Hi Fi Hall of Fame?

[MBauer]

Heathkits

They were mentioned in passing, but a lot of people used this equipment to get started

 

[BMXTRIX]

Yamaha RX-V2300
What!?! You say...

Well, up to this point a few years ago a lot of receivers really had gotten by strictly by providing average sound at that price point and nothing separated the receivers in the mid-price range. Engineering from Denon, Yamah, and Marantz as well as a ton of other companies (ie: Sony) was mediocre at best. Zone 2 existed, but was barely usable.

When Yamaha released the 2300 they made a huge turn and incorporated a ton of new concepts that other manufacturers are still trying to match - Denon being very close. Yamaha came out with discrete IR codes to allow a second zone to treat the receiver as a completely separate unit (the multi-thousand dollar Krell HTS series still can't do this) and RS-232 was added along with triple component video switching.

Instead of being a receiver good for one zone, at best, it raised the bar for a lot of companies with a dramatic increase in quality that had not been seen for several years. In ONE year they introduced about 20 new features and upgraded on their receiver. This is what, in my opinion, led to new receivers now being released at least once a year, if not more often, that actually are addressing the needs and requests of the consumers. Companies like Sony are so far behind the curve that they need an entirely new pro-active engineering staff to even think about catching up. Then they will still have years of poor reputation to overcome with their receivers.

Anyway, that is my modern 'Hall Of Fame' product for setting a new level in not only technology, but for raising the bar for what can occur in one year of development and show an actual awareness of consumer requests, while not blowing prices through the roof.

In years since we have seen zone 3 (zone 1 for surround, zone 2 for a nearby room with video, and zone 3 for distributed audio) from a bunch of manufacturers, RS-232 cropping up on more and more mid-line receivers, higher levels of reliability and integration, as well as major upgrades that don't take years to show up. HDMI anyone? Before this year is out I would expect both Denon & Yamaha to release mid-line receivers with HDMI switching. No waiting for a couple of years - the bar is to high now.

Thumbs up!

 

[Rob Babcock]

Wow! I've never actually heard of anyone trying to use Zone 2! I thought it was just fluff for the sales brochures.

 

[Rob Babcock]

I guess in the same vein I'd have to nominate the Panasonic XA-45. Even the high end Yammies, Denons & Onks are boat anchors compared to this. Digital amps are a paradigm shift in technology. In five years I'd be surprised if you can even buy a receiver with analog amps.

 

[BMXTRIX]

McIntosh won't give up on tube amps, I'm sure they won't even glance at digital amps.

 

[Rob Babcock]

True- but they don't really go after the receiver market. Just as there'll always be tube fans, even if new technologies come along that sound better, there'll always be Flat-Earthers and Luddites clinging to the past. Hell, you can still buy turntables!

 

[Yamahaluver]

Here is my list:

The most legendary speaker of all time, the NS-1000x with be midrange and tweeters and pure carbon fiber(not composite) woofers when the rest of the so-called esoteric stuff was being made out of treated paper cone, bextrene etc and being given fancy labels and cost tags.

Yamaha centennial edition MX-10000, NSX-10000, CDX-10000 and TX-10000 totalling a whopping US$22,000 brand new. Yamaha's largest selling studio monitors, NS-10M, sold to over 170,000 studios worldwide.

Yamaha's legendary MX series amps, super accurate and exceptionally warm musical for solid state design.

Yamaha's ground breaking and probably the first DSP integrated amp, DSP-A1000.

Yamaha's latest D-MOSFET 500Wx2 8ohms rated digital amp which is truly groundbreaking in this field, one that even made a die hard analog amp lover into a convert. Yamaha's NS-200/300 speakers, the best to be made by them after the NS-1000/2000/10,000

Yamaha's YST-SW800 sub, the first among few to incorporate active servo class D amp.
Accuphase DP-7V CD player, truly an amazing feat of engineering.

SONY XDP-777ES CD player, Pioneer Elite upside down CD players, Pioneer's budget yet accurate A-400 amps. Technics SL1200 Mk-II turntables, Shure V-15 Mk-III cartridge.

Canton Ergo series speakers, Magnepan speakers, truly the best speakers from the USA.

Pinnacle PN8+, the small bookshelf under $200 with amazing bass.

Many more to list and those I have omitted only out of consideration to keep this post's size at a sane level.

