Our Favorite Vintage Integrated Amplifiers- What A List It Is!!!

hello my name is Kevin I'm a vintage stereo addict really bad [Music] all right I am super excited about this topic I love integrated amplifiers they are definitely my weak spot when it comes to Vintage amplifiers receivers all that kind of good stuff I am just a sucker for integrated and I don't know why I'm not saying they're better than receivers or separates it's just what I seem to like I don't listen to FM or am but if I get an integrated amplifier that I'm going to keep for a long time I always end up buying a tuner that matches it even though I never plan on using it but that's the addict or the the collector in me or a completionist whatever you want to call it if you're watching this video most likely you've caught the bug as well I always say this is the best addiction you can have at least as of now in that you're not going to lose your ass you're buying the equipment at a decent price in the last five years it's only gone up the only trouble I ever see is maybe with with the partner sneaking speakers in in the middle of the night receivers and amplifiers can cause problems I've heard this story over and over and over and over but anyway once again yeah I am stoked about this topic I've got a really good list for you I think as far as the sound goes I hate to say this but they all sound like Flagship or top of the line integrated amplifiers from the 70s these all sound incredible that's the best I can say for it the other thing is we're talking about 50 year old amplifiers here one might have been completely recapped one might have had very little use one might be you know used to death with a ton of corrosion in it so you know it's not like we're talking about an amplifier that straight off the assembly line and they all sound the same there are gigantic variances at this point with the way these units perform depending on how they've been used how they've been stored and what service has been done to them so it's not going to do anybody any good in that the unit I have might sound completely different than the unit that you have because of the things I just listed before so before I ramble on for too long let's get into it one more thing I do want to give a shout out to Randy at the cheap audio man he's been amazing he's a great dude and if for some crazy reason you don't follow him or watch his channel you really need to as far as finding you the good Bargains On good stereo equipment I don't think anybody's doing it better so Randy for some reason if you're watching thank you appreciate it and yeah we'll uh let's get into this video I'll shut up okay so these once again these aren't in order I'm not there's no hierarchy here I'm not ranking these but the first one I want to talk about would be the the Pioneer sa 9100 and these were made from 1973 to 1975. they have a whole 60 watts per Channel at 8 ohms with 0.1 total harmonic Distortion so not a monster amplifier although this was the flagship 60 watts per channel is plenty these things have plenty of cojones uh if you know what I'm saying good enough to drive just about anything it's maybe a newer uh speaker that requires a ton of amperage you're not going to have trouble driving Bose 901s or large advents or JBL 100s won't be an issue with a Pioneer sa 9100 the things I like about the sa9100 would be one there's a lot of them out there so there's lots of parts that you're able to find whether it's Cosmetics or what have you what I love about this integrated amplifier and that is it has control pots for phono 2 for auxiliary 2 and for speaker B so if you were ever wanting to a b let's say two turntables or two sets of speakers or two line level inputs this is an incredible integrated amplifier to have in that you can level match two inputs or or two sets of speakers there's one other integrated on this list that will do some of these things but none that will do all these things this is kind of a rare bird so for that reason alone it definitely makes a list because they're they're more high power Pioneer integrated amplifiers out there I'm giving it to this one for those reasons right there not to mention the tuner that matches with these is really cool you got the nice blue light back dial looks kind of like a an x2x or an x3x series which would be the same era if you come across one of these NAB it just can't say enough good things about them they are really cool the negatives and there are a couple negative these tend to have a lot of black legged noisy transistors and what I mean by that is the little transistors and the the amplifier board and the power supply they started out with silver three leg transistors and the corrosion has turned them black and it's working its way up into the body of the transistor causing noise and static in your audio which is no good so if you do get one of these I would plan on if it hasn't been refurbished I would plan on spending a little bit of money getting those transistors changed out and prices for these I see them range anywhere between