[claybum]

Anyone need some vintage Mcintosh. Don't see cragslist postings like this in Eugene, Or very often.
$15,000 takes it all.
 
http://eugene.craigslist.org/ele/5266289047.html
 
no affiliation on my part

 

[Oregonian]

Think I'd rather have that than the new Orpheus..............

 

[wotts]

  Think I'd rather have that than the new Orpheus..............

 
 

 
That stack looks amazing.

 

[Thenewguy007]

Been reading up all day.
 
So is it safe to say the best of the best for each brand are:
 
Pioneer

1. Pioneer SX-1980
2. Pioneer SX-1280
3. Pioneer SX-1250
4. Pioneer SX-1080
5. Pioneer SX-1050
6. Pioneer SX-1010
7. Pioneer SX-980
 
 
Marantz
 
1. Marantz 2600
2. Marantz 2500
3. Marantz 2385B
4. Marantz 2285B
5. Marantz 2265B
 
 
Sansui
 
1. Sansui B2301/C2301
2. Sansui AU-X1111MOS
3. Sansui AU- Alpha 907
4. Sansui AU-919
5. Sansui AU-819
6. Sansui AU-717
7. Sansui G-9000
8. Sansui G-7000
9. Sansui 9090DB
10. Sansui 9090
 
 
Fisher
 
1. Fisher 800c
2. Fisher 500c
3. ?
 
 
Which out of those would be a good match for the Sennsheiser HD800, 300Ohms sensitive headphones?
 
Also any word on what's good for vintage Yamaha, Kenwood, Onkyo stuff?

 

[Oregonian]

You forgot the Spec series................from Pioneer.  May be the best stuff Pioneer made. 
 
And I love the HD800 from the Spec system out of the headphone jack.  Bass light?  I don't think so.................

 

[Thenewguy007]

  You forgot the Spec series................from Pioneer.  May be the best stuff Pioneer made. 
 
And I love the HD800 from the Spec system out of the headphone jack.  Bass light?  I don't think so.................

 
What's the difference between the Spec series, the SA series & the SX series?
All the info I been reading about has been all the SX line, very little talk about the other ones.
 
Which would be the best bet for using them as a pure headphone amp?
 
Also is Spec 1 or 2 the better one?

 

 

[Oregonian]

   
What's the difference between the Spec series, the SA series & the SX series?
All the info I been reading about has been all the SX line, very little talk about the other ones.
 
Which would be the best bet for using them as a pure headphone amp?
 
Also is Spec 1 or 2 the better one?

 

 
I'm only going off what I was told on Audiokarma when I found this system - guys said there was nothing better, either by design or by execution (not verbatim but it's one of the Pioneer gurus over there) and from what I read can't refute it. 
 
Here's a couple of sites to check out -
 
http://www.thevintageknob.org/pioneer-SPEC-2.html
http://www.johnweeks.com/tour/pioneer/
 
The Spec 1 is the preamp and Spec 2 is the amp (250 wpc).  Spec 4 is also available as an amp @ 150 wpc
 
I have the SX-1050 and it's headphone out is glorious.  The Spec system is my best and sound is pretty incredible, especially out of my vintage Cerwin Vega speakers. 

 

[Luckbad]

What's the difference between the Spec series, the SA series & the SX series?
All the info I been reading about has been all the SX line, very little talk about the other ones.

Which would be the best bet for using them as a pure headphone amp?

Also is Spec 1 or 2 the better one?

The SX series are receivers and SA series are amps (and you can get a matching tuner for many of them).

Both are awesome. If you have sensitive headphones, you might look into the SA series. Most of them have a Mute switch that drops the volume by 20dB.

I had the SX-880 and it sounded awesome but hissed with sensitive cans.

 

[Thenewguy007]

   
   
The Spec 1 is the preamp and Spec 2 is the amp (250 wpc).  Spec 4 is also available as an amp @ 150 wpc
 
I have the SX-1050 and it's headphone out is glorious.  The Spec system is my best and sound is pretty incredible, especially out of my vintage Cerwin Vega speakers. 

 
 

The SX series are receivers and SA series are amps (and you can get a matching tuner for many of them).

 

 
I'm really new to receivers, but don't all of these receivers have built in amps in them to power headphones & speakers?
 
I understand why one would need a preamp for a stand alone power amp that has no volume control & just one set of inputs, but none of these seem to fit that criteria.
 
All I been using so far was DAC's & dedicated headphone amps, so I'm new to the use of preamps.

 

[kenshinhimura]

to be more specific, the SX has am/fm tuner and the SA doesn't. that's the main difference.

 

[PhoenixG]

  Anyone need some vintage Mcintosh. Don't see cragslist postings like this in Eugene, Or very often.
$15,000 takes it all.
 
http://eugene.craigslist.org/ele/5266289047.html
 
no affiliation on my part

Wow.
There's a lot to chew on. That's one of the nicest mcintosh systems I've seen!

  Been reading up all day.
 
