The Hot 100/stereophile's 40 Years

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

Yes, there was something in this month’s issue besides Tyll taking it off, which by the way, I thought was pretty smart advertising. I know the average age group here is not very old, and a lot of the components listed in “The Hot 100” are audio products that many at Head-Fi haven’t heard. But, this blast from the past list has a few products in it that reminds me that I’m not a child anymore, and how time can fly when your having fun.
I’m sure that all the products that are on this list are great but the ones that I’m glad made it are the following:

Thiel 3.6s – Without a doubt one of the best deals in audio. I owned them, loved them, and sold them. Not only were they a bargain at their asking price, but also they were one of the most balanced speakers ever with limited weaknesses. Just genius!

B&W Matrix IIs – If this speaker didn’t put B&W on the map then I don’t know what did. Everybody evolved in high-end audio at the time were respectful of these things. They were the studio monitors of choice for many. I wonder how many awards they got? I bet a lot.

Adcom GFA-555 – Always known for bang for the buck, Adcom sold the **** out of these. I know, because I used to sell them back in the day. Anybody on a budget would grab one of these to power their floor standers, and almost all of them were happy about it. I owned this one also.

Sennheiser HD-414s – Never heard them, but glad to see that someone thinks headphones can be of high-fidelity

PSB Alphas – They are not my favorite budget speaker, but anyone who knows a lick about sound quality of speakers must respect their value. How can so many, be wrong?

Disappointments were the exclusion of John Curl’s designs. (Parasound) And, no Paul Klipsch designs.
Is there anybody else that’s glad to see certain products make it, or any disappointments?

 

[TravelLite]

Well, one major disappointment comes to mind. The JBL L100 Century studio monitor loudspeaker wasn't mentioned.

OTOH, if they mentioned that, then for "balance" they'd probably have to list the Bose 901 too.

TravelLite

 

[KR...]

It as a cool list, also did you notice that back in the old days that headphones appeared on the covers a lot more than they do now, which is almost never.

 

[RickG]

Quote:

Originally posted by TravelLite The JBL L100 Century studio monitor loudspeaker wasn't mentioned.

A pair of these served me well for about 20 years.

 

[Lampshade]

I have a pair of JBL L100T My cousin gave me. Heheh I have no idea how that compare to anything. I guess there quite diffrent from the L100 though.

 

[gloom]

Sweet. I love the Thiel CS3.6 more than any other speaker I've heard. Too bad a pair cost almost as much as two semesters' tuition

and gear worthy of driving them would probably pay for graduate school, too.

 

[AC1]

Apogee Scintillas, which was suprising since it was not really their top model and according to sphile not even the best sounding (also hard to drive, ugh, below 1 ohm load)... Still love the planner sound though, lived with it for a while, even the Thiel 3.6's (now in HT duty) did not displace them in my dads main system. Though I personally do like the sound of Thiels.

 

[DeeJayBump]

Quote:

Originally posted by CRESCENDOPOWER Disappointments were the exclusion of John Curl’s designs. (Parasound)

While they didn't include any John Curl-designed Parasound goodness, they DO list a John-Curl contribution--the (#85) Vendetta Research SCP-2 phono preamp.