you know 500 to 1200 depending on condition and what level of service has been done to it so you're not you're not gonna have to Fork out a huge amount to own one of these and a cool piece especially with those those three potentiometers in the back there really unique so a 9100 integrated amplifier and the next one on our list the Marantz 1030. uh 1973 to 1978 these are only 15 watts per Channel with 0.5 total harmonic distortion and I know I just heard a lot of people gasp in that I didn't put a monster Marantz integrated amplifier on this list but there's there's a good reason for that it's not just because I wanted a an entry-level integrated ample for on the list I've got several customers these are Marantz diehards super Fanboys that literally own almost every single Marantz piece of gear from the 70s and at least three or four of these guys and every single one of them says the same thing they'll say I've got you know the 23.85 I've got the 2325. for some reason I'm always listening to my 10 30 and my 2015 receiver the little 15 watt per Channel units they say that they they're just they've got something about them they're sweeter they like the sound of them more the only thing I could think of with that is a lot of times the more bells and whistles you add to a unit the more connections are happening the more circuitry your audio is going through so the simpler a lot of times is better you know you look at those old tube amplifiers that everybody Raves about and there's really not a lot going on there you know you're bringing your audio in you get a couple stages of amplification and it kicks it out there's not a bunch of filters and eqs and a lot of things that your audio could be diminished by so the Simplicity of the Marantz 1030 I think is the beauty of it I think Marantz is the king of receivers in that I think their receivers are incredibly looking and Incredibly built I don't think they spend as much time on their integrated amplifiers and I don't know why but they're usually on the boring side to me or they're even worse they have cheap looking five band eqs on the front of them and for some reason when I see a five band slider EQ on something I immediately go Oh man that looks cheap to me you know I do think there is a huge tax on a Marantz receiver in that I have been known to dead stare a customer right in the eye and I'll go you know you've been seduced by the blue light lights right you know that you're paying a Marantz tax because that's a Marantz because the same receiver the same build quality in let's say you know a Pioneer or Yamaha is most likely maybe two or three hundred dollars cheaper per watt but they did such a good job with the design of their receivers and what draws me to them is they're always symmetrical a lot of other receivers why they're designed well Marantz nailed Symmetry and I think that's what draws me to it and I like the blue lights too I'm not gonna lie it's just I don't know why they didn't dress up their integrateds a little bit more but neither here nor there grab a small Marantz 10 30. there's a ton of them out there you can pick them up cheap and they sound incredible and so it's a win-win-win in my opinion I don't really know of any negatives except for maybe some people might feel they're a little bit a little bit boring in the looks department but it's not all about look a nice 10 30 Marantz and a pair of decently efficient speakers and you've got an amazing setup for cheap that's the Marantz 1030 and definitely has its place on this list for sure all right the next one on my list and one that I do personally own is an accu-phase e202 from 1974. this is definitely probably the most rare on the list these were really popular in Japan I don't think they sold as many in the states a lot of people consider accu-phase to be the Japanese version of Macintosh the build quality on these is extremely good they this actually has modular boards in it meaning you can remove the boards without removing any wires to work on it they're a text dream they're built really well they look incredible they've got nice big Vu meters on them some claim these have the best phonal stage of any 70s uh stereo I don't know if I'd say it has the greatest phono stage however I do love the fact that once again this is one of those units that features a potentiometer for the second phono stage so you can balance your two turntables if you have a cartridge that's hotter than the other and you're wanting to make recordings I assume that's what they probably did back in the day if you wanted to you know you didn't want to stop your tape player from running you wanted to play or record one song off of one record and then go right into the next song off another record you could control the volume pot and kind of make a seamless tape recording so really cool feature there these also have a speaker damping three switch position attenuation as well so if you have really efficient speakers you can kind of adjust it or if they're a heavy draw you can adjust it which is another really cool