What's your favorite vintage power amplifier?

[weinstro]

and do is it your favorite because it's a great bargain, nobody makes 'em like that anymore, it's a great shell for your next project...

I'm interested in your opinion....

Right now, I have Marantz Esotec, Sumo, Hafler, and a Kenwood L-05 is on the way.

[grateful_carl]

Threshold Class A...from the early to mid 80s. Built like tanks and so beautiful to hear. Talk about bass authority...

[Jan Dupont]

In the field of powerful dynamic reproduction my favorite is;
Crown/Amcron DC300 Series II

[Excalibur]

Kenwood M2A
Tremendous bass response

[I_Forgot]

I like my Soundcraftsmen PM860 that I bought new about 25 years ago and has never needed anything but an annual vacuuming to keep it working. It may be time to replace the electrolytic caps, just based on age. Nothing beats reliability, and I have abused the XXXX out of this amp.

I_F

[SleeperSupra]

I'll second the Soundcraftsmen...

[salesmonster]

There are so many good amps to choose from: Quad, Naim, Krell, conrad johnson. They have all made a lasting impression on me in one way or another.

But overall I'll have to second the Threshold Class A comment. My first experience was around 1985. I was in an high end audio store, but as with most demos you really can't hear any music, just volume. Then I came around the corner into a tiny little alcove. It was an incredibly mis-matched combination. A Threshold playing into a pair of Spica TC-60s. The Spicas were great loudspeakers, for their price...but I never heard them sound like this. It was amazing. Holographic. Wonderful midrange. Authority. Life-like voice. Warmth I had only heard from tubes up until that time.

Here was a combo costing less than most of the "big" systems in the store, but it could eat them for lunch without ever breaking stride.

[SY]

Marantz 9. Not that I'd keep a pair if I had them, the collector price is astonishing. But it's a very conventional basic design, superbly engineered, with a few very, very nifty design tricks.

As far as sheer reliability and still-solid performance, the Adcom GFA-555 (early build) is my nomination. Mine is 22 years old now, tons of abuse, and all it does is sound fine on whatever weird speaker I throw at it. The bass is particularly excellent, and only the newly-arrived 500 watt VT-3 amps have caused the Adcom's retirement.

[Conrad Hoffman]

Probably the Dynaco Stereo 70 or MkIIIs. They were inexpensive, built like a tank, and I built them both way back and sold them when they weren't worth much. Wish I had a couple dozen to sell today. Easily modified and better sounding than a lot of the solid state gear available during the same time period.

[Cloth Ears]

Sansui AU-X1 from 1981 - it's an integrated. Lovely old beast that does benefit from a couple of modifications to improve stability. And, as I picked mine up for $5 on eBay, I am not complaining - works out at slightly over 8 cents per pound of amplifier. Specified as 160w/channel, my tech measured it as starting to clip at around 260w with both channels driven.