Picking my Pioneer SA-8100 back up from my friendly local vintage repair specialists this afternoon. Looks and sounds fab, but did just need a couple of caps replacing (not expensive).
Pioneer SA-8100 by dcallaghan50, on Flickr
Marantz, Pioneer, Sony, Sansui, Luxman, Trio-Kenwood, Toshiba, JVC,
many of them are very good-looking with their silver finish and instrument lights,
but how they sound now? are they still reliable or it's just nostalgia?
Many thanks.
Mauro
The Yamaha amps always looked classy, but were just a bit too expensive for me - I had a Rotel back then.
I have a Hitachi HMA-6500 MOSFET power amp that is very highly rated for sound quality. It is in very poor cosmetic condition having been used in a Church Hall for years. But sounds fabulous. I got it at the local car boot for the princely sum of £4 so the Japanese bargains are out there.
I bought a complete set of Quad valves (pre/power x 2/stereo tuner) for £100 from a long gone dealer (Stereolectrics in Bolton then Horwich).
They worked well for a long time but one of the power amps has black gunk leaking from a transformer - I’m assuming that’s either an expensive repair or unrepairable.
The Yamaha amps always looked classy, but were just a bit too expensive for me - I had a Rotel back then.
I know a really good engineer in Bolton if you're still in the area.