Amplifiers

It’s not just about listening to music when it comes to hi-fi. Of course, its primary role is to sound good, but it also serves an aesthetic purpose. There’s no shortage of gear that excels at one of these functions, but it’s unusual to find something that excels at both, such as Lecson’s famed AC1/AP3 […]

Most amplifiers from the 1980s weren’t anything to write home about, especially the gadget-laden behemoths. But Marantz’s flagship was unique – a hefty 25kg integrated that cost £1,000 and featured the company’s odd ‘Quarter-A’ technology, which handled lower-level signals up to a quarter of the maximum power output in pure Class A. However, when the

Passive preamps have one advantage: Their short signal lines and lack of circuit complexity result in a clear, detailed sound. They aren’t, however, a cure-all for the problem of controlling your source. They have traditionally depended on resistive networks selected via a switch or rotary variable resistors, which can result in significant impedance mismatches at

When NAD’s 3020 initially arrived in the early 1980s, it blew past all other cheap integrateds, as well as innumerable amps costing much over twice as much. The hi-fi market cried out for something with a comparable astonishing mix of price and performance, but at a higher level, over the next few years. Then, in

Tim de Paravicini, a bright former Lux designer who had previously worked with Antony at Michaelson and Austin, was the logical choice when Antony Michaelson needed his first Musical Fidelity integrated amplifier. Tim told me that the A1 started out as “a breadboard that I created for myself” in order to “replicate in transistors the

When you talk to Antony Michaelson about his vast product portfolio, there are a few designs in particular that he adores, one of which is the A1000. It’s a two-box design, with the first housing the amplifier and the second housing the power supply (11kg and 7kg respectively). Two sets of eight substantially heatsinked transistors,

Michael Maloney explains, “We were aiming to develop an amplifier that was well manufactured.” “When we started in the late 1970s, the quality of the components was fairly bad. In the signal path, they were still utilizing ancient carbon resistors and electrolytic capacitors, and the printed circuit boards were still Bakelite. We were among the

The UK hi-fi market was a different country in the mid-1970s. Pioneer, Sony, JVC, Hitachi, and Wharfedale dominated the inexpensive end of the market, while KEF, Quad, Tannoy, and Celestion dominated the higher end. Even at the top end, names like Linn and Naim had yet to enter the vernacular. Japanese manufacturers were booming, and