Vintage Receivers/Amplifiers

Discussion in 'Headphone Amplifiers and Combo (DAC/Amp) Units' started by Luckbad, Sep 27, 2015.

  1. TomNC

    TomNC Friend

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    @Thenewerguy009
    I use HD650 and HD800 with two vintage receivers through either speaker taps or headphone output. They sound fine, especially in the balanced mode. The power ensures you have more than enough bass you will feel comfortable and you can adjustment that with those buttons or knobs.

    There are caveats with vintage gear relative to modern dedicated headphone amp. One is headphone output impedance match is not very ideal with low impedance phones causing low quality sound (distorted speed and accuracy). Another is that they tend to have some low level background noise, especially from the speaker taps. It does not bother me too much during music listening, but it is there and it is noise. In comparison, my Little Dot Mk III was dead quiet. I will be experimenting with a upgraded power supply to see if I can get rid of that noise. Since both of my receivers produces this white noise, I tend to believe it is the nature of the design. Will test this when my new power strip arrive.
     
  2. MrTie

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    I used my XTI1000's for a two way active horn system for while, then as sub amps, they didn't not make good sub amps for me, sold them off for a inuke6000DSP, now I have all the face crushing power I could ever need with my two sealed 18s. That said the XTI especially used as a wonderful amp for the money.
     
  3. Rex Aeterna

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    Crown had issues with lower end series xti 1 amps. They fixed it with the xti 2 series. It was some type of power supply problem. So, i can understand why you didn't like them for sub duty.

    I have no issues with my xti 4002. it actually showed me from playing around with it some believable power ratings and handles well under little power sag from line voltages. still was able push amp beyond clipping point and headroom to spare even at 90v line voltage reading with no shut downs or protection kicking in.

    I also make use of it great features. TTuning speakers and sub is easy with it's crossover slopes, parametric eq bands, and high/low pass shelf eq filters(very useful keeping unwated frequencies above or below crossover frequency out even more if done right).. So far i been happy with it and don't plan on buying another amp unless i need more power..also already was good chuck of money with 4002 being 1k amp( and here i am, the person in the past who said I'll never dish out this type of money fo an amp) so, im tapped out for good time now but, to me, so far the investment looked worth it...
     
  4. MrTie

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    Glad to see they fixed the psu issues, having used Harmon's architect and Behringer's software, I found both to be powerful and easy to use, I wouldn't use the inuke as a mains speaker amp but it does good sub duty work and it's easier to approximate a Linkwitz transform in the DSP for more extension on sealed subs.

    Edit*I should easier for a noob like myself.
     
  5. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

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    I have owned many vintage amps and receivers, but have sold them off except for my Sansui au-717. But it has to go now. Putting it up on CL this weekend.
     
  6. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I was trying to get a Model 600 amp, but the guy was selling it in a stack with other old gear which I had no use for. I tried to get him to split it, but then he had someone buy the stack, and the new owner wouldn't split the items :(

    There's another guy here with a pair of Model 300's, but his house reeks of cigarettes and cat urine. I wouldn't want to touch those amps for various health reasons.
     
  7. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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  8. Oregonian

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    As Luckbad knows, I'm a vintage FANATIC..............8 systems in use either at work or home. Flagship is the all Pioneer Spec rack system in my avatar - Spec 1 preamp, Spec 2 amp (250wpc), SG-9500 Equalizer, TX-9500II tuner (almost never listen to FM), PDR-609 CD burner/player, PL-S50 turntable.

    Add to that an SX-1050 receiver running my family room TV/CD/digital music system, SA-8800 at work, SA-7500MKII and SA-9900 in my garage driving Klipsch KG 3.2's and yeah, I'm into vintage.

    Digital music sounds awesome from these systems - and with tone controls and/or loudness circuits you can fine tune the sound for any liking. My HD800, once thought of as "bass light", is most assuredly not fed by the Spec system. Dharma sounds fantastic as well, and my HE-400 I feed from the speaker taps of the Spec system as well - and sounds incredible. If I figure how to upload pics from my computer I'll show some of the systems.

    Oh, and a great solution for the lazy man in all of us - a Chase RLC remote control. I use it on three of the systems at home and highly recommend it!
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2016
  9. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    Welcome to this hoity-toity land. You can't upload when a noob unfortunately. You'd have to upload them elsewhere and insert the URL here, or you can send me the photos and I'll upload them at Basshead.Club.
     
