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What is it about McIntosh?

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Percheron

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The best Jeep is an old beat up Wrangler, bought pennies on the dollar. I don't know if that is true for McIntosh. A Mac is probably made better than any modern-day Jeep (I've owned two of the 2-door Wranglers), but probably isn't going to be as fun. Especially in the mud.

True, I guess my point was is that to my newbie eyes, the depreciation of a new Mac is way less than other audio brands.
 
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Percheron

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With audio amps being in the realm of a "solved problem", I'm not sure SOTA matters much these days when it comes to amps, unless designing for smaller size / less heat (Class D, etc).

That’s a fair point, DAC’s and streaming are probably where the technology growth is going.
 

watchnerd

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That’s a fair point, DAC’s and streaming are probably where the technology growth is going.

I'd actually say DACs are also a solved problem, too, when budget DACs measure as well as testing here indicates.

Room correction is the area that still has a way to go, along with "smart active" speakers that listen and do auto EQ (Apple HomePod type stuff).
 

Sal1950

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My 1963 Allied Radio catalog lists MC 75 monoblocks at $229.50 each.
Today a MC 75 will cost ya around $3750.00 each.
A bit more than inflation which should be around $2k each
 

Sal1950

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Just before Christmas in 1961 I was a freshman college student who was back home for the holidays in Chicago with a temporary job of delivering mail - when Christmas cards were still popular - and long before the advent of email and the internet
Damn, you are old. :p
 

anmpr1

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With audio amps being in the realm of a "solved problem", I'm not sure SOTA matters much these days when it comes to amps, unless designing for smaller size / less heat (Class D, etc).
I'm thinking there are 3 categories of gear that make sense. 1) best from an engineering standpoint. 2) nicest looking aesthetically, cost not really an issue. 3) best bang for the buck, or value for your dollar, in the solid engineering (but not necessarily build) department.

Examples of each: 1) Benchmark. 2) McIntosh/Accuphase and such. 3) Dynaco. Um...Dyna is still being made right? And you can get it in a kit in order to save a few dollars?
 

watchnerd

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I'm thinking there are 3 categories of gear that make sense. 1) best from an engineering standpoint. 2) nicest looking aesthetically, cost not really an issue. 3) best bang for the buck, or value for your dollar, in the solid engineering (but not necessarily build) department.

Examples of each: 1) Benchmark. 2) McIntosh/Accuphase and such. 3) Dynaco. Um...Dyna is still being made right? And you can get it in a kit in order to save a few dollars?

Elekit is the new Dynaco.
 

Xulonn

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3) Dynaco. Um...Dyna is still being made right? And you can get it in a kit in order to save a few dollars?
Dynaco ST70.jpg

New version - made in Canada. No bling like McIntosh, no kit version, and sells for $2,699 and free shipping on Amazon.
 

anmpr1

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Elekit is the new Dynaco.
I have an Elekit preamp in a closet somewhere. It was simple enough to build, and even sports a couple of tubes. Kit builders like tubes. The phono stage is op amp. The circuit board could have had more spacing for components... that would have made soldering easier. I didn't like the way the output jacks were soldered in. I'd have prefered discreet wiring. It certainly doesn't have the control flexability of a PAS or PAT preamp--just a volume control and selector. Ithink that is a minus. Others might not mind. Overall quality seems high for the price point. It's pretty hefty, weight-wise.

There's another kit called Akatika or something. I would like to try those, but I have so much gear already that I can't justify anything more.
 

anmpr1

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New version - made in Canada. No bling like McIntosh, no kit version, and sells for $2,699 and free shipping on Amazon.
For a real Dyna experience forget this. I'm sure it's a nice tube amp, but it's not a kit, and is expensive. For the real deal experience, go to Dynakit Parts dot Com. There you can buy a clone kit of the original amp.

But what I'm really talking about is for an outfit like Schitt making close to the best at a price point. With solid engineering. The kind of thing that David Hafler, Ed Laurent, and Jim Bongiorno designed for Dyna. Not the goofy stuff Schiit makes now. Schiit probably won't do it, but you'd think someone could. It wouldn't even have to be a kit, since the cost of that precludes an economy of scale, given modern manufacturing techniques. Plus, someone would electrocute themselves, and there'd be a lawsuit. You didn't have to worry about that in the '50s and '60s.
 

watchnerd

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For a real Dyna experience forget this. I'm sure it's a nice tube amp, but it's not a kit, and is expensive. For the real deal experience, go to Dynakit Parts dot Com. There you can buy a clone kit of the original amp.

But what I'm really talking about is for an outfit like Schitt making close to the best at a price point. With solid engineering. The kind of thing that David Hafler, Ed Laurent, and Jim Bongiorno designed for Dyna. Not the goofy stuff Schiit makes now. Schiit probably won't do it, but you'd think someone could. It wouldn't even have to be a kit, since the cost of that precludes an economy of scale, given modern manufacturing techniques. Plus, someone would electrocute themselves, and there'd be a lawsuit. You didn't have to worry about that in the '50s and '60s.

Millenials don't even cook, preferring Uber eats.

Use a soldering iron?

I think the mass DIY market mostly died with changing your own motor oil.
 

anmpr1

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...I don't waste my time playing with DIY tube amps....
Then, how do you waste your time? :) I find building gear enjoyable and rewarding. Not a waste of time. But that's just me. Even if the stuff winds up in the closet, I'm happy to have had the experience. If I do another project, it will be a tube guitar amp. I think that would be pretty fun.
 

KozmoNaut

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Millenials don't even cook, preferring Uber eats.

Use a soldering iron?

I think the mass DIY market mostly died with changing your own motor oil.

"Kids these days" is a complaint as old as time, and it's about as nonsensical as it has always been.

Young people today have just as many projects going on as any other generation, the amount of DIY and craft videos on YouTube should be all the proof you need.

Generation names and definitions are nothing but a marketing tool, anyway.
 

watchnerd

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View attachment 35848
New version - made in Canada. No bling like McIntosh, no kit version, and sells for $2,699 and free shipping on Amazon.

If it's not a kit and therefore cheaper than expected, is the ST-70 really that great of an amp?

I've always been under the impression that it's cult status was sort of like a muscle car: good value for money, not necessarily good in an absolute sense.

For example, I've never heard anyone say that Dynaco amps were better than McIntosh or Audio Research.
 

watchnerd

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"Kids these days" is a complaint as old as time, and it's about as nonsensical as it has always been.

Young people today have just as many projects going on as any other generation, the amount of DIY and craft videos on YouTube should be all the proof you need.

Well, as someone in the age between the 'kids these days' and the 'old dudes' who built tube amps in their youth, I'm not saying people don't have projects.

They're just not usually DIY tube amps. When I was a youth 20 years ago, nobody I knew was building them, either, even if they were into audio.

And I think the death of Heathkit and Dynaco as viable commercial entities proves it.
 
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