Arny Krueger wrote:
snip

The Golden Age of receivers appears to have been from
about 1983 to 1990.

Your golden age appears to have been 1938 to 1936.


The "golden age" of audio reproduction is universally considered to
have been somewhere between 1953 and 1971.

"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message
oups.com...

Arny Krueger wrote:
snip

The Golden Age of receivers appears to have been from
about 1983 to 1990.

Your golden age appears to have been 1938 to 1936.


The "golden age" of audio reproduction is universally considered to
have been somewhere between 1953 and 1971.

Reflecting further, I think I may have been off a little. Perhaps 1983 to
1993. In the early 90's, Sony made two channel receivers with toroidal
transformers. I have heard one, and been very impressed. I myself own a
Nakamichi TA-4A, which has a Nelson Pass quasi Class A output stage. It
seems fully on a par with separates, but requires very careful ventilation,
perhaps a fan, if used with full size speakers.

With respect to the dates you quote, it may be accurate in terms of
aspirations, but not, in my opinion, in terms of results.

The "golden age" of audio reproduction is universally considered to
have been somewhere between 1953 and 1971.

Reflecting further, I think I may have been off a little. Perhaps 1983 to
1993. In the early 90's, Sony made two channel receivers with toroidal
transformers. I have heard one, and been very impressed. I myself own a
Nakamichi TA-4A, which has a Nelson Pass quasi Class A output stage. It
seems fully on a par with separates, but requires very careful ventilation,
perhaps a fan, if used with full size speakers.

With respect to the dates you quote, it may be accurate in terms of
aspirations, but not, in my opinion, in terms of results.

As far as receivers, true, but no one bought receivers or even
integrateds in those days if they were serious.

The best amps and preamps of the day-the McIntosh MC240 and 275 amps,
C22 pre, MR67 and 71 tuners, the Marantz 7C pre and 5 and 8B amplifiers
(notice I'm not mentioning the overrated 10B tuner, and the Marantz 7
and Mac C22 being nearly identical)- are still, in blueprinted stock
form, better than pretty good sonically-in particular, only handcrafted
two stage passive phono sections custom-matched to specific cartridges
by very determined DIYers can substantially best the Marantz 7C, and
commercial preamps by Mark Levinson, Jeff Rowland, ARC, c-j, and others
of similar pricing often fail to equal this unit or do so but little or
no better. Half a century on that's no small thing!

And commercially available output transformers, the core component of
the tube power amp, are not substantially improved in performance from
when JFK was President, although the insulation materials certainly can
be. Solid state amps are much better, but the fact people still build
late-70s Nelson Pass circuits avidly says a lot.

"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message
ups.com...


The "golden age" of audio reproduction is universally considered to
have been somewhere between 1953 and 1971.

Reflecting further, I think I may have been off a little. Perhaps 1983
to
1993. In the early 90's, Sony made two channel receivers with toroidal
transformers. I have heard one, and been very impressed. I myself own a
Nakamichi TA-4A, which has a Nelson Pass quasi Class A output stage. It
seems fully on a par with separates, but requires very careful
ventilation,
perhaps a fan, if used with full size speakers.

With respect to the dates you quote, it may be accurate in terms of
aspirations, but not, in my opinion, in terms of results.

As far as receivers, true, but no one bought receivers or even
integrateds in those days if they were serious.

The best amps and preamps of the day-the McIntosh MC240 and 275 amps,
C22 pre, MR67 and 71 tuners, the Marantz 7C pre and 5 and 8B amplifiers
(notice I'm not mentioning the overrated 10B tuner, and the Marantz 7
and Mac C22 being nearly identical)- are still, in blueprinted stock
form, better than pretty good sonically-in particular, only handcrafted
two stage passive phono sections custom-matched to specific cartridges
by very determined DIYers can substantially best the Marantz 7C, and
commercial preamps by Mark Levinson, Jeff Rowland, ARC, c-j, and others
of similar pricing often fail to equal this unit or do so but little or
no better. Half a century on that's no small thing!

I disagree, not in the spirit, but in the preference. The Acoustat TNT-200
was featured on the cover of Audio Magazine. There was a reason. It is a
must-hear, when matched to appropriate soft-dome speakers. As far as vinyl
issues, I cannot comment, because I don't play there.

"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message
oups.com
Arny Krueger wrote:
snip

The Golden Age of receivers appears to have been from
about 1983 to 1990.

Your golden age appears to have been 1938 to 1936.


The "golden age" of audio reproduction is universally
considered to have been somewhere between 1953 and 1971.

One word: Yeccch!

Audio was really pretty bad until the early 80s.

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
news
"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message
oups.com
Arny Krueger wrote:
snip

The Golden Age of receivers appears to have been from
about 1983 to 1990.

That's pretty close. The golden age of receivers started with the
availability of low cost power transistors in complementary pairs. They
removed the last barrier to flat out design excellence. Starting in about
1992 progress in design has simply meant the addition of capabilities and
features to keep up with the release of new types of software.

Norm Strong

wrote:
"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
news
"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message
oups.com
Arny Krueger wrote:
snip

The Golden Age of receivers appears to have been from
about 1983 to 1990.

That's pretty close. The golden age of receivers started with the
availability of low cost power transistors in complementary pairs. They
removed the last barrier to flat out design excellence. Starting in about
1992 progress in design has simply meant the addition of capabilities and
features to keep up with the release of new types of software.


Perfectly good solid state amplifiers can be built with only N or P
channel devices. There are even those who believe it preferable to do
so.

"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message
ups.com

wrote:

"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message
oups.com

The Golden Age of receivers appears to have been
from about 1983 to 1990.

That's pretty close. The golden age of receivers
started with the availability of low cost power
transistors in complementary pairs. They removed the
last barrier to flat out design excellence. Starting in
about 1992 progress in design has simply meant the
addition of capabilities and features to keep up with
the release of new types of software.

Perfectly good solid state amplifiers can be built with
only N or P channel devices.

Agreed that many good-sounding quasi-complementary output
stage audio amps were built, but they had complementary
driver transistors.

The usual alternative to complementary drivers transistors
was driver transformers (e.g., the AR amplifier and
receiver), but this was never a really good solution.

There are even those who believe it preferable to do so.

They're nuts.