why do old amps sound is liked by many serious audiophiles even though...

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
Sometimes justified, sometimes not

i have seen many talk about the vintage Marantz 170DC or Pioneer 1980 etc

what is so unique of those amps that someone cant build such stuff these days?

I have even seen ceramic and mylar caps in those which are generally not encouraged in audio ckt.

but why does they sound that great that one eventually calling me many times that do you have any old amp like them....

we can get better toroidal these days better caps but whats wrong...

i sometime see the polystyrene capacitors in the old amps is that one of the strong reasons why they sound good?
ofcourse design is one aspect but example...

people say Rotel was good few decades ago but now its not as good as old...

i understand the cost and features competetions but is there anything apart from that what makes them so unique...

Some vintage amps have superior build quality and decent specs so they sound good but some are no better than modern amps. Unfortunately, the range of choice today is a small fraction of what was offered 30 years ago.
Many of the well known hi-fi manufaturers have either gone out of business or stopped making stereo products and moved to multichannel surround receivers where the public buys based on watts and dollars ONLY in too many cases. Those new receivers often have BASH amplifier designs to minimize cost and power supply size and 0.7-0.9% distortion is considered OK. Amps like the Pioneers from the 1970's were much more expensive than today's receivers and except for the bottom couple of models in the line, were very well built and had very good specs. They also look and feel like quality products. Few makers even offer integrated amplifiers today and those who do often price them out of reach for all but the 1%. I always recommend 1970-1980's integrated amplifiers and some receivers from companies like
Sansui, Pioneer, Denon, etc. Of course, if you don't connect them to serious modern speakers it's all for naught.
 
Interestingly, older pro amplifiers, etc. usually have components that were great for their age and designs that top-notch. My Biamp EQ-210 has a kick-*** PCB layout and plenty of ventilation room inside the chassis. Grounding, etc is superb.

The only major problem with old tech (1970's) is that design quality is more or less matched by the archaic nature of components from the era. My Biamp really only shined after I upgraded the 4558 op-amps to lm4562's (then stabilized the circuit), upgraded its resistors to metal film types and its ceramic capacitors to C0G versions.

In short, with a little love it's hard to beat "old" audio.
 
I would suggest there is quite a bit of nostalgia associated with older amplifiers.
I have a couple of 1980 Maplin 50 watt amplifier modules. This was my first amplifier project in 1980 and so holds a lot of good memories for me. What was incredible for me was it worked first time ! I also built a Maplin 225WRMS amplifier for a mobile disco and that worked well for many years despite on road use.
Despite the 50 watt amp being old I do like the sound of it. I cant tell the difference between it and a modern class d amplifier.

It just happens i've been given a Maplin 50w amp in need of some minor repair.
Just got it working this morning, and i have to say i'm astonished by its performance.
It would be easy to right these off as old junk, or at the very least, assume it to be very run of the mill.

Here's a typical example of an amp with electrolytic input caps. Yet the amp sounds as detailed as my Tripath amps, and as easy to listen to as my tube amp. It has a wonderful presence in the upper mid band, which gives music a live feel, and yet never sounds tiring.

I admit i was expecting to use it for spares, but it's been running all day and i don't feel the need to switch it off just yet. Probably as enjoyable as any solid state amp i've owned.
One of those unlikely hidden gems.
 
It just happens i've been given a Maplin 50w amp in need of some minor repair.
Just got it working this morning, and i have to say i'm astonished by its performance.
It would be easy to right these off as old junk, or at the very least, assume it to be very run of the mill.

Here's a typical example of an amp with electrolytic input caps. Yet the amp sounds as detailed as my Tripath amps, and as easy to listen to as my tube amp. It has a wonderful presence in the upper mid band, which gives music a live feel, and yet never sounds tiring.

I admit i was expecting to use it for spares, but it's been running all day and i don't feel the need to switch it off just yet. Probably as enjoyable as any solid state amp i've owned.
One of those unlikely hidden gems.

Is that the mosfet amp?
I had a couple of those and built some very sturdy PSUs for them, and yes they did sound very very good! I put the output mosfets on a different PSU to the rest incidentally.
 
I'm a headphone guy but occasionally listen to my speaker setup. Found this thread cause I was considering building an amp for my home theater rig (thats the best term I can give it:)

But I don't have the time right now and it would end up costing quite a bit (I've got about a $500 budget.)

I was hoping by now digital amps would be competetive by now just because I like small and efficient, but I'm tired of waiting. Looking at the DIY efforts they just don't make sense yet.

For the money I don't think anything could beat a used $350 Adacom GFA so thats what I'm going to buy.
 
Last edited:
I was hoping by now digital amps would be competetive by now just because I like small and efficient, but I'm tired of waiting. Looking at the DIY efforts they just don't make sense yet.

For the money I don't think anything could beat a used $350 Adacom GFA so thats what I'm going to buy.

Class d amps (not digital), can be good. Even some of the cheaper ones have surprising abilities.
All this thread is doing, is pointing out that there are good designs from way back when.
I've never encountered an "Adacom", so i couldn't comment.
 
Class d amps (not digital), can be good. Even some of the cheaper ones have surprising abilities.
All this thread is doing, is pointing out that there are good designs from way back when.
I've never encountered an "Adacom", so i couldn't comment.

Thanks, I did mean class D. To me its an interesting comparison and I think this thread has some merit for us DIYers

For under $500 bucks the best I could do class D would be something like a TAS5630 which really only does 100W per channel into 8 ohms (and thats really pushing it.) The old amps do much better. FYI the $500 Adacom is a NP design.

If I had the time I would wind my own torroids for a class D build and delve into that world or build a traditional SS amp, but really its not realistic to think one can do a decent 150W 8ohm per channel amp for the $350 I'm going to spend on the old Nelson Adacom GFA 555 (just wish it wasn't so big and heavy:( ).

I'll keep my DIY efforts for my headphone rig cause ultimately the quality of a system is dictated by the drivers, and I know I can't afford speakers that would justify the time and money for a top notch amplifier.

Just saying old amps have a place for us on our journey toward audio nivana :)
 
Last edited:
My pride and JOY.

After having used several "chibased" junk in our livingroom for years, my wife decided that THIS one was the one to use.

TANDBERGTR2080-1.jpg
 
The most common problem with SMD components is that some of them are so small that to troubleshoot or to replace them is a pain in the a$$! You must have Good eyes and steady pulse and do not mention those ic's that have so many legs the size of a hair...:eek:

My wife got me one of these as an 'aging' joke almost 20 years ago. I showed HER and started using it and now wouldn't be without it (one at work, one at home). Now and then someone at works asks me how I can work on the tiny stuff and I give them the visor. It's no big deal as long as your hands don't shake (too much). It IS 'fun' replacing ICs with .5mm lead spacing.

OptiVISOR

Bausch and Lomb Magna Visor is good too

Magna Visor ? Hands-Free Visor with interchangeable lenses : Bausch + Lomb

 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.