Hi Fi Hall of Fame?

[Tone]

Luxman D-105u tube cd player.

 

[stratman]

How about :

James B. Lansing

Mc Intosh

Quads(electrostatic speakers)

 

[Geno]

Speaking of Sansui

My first serious hi fi stuff was a Sansui Au/Tu-9500 Integrated amp & tuner from 1975. Just sold the tuner, keeping the amp. Remember the ADC Accutrac turntables? They could be programmed to play selected tracks on LPs.
God, I've got a whole closetfull of "good stuff" I just can't bear to part with.

 

[Feanor]

I loved 'em

The Ohm F's from the mid seventies with the Walsh driver were pretty advanced for their time. They tended to need a lot of power but a little too much would blow them apart. No sub necessary in the days before the sub became common place.

Mort

I owned Ohm F's in the late '70's. They were great and I always regretted selling them.

 

[Sheep]

- Velodyne Digital Drive subwoofer system (and subwoofers)
- Energy's Tapered crossover network
- Yamaha RXV-2600

Couple I saw missing

SheepStar

 

[Geno]

I owned Ohm F's in the late '70's. They were great and I always regretted selling them.

My first serious speakers were Infinity 2000AXTs with Walsh tweeters. God, but they screamed...at least I think I remembered them that way...

 

[stiletto pat]

Great Old Gear

Who can forget about the Dual 1229 turntable in the early 70s, or the B&O 4002 linear tracking turntable - hell, I still own it and am damn proud of it! Had it silver wired, and it's served me well for 30 years... Of course, the cartridge stylus combination costs more than a universal player today....

How about the early 70's Marantz Receivers - I scrimped in high schoool and bought the 4300 quad unit - it was a beast - 100 wpc in stereo, 40 wpc in quad - but it was an awesome sounding unit for the day... I can remember lugging it to many a party to provide the power....

We can't forget about the Phase Linear, SAE and Threshold gear - the stuff of dreams...

Pat

 

[JustEd]

How about :

James B. Lansing

Mc Intosh

Quads(electrostatic speakers)

tsk tsk...people who mention James always froget to mention Altec
You might go back even further to University sound. We had a set of their speakers and while huge they really had a dynamic transparent sound. Imaging was excellent.

Did anyone mention Dynaco???

 

[audiofox]

Here's a few I have not yet seen listed:

Thorens TD125 Mark 2 TT (embodies the prototypical 70s turntable)
SME 3009 Series 2 tonearm (a classic combo with the above TT and a nice AT cartridge)
Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs "software" (gotta have high quality vinyl and gold CDs for all those high quality turntable and CD players!)
Koss Pro 4a headphones (a bit long in the tooth today, but one of the best headphones available in their heyday)
Kenwood tuners from the 70s (many models, most of which are still among the best available)
VPI HW-19 series turntables (Jr through Mark 4)
VPI TNT series turntables
Dynaco ST-70 power amp (already listed, but deserves an additional vote!)
Conrad-Johnson PV-1 preamp (killer combo with a Dynaco ST-70 tube power amp)
GAS Ampzilla power amp (still one of the best SS power amps available)
GAS Thaedra preamp (perfect mate for the Ampzilla)
JBL Hartsfields (gave the Klipschorns a run for their money)
Adcom GFP-565 preamp (killer phono stage, very good basic, low noise SS preamp)

 

[zildjian]

Don Davis - inventor of the One-Third Octave Equalizer & author (along with wife Carolyn) of the book "Sound System Engineering", among other contributions helping to pioneer the world of audio reproduction.

I admit I'm biased since Don & Carolyn are long time friends of my family, but that book has been the professional sound system design bible for the past 30 years. The new 3rd edition was just released too! Whoohoo!

 

[highfihoney]

Im not a big fan of bob carver or his solid state gear but at the top of my list would have to be the original carver silver seven tube amps,IMO they are an audio masterpiece.

Carver silver seven. http://cgim.audiogon.com/i/vs/s/f/1048824656.jpg
Jbl Hartsfields.
Jbl Metragon.
Klipsch Heresy.
Mcintosh MX 110.
DBX 20/20.
Infinity RS1.
Marantz 7c.
Harman Kardon Citation xx
Bozak Symphony Grand.
Marantz 9.