So is it safe to say the best of the best for each brand are:
 
Pioneer

1. Pioneer SX-1980
2. Pioneer SX-1280
3. Pioneer SX-1250
4. Pioneer SX-1080
5. Pioneer SX-1050
6. Pioneer SX-1010
7. Pioneer SX-980
 
 
Marantz
 
1. Marantz 2600
2. Marantz 2500
3. Marantz 2385B
4. Marantz 2285B
5. Marantz 2265B
 
 
Sansui
 
1. Sansui B2301/C2301
2. Sansui AU-X1111MOS
3. Sansui AU- Alpha 907
4. Sansui AU-919
5. Sansui AU-819
6. Sansui AU-717
7. Sansui G-9000
8. Sansui G-7000
9. Sansui 9090DB
10. Sansui 9090
 
 
Fisher
 
1. Fisher 800c
2. Fisher 500c
3. ?
 
 
Which out of those would be a good match for the Sennsheiser HD800, 300Ohms sensitive headphones?
 
Also any word on what's good for vintage Yamaha, Kenwood, Onkyo stuff?

 
I'd say you missed a few of the real nice but unarguably TOTL units. The biggest G series (22k/33k) for sansui are hyper rare, but about perfect as far as receivers go. I don't think the pioneer 980 quite fits in with the rest of the list esp without the spec series up there.
And you're also overlooking some other brands. Mcintosh, sony, and even technics all deserve to be in the mix. some more consistently than others haha. Technics made 3 good receivers, but good luck finding the best ones, mcintosh made a ton of hits and very few misses, and sony was amazing with it's str-6120/6200 models, but slid from there.

 

[Thenewguy007]

I searched through this thread & found no comparisons between the Fisher 500c & 800c.
Is the 800c a worthwhile upgrade over the 500c?
 
 
Also what should I look for if they were restored?
BobG55 had a bad experience with a restoration that made his 500c sound worse.
Should the capacitors & tubes be restored with the same types?
 
If I send it to a recommended restorer, what would be the general cost?

 

[Koolpep]

  Been reading up all day.
 
So is it safe to say the best of the best for each brand are:
 
 
Sansui
 
1. Sansui B2301/C2301
2. Sansui AU-X1111MOS
3. Sansui AU- Alpha 907
4. Sansui AU-919
5. Sansui AU-819
6. Sansui AU-717
7. Sansui G-9000
8. Sansui G-7000
9. Sansui 9090DB
10. Sansui 9090
 
 

 
You forgot the rare and awesome Sansui AU-2200 - the headphone output uses the same circuit on the headphone out as on the speaker out....
 

 
 
I couldn't believe my ears how well it drove my planars and dynamic (high impedance) headphones. 
 
Cheers,
K
 
PS: also the A-E970 with the Sanyo LC7881hybrid DAC which sounds sublime to me.

 

[jnorris]

   
You forgot the rare and awesome Sansui AU-2200 - the headphone output uses the same circuit on the headphone out as on the speaker out....
 

 
 
I couldn't believe my ears how well it drove my planars and dynamic (high impedance) headphones. 
 
Cheers,
K
 
PS: also the A-E970 with the Sanyo LC7881hybrid DAC which sounds sublime to me.

 
Rare, perhaps, awesome, no.  the AU-2200 is a 10 watt per channel (40-20KHz at .8% distortion) integrated amp that is built around low-end IC opamps and the cheap Sanyo STK016B amplifier chip.  Usually, an amps headphone out is taken through a resistor step-down from the speaker out taps.  On this amp, either the designers were too cheap to throw in the extra resistors, or felt that the power was too anemic to hurt any headphones connected directly to the speaker out taps.
 
I can't believe you're using high end headphones with this thing.  My guess is that a new world awaits you when you upgrade your amp.

 

[Koolpep]

Rare, perhaps, awesome, no.  the AU-2200 is a 10 watt per channel (40-20KHz at .8% distortion) integrated amp that is built around low-end IC opamps and the cheap Sanyo STK016B amplifier chip.  Usually, an amps headphone out is taken through a resistor step-down from the speaker out taps.  On this amp, either the designers were too cheap to throw in the extra resistors, or felt that the power was too anemic to hurt any headphones connected directly to the speaker out taps.

I can't believe you're using high end headphones with this thing.  My guess is that a new world awaits you when you upgrade your amp.

Been there, done that. I still have Burson Conductor, ifi iDSD micro, bottlehead crack with speedball, C5 and C5D, and a few others that I have sold.

I was surprised too. So we're my audiophile friends who tried that amp. Most of my cans I run via the HE-Adapter from Hifiman via speaker taps balanced. I received two: "name your price" offers from people who heard their fans or own amps like the WA-5 (fully upgraded), Ragnarok, Glenn and other amps and with all of the TOTL headphones on the market

It's holding up surprisingly well, surpasses quite a few and I have heard: "best bass I have ever heard" with the HE-6 for example
I heard my high end cans with pretty amazing amps and dacs. Am fortunate enough to live in a city with some amazing friends that have more amps than I can count. Of course I am not saying the $150 dollar vintage Sansui is better than the fully upgraded WA-5, but it does sound amazingly good with my cans.

Is it a great amp for speakers? Probably not. But my headphones are driven amazingly well from it. I couldn't believe it myself at first. But now it's my goto amp. The most musical and toe tapping experience.

Cheers,
K