feature they didn't skimp on anything with the e202 if you can get your hands on one gravel and that is the beauty of it for some reason well I think because they didn't sell a lot of these in the states not a lot of people know to look for them and grabbing one of these for 1500 bucks in my opinion is a steal I would not sell mine for 1500 bucks any day I think they're way undervalued and I think that's just because they're kind of rare in the United states that is one of the negatives though they are kind of rare and when you get a rare piece you have a lack of access to Parts like volume knobs or any kind of cosmetic items you know if you need a volume knob or a base knob or something you're going to be looking for a while they're just you know it's not like a Pioneer sx780 that they made you know thousands of them and there you literally can get any part you want really reasonably that's not the situation with an accu-phase e202 but if you can get one in good shape they're great to work on they're easy to work on and they are an awesome unit I don't know if I said they're 100 watts per Channel at eight ohms with 0.15 total harmonic Distortion but if I didn't that's what they are definitely really cool integrated amplifier all right and the next one on the list and the only American integrated amplifier and once I said American I'm sure most of you went oh it's a Macintosh and yes it is it's a Macintosh ma6100 made from 1972 to 79 which is a really long run they were 70 watts per Channel with 0.2 percent total harmonic distortion this is one of those integrated amplifiers that you know when I think of 70s Macintosh this is what I think of this is what I remember seeing when I first saw Macintosh was something from this line from this era it's the well I've got one behind me um right let's see if I can right there that's a Macintosh 6100 it's got the classic Macintosh look to it the the backlit glass with with the green writing and the red illuminated power just a really cool piece they look amazing these things are built man they're built every time you get into a Macintosh every Tech will tell you the same thing they had the technician in mind and that's not something a lot of companies do but that's why Macintosh holds its value that's why Macintosh has its initial value it's not just it's not just Aesthetics with Macintosh they took everything to the next level I tell people at the shop quite often anybody that's been there a lot will hear me say all roads lead to MacIntosh and they do it's just the natural progression in that you get your Flagship Pioneers you get your Flagship mirances you get your Flagship sansui's and eventually you end up selling a couple of those and buying a Macintosh the service that's still available for Macintosh is still unparalleled you know calling Pioneer or Sansui or you know even Yamaha to get information or Parts on their older pieces from the 70s you're gonna find nothing but a dial tone because they are literally going to hang up on you and then laugh Macintosh on the other hand is different I have a new face plate for my Macintosh 2105 amplifier it was made two years ago how it works is you order the face plate they wait for enough people to order the face plates and then they make a small batch you know you might have to wait a little bit but uh I didn't wait that long I believe it was maybe maybe three or four months and I had mine and I don't know of another company that you can buy pieces for from their gear from the from the 60s and 70s so there are reasons why macintoshes are valued so much the negatives would be I'm not a fan of power switches incorporated into volume controls as in there's not a separate on off switch on on the 6100 you when you first turn the volume you hear a click and that turns on the power so there's no setting the volume and leaving it that's the only thing I don't like about the Macintosh 6100 the next one on the list is Yamaha CA 2010 or 1010 1977 to 1980 using the class B it's 120 watts per Channel using the class A it's 30 watts per Channel and that's at .03 total harmonic Distortion and yes these are both class A and Class B that's one of the reasons this integrated amplifier is on the list I don't know of another integrated amplifier that has this option being able to switch from class A to class B is very cool even though most people will say it's very subtle and it is however if you have the right speakers and you have the right room for it I do think you can hear a pretty significant difference between the class A and the class B Class A Class B that's a question for Rob to get into more detail I don't know the topology well enough to not confuse people more than they are so one of these days we're going to get Rob uh in a video and we'll just ask him questions that I don't know the answers to which is the more deep text stuff but uh Rob's a super cool guy he's the main Tech at the shop and he is insanely smart so that'll be coming soon if you come up with a question jot it down I'll make an announcement saying that we're gonna do