Vintage Audio Equipment

[mano]

For all of you audiophiles out there, please recommend some nice vintage audio equipment that I might be able to find on eBay for a reasonable price.

I do have a nice little setup that I love and has served me well for 23 years, but I now want some kit for my office. I currently have (in my wife's work den) a Nakamichi TA-3A tuner amplifier with a pair of KEF reference 102 monitor speakers. That kit still sounds amazing IMO.

k.

Can you be more specific re: what you're looking for and how much you want to spend? There's a ton of great stuff out there, a lot of it at bargain prices depending on what you want. Tubes/valves usually bring top dollar, even the Dynaco kits. Yeah, check audiogon and craigslist, too.

Do you want separate amp, preamp and tuner or an integrated amp? I had a Tandberg 3012 integrated with a good torroidal power supply that performed better than most separates.

Just sticking with good quality solid state, nothing esoteric there's Hafler, Luxman, Nakamichi, NAD, Adcom, Bryston, Arcam, Naim, Rotel b&K, Musical Fidelity, Aragon (I had their power amp), are pretty inexpensive used.

I'll post something about speakers later.

[SameGuy]

Older Bryston separates are coveted and hard to find, and are among the best solid-state amps and preamps -- then or now.

[WildBoar]

Older Bryston separates are coveted and hard to find, and are among the best solid-state amps and preamps -- then or now.

Got a Bryston amp that is 21 years old now! It crapped out a few months ago (just past the 20 year warranty, of course), but it turned out to be blown fuses. Put in a new pair and it's all good once again. I tried out over a half dozen amps before settling on that one, and have not been disappointed. Preamp is an even older Audible Illusions 2 that was upgraded to '2B' at some point before I bought it 25 years ago.

[mano]

Drinky, make sure the pre-amp has inputs/switching for things like CD player. A lot of vintage stuff was made before digital became popular. IIRC Hafler went out of business by that time.

[Deckhand]

Certainly not a professional audiophile, but SAE made some great stuff.