Parasound HCA2003a Adcom GFA 555 Parasound Halo A21 Anthem Mca 30 Nuforce MCA 18 Emotiva A700 Parasound Halo JC5
In 1972 (16 yrs old) bought a Roger Ravensbrook integrated amp. Around 1974 replaced it with an Armstrong 621 integrated (more power). That amp served me well until around 1982, things started to get crazy, Nakamichi Ca5 pre and PA7 power amp combo, great gear built around a Nelson Pass Threshold unit. I kept that until 2010 or so…replaced it with a Simaudio i3.3 integrated and also a few years later got a Cronus Magnum II. Both of those integrated were very good IMO. Last year I got a Hegel 390, very good…maybe I’m done…maybe not .
Marantz 2250B, Onkyo don't remember the model number, Marantz SR 96, Marantz SR 8500, Creek 4330SE, Marantz 4400, Marantz SR 7013. Guess one can say I like Marantz.
Former Solid State: Parasound HCA-750A Parasound HCA-1000A Parasound HCA-1500A Parasound Halo A21 Parasound Halo JC5 ModWright KWA 100SE Former Tube: TAD-60 Tube Amplifier Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum Rogue Audio M-180's Current: Vas Audio Citation II's Quicksilver Mono 120's
Well I came full circle 1984:Cyrus 1 Then a bunch of Denon AVRs 2021: Cyrus Pre2Dac QXR + PSX-R2 + Stereo 200 power amp
I am not sure if I will remember them all...I will try in non-chronological order: Pioneer SX3500, Chiro C-200, McIntosh MC-250, Musical Design D75 monoblocks, McIntosh Mc275, Pilot SA-232, Pilot SA-260, Pilot SA-264, Pilot AA-904 monoblocks Berning EA-230 stereo and then 2 in mono, Berning EA2150, Berning EA2100, Luxman M4000, Luxman LX-33, Koonce 300b monoblocks, Bel Canto Orfeo (845) monos, Atma-sphere Locomotive (i forget that model number), McIntosh MC2125 and Mc2100, Hadley 622, McIntosh Mc7100 in mono, McIntosh MC275 McIntosh Mc30 Stax DA50 Aloia ST 13.01 Precision Fidelity Grundig NF-20 Grundig NF-10 YBA Integre DT Woodside ISA230 James Burgess one off. Loftin-White circuit using 1930's tubes, the RL 12 T15. The driver tubes are PC86's and the rectifier in each amp is the Telefunken AZ-1. Lazarus class A monoblocks (forget the model..H1A?) Allen monoblocks and stereo JE Labs clone by Min 2A3 Jeff Korneff 45 Monarchy Audio SM-70 mono's class A Dayens Ampino stereo amp NRG A150 stereo AMR AM-777 hybrid I am missing many Integrated amps....Pilot, Kirksaeter, Luxman, and others.
First - Pioneer integrated - model SA-500A, bought in the mid 70's had it for about 5+ years; Second - Realistic Receiver - model STA 2080, bought it in the early '80's and it is still in my garage; Third - NAD 1000 preamp and 2 x 2400 power amps (used them both in bridged mono and in stereo to bi-amp the speakers), bought in the early 90's; Fourth - Consonance R1.1 preamp and 2 x M800SE mono blocks, bought in mid 2000's and still have them - oh yeah - tubes! Fifth and current - Luxman 590AXII - bought about 12 months ago - back to an integrated, but class A is lovely. So closing in on 50 years and only had 5 amp set-ups. Whilst I have had the Realistic the longest I have used the Consonance the longest. I have gone from cheap solid state integrated, to a receiver, to separates (2 x power amps), to tube separates and now back to integrated solid state - but it is class A. The only thing I am currently tempted by is the Mola Mola Makua preamp - mainly because I was seriously considering the Tambaqui DAC and this gives me the DAC and a great phono stage all integrated in a fantastic pre-amp. Good thing I can't afford it at the moment.
Onkyo 8211(?) stereo receiver Onkyo HT reciever(low end but dont recall the model) Denon 1913 HTreceiver Denon 2135 HT reciever NAD 216THX (beastly tank but did not like the dark sound) Rotel 980RBX...crisp and clear with nice oomf but bested by... Belles A250 (nice heft and sooo damn smooth with some fine detail retrieval) Perreaux PMF3150( leagues ahead of all the rest i've had so far)
Misc Sony ES receivers … 1991 to 1994 Nakamichi PA5II … 1995 to 2008 Levinson 33H / 433 … 2009 to present Proceed Amp 5 … 2018 to present (theatre)
W4S is coming out with a new GaNFET amp. Reports of other applications of the GaNFET modules are quite favorable as another step forward in class D technology. FYI very nicely done history. I bet the ANs sound great. I may build an ANK one day.
Pioneer SX 580 Aiwa AX 7800 Fast fwd about 30 years..... Proton 930 ( currently in my garage system,used as a preamp.) Kenwood KM 106 (currently in use in my garage Adcom GFA 555 II Monarchy Audio SM70mkII (x2,run in mono) I still have these. First Watt F5. ( currently in use) 10 wpc tube amp ( no brand name,purchased from the builder.) I still have this,and it is set up in a 3rd system. First Watt J2. Also currently in use. Obviously,I have a hard time getting rid of audio equipment!
I just remembered, modified Hafler something or other. XL-280? It reminds me of the Adcom I picked up or that old H-K Citation, same basic sonic signature.
