Are recievers good enough to use an a headphone amplifer? - Page 3

I'm a big fan of vintage receivers and the fact that stupid people through away some really good stuff, some of it are in fact legendary and better than todays receivers made by Tivoli. E-waste return are a literal goldmine if you know what to look for, the only thing you have to do with these clenodiums are to change the capacitors as they have dried up. If you like the warm sound of germanium transistors, a good receiver from the seventies is the way to go.

You could in fact make a real bargain!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canuck57 

 

 

 

The quality of manufacturing/parts declined significantly for Marantz, Luxman, Yamaha, Pioneer, Sansui, etc., after 1980. Here's a quote from a vintage gear website. I have many vintage (pre- 1980) receivers & integrated amps. which sound fantastic. My main amp. is a Sansui AU-7900 from the late 70s.

 

http://www.classicaudio.com/value/san/AU7900.html

 

What the heck happened in 1980?
The exact date varies from brand to brand, but the bottom fell out of the build quality. Manufacturers sacrificed quality for production speed and started aiming at the 'general' market instead of the 'audiophile' market. Analog tuners were replaced with digital tuners. Discrete output devices were often replaced with integrated circuits, many of which are no longer available today. Some pre-1980 models used output ICs, and some post 1980 models were still well built.
 

I know that's the general opinion but I don't buy it, and in fact it doesn't agree with the facts. The introduction of the NAD 3020 in 1977 revitalised the market and led to brands like Rotel, which had been a crap brand in the 70s, entering the audiophile market. With the many descendants of the NAD, the many variants of the Rotel 820/840 series, Marantz's many fine amps including the switchable Class A PM80/82/94 etc up to the PM17K1 and many others like Pioneer's A400...I could go on and on about classic amps of the 80s & 90s. Of course if you're only after a creamy, warm valve-like sound, maybe something was lost in the 80s, but that's not necessarily desirable, especially if you're after an amp to match the 650s.

Double post.