 

[bpape]

I'll agree with Fox. At least those are some serious contenders for the hall of fame. IMO, many of the others mentioned are just borderline contenders (think A-Rod). The one that I see mentioned multiple times that I'd agree with was the Ohm F's with the Walsh driver.

How do you forget a Dynaco ST-70? How about the Sequerra Tuner? Quad ESL-57? Futterman OTL (the FIRST real OTL amp), Berning EA-230. If you want to mention Altec, there is but one - the 19. Klipsch - please... The Hartsfields were a much better speaker. MAYBE a SERIOUSLY modded K-Horns or LaScalla's. What about the Infinity IRS?

Tandberg TD-20A Reel to Reel (for those too young to remember - disregard this). Linn Sondek turntable? Koetsu Rosewood cartridge? Wheaton Tri-Planer or Souther linear tracking arms? Heck, even the Rega RB300 - an excellent arm for a reasonable price that real people with real incomes could afford!

The hall of fame is the best of the best of all time - not just a decent value for the buck in the last 10 years. IMO, there are MAYBE 1 or 2 products in the last 10-25 years that MIGHT be HOF material...

- Halcro DM58 amp
- Hovland HP-100


Call me an audio-snob if you choose. I'm just looking at pieces that have changed the landscape and raised the bar for performance.

Bryan

 

[maypole]

Harmon Kardon Citation 22 amp. Still a standard setter!

 

[dave1490]

Why not? Baseball, football, and basketball has one. Downbeat has a jazz hall of fame. Some audio publication should sponser a Hi-fi hall of fame. Each year inducting a piece of gear that has made a significant and long lasting contribution to the world of audio equipment.

Since Cooperstown opened by indicting 7 or 8 shoe-ins (Ruth, Cobb, Walter Johnson etc) I'll open this hall with a list of 10 initial inductees:

Please chime in with more worthy contenders:

1) Shure V15
2) Bryston 4B
3) B&W 801 Nautilus
4) Nakamichi Dragon
5) Linn LP12
6) Adcom GFA555
7) Bose 901 (What's a Hall of Fame induction without controversy?)
8) JBL Century L100
9) Marantz 2270
10)Wilson Watt Puppy

i got you all beat for 1950 to 2006 the top 200 of all time,all catagorys from 1000 watt amps to monster cable.5 of whats on this list are in thier you know you eqipment.all good old klipch are in thier.


http://www.audioreview.com/topcrx.aspx

 

[dave1490]

Now that I got people involved, I'll select some gear.

Tascam 122 Mk111 Tape Deck - still the standard.

BSR EQ3000 Spectrum Analyzer - almost a gimic when sold by DAK 20 years ago, but now everyone wants one.

i got this eq, i like it for 15db instead of 12 and .007 thd.

 

[Davemcc]

I wouldn't really place the Nakamichi Dragon near the top of the list. I looked at getting the Nakamichi Dragon back around '83-'84, but never liked the whole flippy/spinny thing it did with the cassette, too complex and gimmicky. I ended up getting an Onkyo auto-reverse deck that just spun the head around to keep the tape running the same way across it. I thought it was just a more simple, elegant solution. Then I traded that back for the top of the line Onkyo deck. This thread actually made me look all over the net to find the model number of those decks, but I couldn't find them. Not a complete waste of time because I can now identify my Nikko separates as the Beta/Gamma units with the matching EQ. It's been a long while since I've seen them.

 

[peterw]

I remember being in college in the 1970s and hearing a friend's dad crank up his DIY Klipschorns after years of listening to what was then considered a decent speaker...the Large Advents.

The sound blew me away and spoiled me for a long time.

I think both of those speakers would be worthy of HOF consideration.

 

[MidnightSensi]

Nice bump man.




Technics 1200

 

[malovich]

My father is the original owner or a pair of 1977 Infinity Qb speakers, first speakers I ever remember and I was barely walking at the time. Now am the reluctant owner of a pair of rough around the edges JBL L-100 speakers, one tweeter has broken leads and the other has a dented dustcap. Midranges are pristine and the woofers are a little dirty from dust but well worn-in. The components need new boxes.

 

[Exit]

Here are a few more classics:

dBX dynamic range expanders, waveform peak restorers, and sub-harmonic synthesizers

Gerard turntables

BSR equalizers and turntables

Epicure Products Incorporated EPI-100 speakers

(Quadraphonic sound)
Dynaco rear channel synthesizer