thank-you, buson.
congrats on acquiring the concept receiver. i'm sitting here a bit envious. (yeah. were you just trying to be helpful to me in your post, or were you flaunting and just rubbing it in, as in "look what i got!"). ha, ha.
i'm just kidding. i appreciate your reply.
the thing that's frustrating to me is that very few sought-after vintage pieces ever come up on my local craigslist (and i don't see any in the consignment shops or thrift stores, either). i see tons of older a/v receivers (one of the latest that i looked at had the guy in the ad saying something to the effect "it sounds like the plane flew right through the room!").
sigh. you see? this is what we're dealing with these days. the home theater crowd (which is the majority of buyers for home amplification). most of this crowd either doesn't know or they don't care how important a role that the amplifier has in how the amp contributes to (or detracts from) the rendering of recorded music.
and, those of us who do know, and do care, have one helluva job finding exceptional-sounding gear these days where you feel that the sound signature of the amp was actually a concern of the amp designers and engineers.
hunting for and eventually finding satisfying gear can make the search effort pay-off, and part of that can be fun (especially when you're rewarded when you are lucky enough to acquire a piece that seems to tic all the boxes. i was lucky in finding an older JVC piece years ago from a older repairmans' shop where toshiba output transistors and good-quality elna caps were used, (the elna caps may be the originals. the last time it was serviced last year, i was told the caps were fine and just leave them alone for now). but it was just dumb luck that made me pop into that out of town shop one afternoon. (glad i did. it's been the most satisfying amp, sound-wise, that i've ever owned).
but, should it be this difficult?
strange days, indeed, when someone like me who's searching for a musical-sounding amplifier for headphone listening is seen as an "out-lier", or someone in the extreme minority. which is what i feel like a lot of the time. (none of my friends can relate to this. they don't know what the hell i'm talking about. they don't get it. so i don't bother discussing it anymore).
just kidding with what i said above, buson, the concept is something i'll keep in mind. but, i've never seen one of these come up locally, and i don't think i'd want to take the chance of getting one off ebay when i haven't heard it (and be taking the chance of it arriving, or should i say, surviving, shipping). so, i would be extremely lucky to be able to have the chance to get my hands on one of these pieces. unless, again, i'm willing to take the chance with shipping and handling.
You can see the headphone jack on the lower left corner.