a a live stream or something with Rob and have your questions ready because uh what a wealth analogy is anyway back to the Yamaha I pulled out the 2010 or the 1010 they're very similar the the 2010 is just almost a unicorn you see quite a bit more 10 10s around although I have had a 2010 and I sold it unfortunately the good things with these uh the class A B like I talked about Vu meters can't go wrong with view meters view meters sell everything that's why you see Vu meter Standalone boxes get the money they get there's something it's it's like a lava lamp or a color organ there's something about watching meters bounce to the music that is mesmerizing so you get some nice view meters with the uh the 1010 or the 2010 they are unbelievably undervalued in my opinion these sell between 900 to 1200 I honestly think that is almost criminal for how good of a unit these are the only negative I can really think of is they are kind of a pain in the butt to work on they are notorious for stacking boards and not having long enough wires for servicing purposes they call it a slack Loop and they didn't really give you much of a slack Loop meaning you have to desolder wires in order to move boards to get to other boards but sansui's guilty of this too everybody's guilty of maybe not making the tech the high priority but yeah you'll see some techs really complain about working on Yamaha gear from the mid to late 70s that's the only negative I can really come up with that is the Yamaha CA 2010 and 1010. and the last one on the list and in my opinion my opinion The Grail of 70s integrated amplifiers is the Sansui Au 20000. these were made from 1975 to 1977. they're 170 Watts eight into eight ohms at .05 total harmonic Distortion I've owned one of these since before I opened skylabs it's one of the first integrated amplifiers I've ever owned I love this piece a lot the build quality is exceptional and the fit and finish is unparalleled in my opinion I just think the design the knob choices everything all the detail is a 10 out of 10 on this integrated ample it's got nice Vu meters it's got plenty of selections for cartridge loads two phono inputs plenty of power and yeah I just I love looking at this thing and if anybody tells you that looks are not important with stereo equipment I am going to completely call BS on that I used to install Automation and home theater equipment for a company here in Des Moines and we got paid a lot of money to hide current Electronics the black boxes that have no character at all we would get paid to put them in a closet and then control that equipment with the remote for a reason you don't want to put a Sansui Au 20 000 in a closet these are meant to be looked at they're meant to be a focal point in the room as with most of these on the list I'm not I'm not saying that the 20 000 is so far beyond the 1010 or the the 9100 because it's not I do think for me I just think they really nailed this one but there are some negatives just like anything else and that would be and a few uh the Au series from Sansui have the same problem and that is their switches and volume pots they require cleaning too often in my opinion and I have gone in to mine with you know D100 D5 every solvent and lubricant you can think of to try and limit the amount of dead spots or static in the knobs and it seems like it's a once a year type of thing when I do it once a year I get a good 11 months out of it before it starts acting up again but these require switch cleaning quite often at least from the ones I've seen and this would be the the Au line down the board the other thing about the Sansui Au line is they're all good don't shy away from like a 505 or a 101 those smaller integrated amplifiers from Sansui are incredible I think we've had them all 719s they are just incredible units they sound amazing they look great so yep definitely always happy to purchase a Sansui Au series because they are easy to sell and that was the Sansui Au 20000 that was at the top of the list once again they weren't numbered but I would definitely give that my favorite so and there you have it that was my list of favorite integrated amplifiers from the 70s hopefully I didn't steer you too wrong if you haven't been in the market for an integrated amplifier man they're fun maybe sell a receiver and try out an integrated see if you like it more appreciate everybody that's that's common lately that subscribed if you haven't subscribed yet please do we're we're going to hope to get a couple videos out a week rather than just one like we are now but running a shop and doing these videos by myself really takes a good chunk of time and um but I'm gonna try I'm gonna try and get to two videos a week we've got topics till we're blue in the face so subscribe if you like share it if you know somebody you think would like this information definitely share it we'll see you next week thanks foreign [Music]

Channel: Skylabs Audio

Views: 153,665

Keywords:

Id: EprUs6mSV8Y

Length: 22min 57sec (1377 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 20 2022