  10. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    Howdy! I had to sell my SA-9100 a couple months back, but I still have the vintage bug.

    I'm considering selling my amazing Audio-GD Master-11, then might get a second MHDT Atlantis dac and a great condition Pioneer amp. The MHDT is amazing, though not quite as good as the M11.

    If I'm only driving headphones, what would you consider to be the best vintage amp that I can find in great shape under $1000? Preferably in the $500 range.
     
  11. Thenewerguy009

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    I did some research & apparently a few select vintage Sansui amplifiers are the best.
    A lot of people on Audiokarma really think highly of them, much more so than the Pioneer, Marantz & other vintage receivers/amps from the '70s & early 80s.

    http://audiokarma.org/forums/index....-for-sound-quality.450432/page-8#post-6411451
    http://audiokarma.org/forums/index....lifier-for-sound-quality.450432/#post-5793189
    http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/sansui-au-alpha-907-limited.503734/#post-6546248

    There's a story that Sansui hired an engineer from some other company in the late '80s & he wanted to make Sansui products TOTL like they were in the '60s. He used the "price doesn't matter" in his designs & the limited edition ones in the late '80s & early '90s are the most sought after.

    You can actually buy most of them right now. Some guy from Russia put up his collection of Sansui stuff this week on eBay, though he wants top dollar for them ($2,000+). Interesting note, a lot of them have balanced inputs, something I haven't really seen from vintage amps/recievers.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2016
  12. takato14

    takato14 God of Ruin

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    I'm getting a Sansui AU-G77X-II pretty soon. I'll report back on sound once it gets here, but it'll mostly be with headphones. I hope to use my HE-6 with it once I get it.
     
  13. Oregonian

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    That's a tough question. I'm partial to Pioneer, owning 5 of them, so I'll suggest a SA-8800 integrated amp for starters. I paid $200 for mine in good shape - then ordered a walnut case for it from a guy on Audiokarma named sawdust for $100. Looks fantastic and has the fluoroscan blue power meters. I use it at work in my office driving my MD2000 headphones.

    That said...............I've paid $320 for a SA-9900 (110 wpc), $420 for an SX-1050 receiver (120 wpc) and $150 for a SA-7500 MKII (60 wpc) so you can find great vintage gear for much lower than your $500.
     
  14. Thenewerguy009

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    Last edited: Feb 13, 2016
  15. lithium

    lithium Almost "Made"

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    I have a very good condition vintage onkyo A-7 from 1976...I have been using its headphone output which is great in combination with its stepped attenuator and muting switch. Anyone has suggestions for cheap cables to tap its speaker output?

    Edit: for the curious
    http://www.thevintageknob.org/onkyo-A-7.html
     
  16. Thenewerguy009

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    Where do you buy 1/4" to speaker taps adapter cables anyway?
    Everywhere I read said it they can only be custom made & not bought.
     
  17. Gray

    Gray Friend

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    I am trying to identify vintage preamps or integrated amps/receivers that have a headphone stage that is more than just a speaker stage fed through resistors... but that info is hard to come by. I have read several threads regarding quality headphone output from vintage receivers, but no discussion of vintage stereo equipment with headphone stages similar to a modern dedicated headphone amplifier.

    I wonder if Marantz or other brands ever designed a dedicated headphone circuit housed within a preamp or integrated amp/receiver. I realize it would have been more expensive, but it seems that some brand would have experimented with this back in the 60's, 70's or 80's.

    Anyone here on SBAF know of any vintage stereo equipment that fits the bill... or a list somewhere that someone has compiled? Thanks!
     
  18. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Krell made a dedicated headphone amp decades ago (I forget the exact name) and the DIY clone of it is still moderately popular.
     
  19. lithium

    lithium Almost "Made"

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    I am not sure of any list such as you seek but the only manufacturer that I feel might have had some attention to headphone stages was probably yamaha as at that time they were manufacturing "orthodynamics" (a term I believe was first used in their marketing language). Unfortunately I think even their headphone circuits were mostly resistor stepped down.
     
  20. Armaegis

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    The Yamaha literature literally said the advantage of orthos was that their frequency response was not affected by the resistors.
     

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