacked advents - driven by a Dyanco 410 in '76 (cheaper 400) and a 416 in 1978 (mombo caps added). For most listening I was into a pair of Cizek's (a friend still uses them), but for big noise, they were it then.
K-Horn (not great - try Joni Mitchell sometime), but find a copy of Stanley Clarke's first LP and deny the impact
ProAc Tablette
DQ-10, I had a ribbon tweeter, did away with the top two drivers, re-did the caps in the late 80's, and improved the woofs, I also aligned them vertically for considerably better sound. Stasis 3 was a magic amp to drive them. I cut up the wood, metal screen, all of it, and made the facade about 13.5" wide, hundreds of hours of messing around.... crushed any stock DQ-10. Eventually the CLS IIz called me away.

OK, slam section:

Bose 901. I worked "on the mountain" for a summer. Part timers that moved boxes were not supposed to get near the assembly line, but, when someone was sick, I'd be called in. Well the drivers that failed the very elemental tests they gave them got a red X marked on the back of the driver and that one would be the front facing driver. They sound like sludge and are probably the most succesful marketing scam in audio history. Dreck. Even in the late 70's. Someone mentioned DCM's... Time Windows, Cizek I's, KLH 5's, AR 3a's, or even Allison I's, smoked 901's. Bose also gave the biggest "spliffs" (that's kick backs) to the salesmen in that era (I worked retail audio from Fall '75 until mid '82.

Commerical straight line trackers from the 70's like B&O or HK? Not good. Also any linear arm pushed by air - it's a kludge.

All direct drive TT's (for music that is)

Almost all fancy cables. You need O2 free copper and a way to keep it that way, solid connecters that would abraid over time (rhodium is good), short runs. If you have a real strange loud speaker - like a Dayton-Wright - of which there are probably zero working examples or a Scintilla there shouldn't much any need to fuss with cables that have unusual characteristics. Carefull with passive pre-amps you can lose high end with poor selection there.

 

Nakamichi 550 portable cassette recorder, for Yes concerts

 

Good list, although I personally was not a panel speaker fan still aren't. I did own a pair of CLSs back in the day, had a Velodyne 10" sub directly behind each. But three cheers for the Pass amps, another one I forgot all about. In the right system they could be magic.
There isn't many things that Audio Research made or makes that I don't like.

 

price for the Matrix?..
I like to buy

 

I'd add the Eminent Technology 2 to my list, particularly in tandem with a VPI HW-19. Finicky, but not a kludge.

John K.

 

Love the Mac above...

I'd add the Well Tempered Arm, the Oracle TT and the CAT preamp. Also my fave speakers....the Sonus Faber Guarneri Homage's.

 

Linn Sondek LP12 Turntable
NAD 3020 Integrated Amplifier
Quad Electrostatic Loudspeaker
Rega Planar 3 Turntable
Pioneer A400 Integrated Amplifier
B&W Nautilus 801 Loudspeaker
BBC LS3/5a Loudspeaker
Marantz CD-63 MkII KI Signature CD player
Sennheiser HD600 Headphones
Van Den Hul The First Ultimate Interconnect
QED Genesis Speaker Cable
Grado PS1000 Headphones

9. Garrard 301 turntable
10. Wharfedale Diamond loudspeaker

 

Yup, have owned 5 on your list and still own 3 of the above.

 

I've been thinking about upgrading my vintage system speakers to to the Guarneri's. Maybe once I get the new ( NOS ) Cary amp stuff sorted-out.

 

Spookily....me too.

 

Your probably thinking the Marantz 10B, if tube, or the 20B, solid state. Both excellent tuners and worthy of mention.
I also noticed you mentioned the Krell KSA 50. I was selling these at the time of the KSA series and although I preferred our other offerings, I liked the 50 better than their larger amps. I found the Krell amps a bit aggressive so I think that's why the smaller dose was more acceptable to me. I remember these Japanese business men came in and they wanted the KSA 50 for amping the tweeters of their systems. They insisted it was the best for this. Then they went to the Wadia transport and dac separates, $14,000. for the pair, and spoke Japanese to each other while fondling the two boxes for a minute, then turned to me and said, "we take". Bought the store demos right of the floor.

 

I'm with you on most all of this but on the cables, the addition of silver, to the copper is helpful in some interconnects and speaker wire. Just did a big test with several interconnects and speaker cable.

Just one example, Nordost speaker wire turned out to be too much silver for my Maggies....the Kimber TC, (just copper), fuller but a little dull, Straightwire, mostly copper with a little silver......fantastic! Depends which wire from which manufacturer, and what speakers as well as other components. But a little experimenting and I think you will see that it is well worth the trouble and expense. Buy used on eBay or Audiogon and if it does not work for you, sell it with the others that did not fit your system.

I am with you also on the rhodium terminations. Anything else, I cut of the spades/pins/bananas. Strip to the bare wire. Let the music flow. Terminations can hurt your sound. I have proven this over and over. I will take a $1k + speaker cable and lop the terminations right off and strip it to bare wire. Never been disappointed.

 

I lop off my amp side terminations also, but tin the ends with Cardas silver solder. Works wonders for me.

 

Nice! I didn't have one but my buddy did and I was the first one out of the chair to change the record just so I could touch the buttons!

 

Is this what you use?

Cardas Audio Soldering Wire Quad Eutectic Silver Solder 100g

I am a bit worried about the amp end for my amp has binding post/bolts designed for spades only. Just a bolt that screws down. No way to secure wire. I crank the bolts down tight but I move my speakers about and walk behind them sometimes and a simple trip/kick of the cable and I've got disaster. I have been racking my brain trying to figure out a safeguard. Maybe I can fashion a "loop" or big enough 'hook" with the silver solder to secure the wire in a safer manor.

 

Yes this is what I use, because my amp has the old style narrow spade connections.

 

Great! Thanks. Will be here in a few days from Amazon.

 

Phillpis - Der Kassetten Rekorder (Mono)
Neumann U-47
stuff for the average HiFi user in germany around 1975 or so

BrAun REGIE 520 Receiver
Technics SL 1200 MK 2
Musical Fidelity A1
Nad 3020
Sansui A 717 Amp
REVOX 77
SHURE V 15-Type III
DUAL CS 701 DD
---US and high priced gear for audioholics
BOSE 901
KlipschHorn
MacIntosh Tube amps
LEAK 20

 

Jonathan Ive is a fan of Dieter Rams.....no?

 

The 212 was hugely popular in my area. All my friends had one, I had one too. It had three major flaws: (1) The platter was ferrous, eliminating the possibility to use a MC cartridge, (B) If the light bulbs in the touch-switches failed, the switch would fail, and (III) In the winter when humidity was low, static electricity could cause the dust cover to attract the tonearm, which could lift off the record and stick itself to the inside of the lid, only to come crashing down when you lift the lid. You could also make this happen with a feather duster, but who dusts when a record is playing?