It’s still a reference for many collectors when recapped (including me).Ĭarver bought the output tranies in the 1960s and schlepped them around for nearly twenty years before building his dream amplifier. It eclipsed Audio Research’s 50- and 75-watt tube amps of the 70s with an amazing 200 watts per channel. Introduced in 1981, two years after CJ’s first amp, the MV75, the Premier One was the first super-output modern-day tube amp. Refined into the 610T (tall), it’s 600 watts of breathtaking thermionic power that has no peer. In 1995, Johnson designed his lifetime achievement product, the Reference 600. Several solid-state designs emerged in the 70s but it was the all tube D70 in 1983 that established forever the hallmark “high definition” sound of an Audio Research amplifier. In the late 1960s, William Zane Johnson, began building and selling modified (Dynaco) ST-70s. The 25-watt ML2 monoblock, Levinson’s first power amp, was designed for wide-swing-impedance speakers such as the legendary HQD system (Hartley, stacked Quads, Decca Ribbon).

This John Curl designed amplifier established Mark Levinson, the man, as a driving force in the audiophile marketplace. To this day, Krell sets the benchmark for military build-quality and outstanding sonics. Dan D’Agostino proved to the world that solid-state output devices could actually reproduce music.

The year was 1980 and who would know that the KSA 100, right out-of-the-box, would establish Krell as one of the greatest brands of all time. The Series One is the one to have.Īrguably, the first high-end solid-state super-amp. Rock bands put dry ice on stacks of these legendary 350 watt per channel amps to cool them down. It was 1970 and Bob Carver saw the future and brought to market a product that would set the stage for a new audio segment-affordable, mass-market, high-performance audio. The consumer version, MC3500 established McIntosh as the premier audio company of the day. Released in 1968 (as the MI350) for commercial applications, it eclipsed any amplifier of the day with an extraordinary 350 watts per channel. While the MC2505 put the signature big blue meters in the market, many people consider this the greatest amplifier ever made.

Amazingly, its clear, three-dimensional sound is comparable to many amplifiers made today. Introduced in 1959, the ST-70 is the world’s most prolific stand alone amplifier with over 300,000 units manufactured. Greene, Robert Harley, Dick Olsher, Harry Pearson, Paul Seydor, and Jonathan Valin.Īlong with Avery Fisher’s 500c, David Hafler’s ST-70 put high performance audio in the American home. Contributors include: Peter Breuninger, Neil Gader, Robert E.

Beast by Mark Carver