Sansui AU9900 integrated APT 1 A number of Carver, M200 , M400 , M500, M 1.0 , M 1.5 B&K ST 140. ST 2140 , pair of M200 Sonata Monos VTL. 50/50 Anthem Amp 1 Sonic Frontiers SFS 40 McIntosh 7100 McCormack DNA 125 Quicksilver Mid Monos (current$ ON ORDER: ToolShed Amps 300b.
Me too, so I found a dealer and was all set to buy one. However, the guy essentially talked me out of it and sent me home with the Carver and a big-ass NAD. I bought the NAD.
I recently sold three pieces of gear thinking I was downsizing and somehow ended up buying three more amps within a month for my two systems: Sugden A21SE, Luxman MQ-88uC, and Leben CS-300xs. Apparently I'm becoming an amp collector
I have had 10 amps in my main system over 40+ years but have finally settled on one that I have been using since 2002: 1) Philips receiver (AH7841 I think) 2) Sansui A60 integrated (post heyday as it was a big box purchase but had cool VU lights) 3) Toshiba receiver SA-850 (Universal Stereo - had a digital tuner) 4) Yamaha integrated AX-700 5) Parasound HCA-1000A 6) Adcom 5802 (big, heavy, high powered beast) 7) Pass Aleph 3 (changed mind set) 8) Pass Aleph 5 (maybe a little more power) 9) Pass Aleph 2 monoblocks (maybe a touch more power) 10) Music Reference RM 200 (That's it! Or was it kids?) Either way, I am content now with my amp although could use a turntable upgrade....
Sherwood S-7100A receiver Dynaco PAT-5 paired with SAE Mk IIIC Adcom GTP-450 paired with Adcom GFA-535 Adcom GFP-750 paired with Adcom GFA-535 Adcom GFP-750 paired with NAD C298
It might be wise to stay one technology behind in terms of saving a bucket of cash. The mAmps I got were $649 each last Black Sunday sale or whatever it is called in the US. If they have a new class D chip coming they may again put the amps on sale for a low price. I am quite happy I took Constantine's advice and went with Wyred4Sound over Parasound. I was looking at buying a dealer demo JC1. But preamps matter and I really was impressed with the Audio Note M1 phono and mAmps. That combo for the money (especially with the mAmps on sale) is quite something.
I possibly had a similar Sanyo boom box LOL! First "real" receiver: Technics SA-151. That served me well throughout high school and died during college, which led me to another technics receiver; the model number eludes me (though I believe my buddy still has his to this day and uses it). During residency, I bought an Outlaw Audio RR2150. Used that and then came across a vintage Pioneer SX-780, which I enjoyed until I moved to our current neighborhood and discovered that my neighbor was a hi-fi geek and was into tubes. Then the real trouble began! Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum II integrated.....then an Ars-Sonum Filarmonia integrated....then upgraded to the more powerful Ars-Sonum Gran Filarmonia integrated.....to today, which is a pair of Joule-Electra VZN-100 OTL monoblocks and a Joule-Electra LA-300ME preamp. I actually have *the* pair of amps that was used in past audio shows to demo the Merlin Music Systems VSM loudspeakers (which I also own). The biggest jump early on in sound quality for me was from the Rogue to the Filarmonia...and the Gran provided even more enjoyment. Provided I can put up with the heat that the VZN's put out (this summer was a little rough!), I hope to hold onto these as they sound beautiful and pair really well with my loudspeakers.
First some Grundig AllInOne + classic tape recorder Then follow: Technics SU-Z22 (1981) Sansui Yamaha Arcam Delta 290 + 290 P (from 1995/6 ~ 2010, bi-amping, extraordinarily good sound) Fase (lent to me by a friend) Yamaha (again, short time) Rotel RA-1570 + RB-1552mkII (from 2015 ~ 2018, bi-amping, very very good) Vincent SV-237MK (from 2018 -> = extraordinarily good sound, brilliant)
The reason I've forgotten a lot of my gear history is because of this great little shop that was just a few blocks from my home. About 20 years ago when everyone was selling their silver gear for pennies on the dollar to "upgrade" to ht old school dinosaurs like myself had this clubhouse. Those were fun times hanging out with like minded dinosaurs before everyone had internet pricing at their fingertips. There was Mcintosh, Sansui, Pioneer a variety of quality turntables, gold face Scott and Fisher tube gear etc. all that could be bought in there without the home equity loan money that's required today. Ahhh the good old days......gone but not forgotten. I had a thing for meters back then and here's a shot of a few metered amps I lugged home.
Actually, I do ;-) Olson Integrated Scott 299C Fisher 201 Dynaco SCA-40 kit with the very important last step of affixing the label: "Warning, No user serviceable parts inside". Bedini 25/25 Muse 100 Paramours Audio Note Kit One DiyHiFiSupply kit Ella Melody 300B KR Audio 340A KR Audio Kronzilla Red Rocks Renaissance 211 Tubelab Simple SE John Tucker/Doc Bottlehead/Steve Brown circuit Simple 45 (waddaya know? I learned to read a schematic) Mullard 5-20 circuit updated by an all star cast at Diyaudio.com to 4-60 mono blocks
I know I've shown this a million times on here, but being 18'ish and having a kickass Marantz component system was the cats meow. Ripped some awesome LPs to Cassette. Then I got a Yamaha CD player, it was all over for LPs for me. Cassettes soon followed. After that I moved on to the Surround Sound world with a nice Pioneer receiver. (no pic)