 

[surveyor]

Awesome Reciever from The Past

The Pioneer QX-949 was a wonderfull reciever!

http://www.classicaudio.com/value/pio/QX949.html

 

[JoeE SP9]

You want names of people. How about

Saul Marantz
David Hafler
Peter Walker

As for gear

Audio Research Corporation SP3 preamp and D120 power amp

 

[neutron7]

I forgot about my Rega Planar 2 - Redifined budget turntables way back in the 70s and they are still around today!

you can say rega, linn, thorens , or whatever they are just something you liked. \NOT a major innovstion. just a way to spin some weight.

 

[MacManNM]

Here's a few of my all time favorites

How about:

The Fisher Tube amp
McIntosh MC-275
McIntosh MC-2105
Phase Linear 700 Amp
Carver "The Cube" amp
SAE TWO A-14 Integrated amp (3 chan Parametric eq)
JBL D-130 loudspeakers
Infinity RS-4b (the old jazz speakers from the 80's)
Definitive technology BP-20
B&O Bang Olufsen Beovox RL 60.2 6513 Redline speakers

and the ultimate..........
MARANTZ 4300 163 WATT QUAD STEREO RECEIVER

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

C'mon guys. You're forgetting some of the most obvious -

Nakamichi Dragon unidirectional auto reverse cassette deck

Polk SDA SRS Reference Stereo Dimensional Array speakers

Technics Linear Tracking turntables

Original Klipschorn floorstanders

Sony Walkman

 

[20to20K]

My very first post...

C'mon guys. You're forgetting some of the most obvious -

Nakamichi Dragon unidirectional auto reverse cassette deck

Polk SDA SRS Reference Stereo Dimensional Array speakers

Technics Linear Tracking turntables

Original Klipschorn floorstanders

Sony Walkman

Hey Buck...read the thread starter post...I originally listed the Dragon as the one of the first 10 inductees! The Klipschorn Heresey got some dap as well.

Good call on the walkman and SDA SRS though! I still see those SRS's in peoples home and popping up on Ebay!

Don't know about those Techniques Linear Trackers...I always thought they were kindy cheap & gawdy lookin' and they didn't really have much staying power. Kind of a strange novelty if you ask me! We'll put them in the Hall of Shame with the 8-tracks!

 

[Nick diablo]

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the Quad ESL-57.

It is a while since I heard a pair of them in action, probably 10 years ago, but even though they must have been over 30 years old they still sounded wonderful.

I will have to buy a house with much bigger rooms and get some Quad ESLs.

 

[20to20K]

Good one!

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the Quad ESL-57.

It is a while since I heard a pair of them in action, probably 10 years ago, but even though they must have been over 30 years old they still sounded wonderful.

I will have to buy a house with much bigger rooms and get some Quad ESLs.

Those Quads definitely meet my HOF criteria which I consider to be
unique/revolutionary design and long lasting popularity. You could probably
lump the ESL-57 and 63's in the same category.

 

[trw005]

Ah memory lane

I was a Tech Hifi manager from 79 to 82 in Mich. I was 17 and precocious, and I was in heaven. Here's some items that pop out of the archives. (Seems like I was high constantly. If you remember the seventies, you prolly werent there. lol)
Dual 506, Philips 212 and my Thorens which I'm looking at. TT's
Audio Technica, Pickering, Micro Acoustics 100e, Stanton 881, Dynavector Ruby
Onkyo 630, Aiwa, Teac Reel to Reel TD's
Onkyo 4000,5000 Nikko, Marantz 2275, Pio, Technics, Ken Recvrs
Infinity Q5's, Ohm E,L,C2,Walsh, EPI 110, Cerwin Vega, Advent, JBL 4311
Gino Vanelli, Supertramp and Pink Floyd UHQR demos
Original Woodstock poster
1st Sony Walkman
Mostly mainstream stuff but MacIntosh, Naka, etc was down the street.
Heady days.

 

[jaxvon]

After my recent experiences, Phase Technology. They invented the soft dome tweeter.

 

[j_garcia]

Most of my favorite speakers, including the ones I currently own, use soft domes.

 

[Spiffyfast]

1st Sony Walkman

yeah, wow, that was so long ago, and now we have mp3 players the size of a 5 pack of gum

 

[jaxvon]

J, if you haven't already listened to Phase Tech's PC line (their flagships), and you're in a money spendin' mood, I would suggest that you find your nearest dealer and have a listen. They're very impressive, especially for the price. I would personally go for the 3.1s or the 9.1s.