Which one of these Vintages are worth it

[KlausAD]

Hello, I am a vintage fan and am currently looking to replace my old Sony MHC-3500 compact stack due to it killing most of the soundstage with an integrated amp. I mainly use the stack for a minimum of 8 hours every day with my Hifiman Sundara headphones and occasionally use my Sony SS-H3500 Bookshelf speakers with them, after remodeling my room I am planning on using the Mission 720 speakers I have in the basement.

I do not have much experience with vintage models since there are so many of them to count but I want to point out I will mainly use them with my Sundara.
Due to my geographical limitations importing something is very difficult for me, I would like to give you guys a list of Amplifiers I have found available on the market, I don't expect anyone to go one by one through all of these but I would be very happy it if anyone were to point out certain models they recognize and point out whether they are good or not!
I am not really good with fixing amps but I do have a few capable establishments I know that can take patch them up for me but I really don't want to pay 200$ for capacitors, thank you for your attention!

PS: I am looking for a warm and wide sound signature.

1980 Luxman L2
AIWA A-2500
Grundig V 5000
JVC JA-S11G
Luxman LV-90
Monarch Model 80
NAD C315BEE
NAD Model 60
Nikko NA-1090
Pioneer A-441
Pioneer A-443
Pioneer A-5
Pioneer SA-420
Pioneer SA-6500
Pioneer SA-720
Pioneer SA-960
Pioneer SA-970
Pioneer SAS-740
Pioneer SX-580
Sanyo DCX6000K
Sony TA-333
Sony TA-F35
Sony TA-F445R
Sony TA-F545R
Teaec A-X5000
Technics SU-7300
Technics SU-810
Technics SU-A600 MK3
Technics SU-V505
Technics SU-VAkai AA-5500
Yamaha A520
Yamaha AX-392

I apologize for the random order of amplifiers, If there is anything worth it in this list or you have any suggestions please let me know!

 

[reubensm]

Curious, why is the NAD C315BEE categorized as vintage? Its a model which was from the late 2000s. It does not have a phono input as it was from the CD era prevailing at the time. This series is the lowest powered NAD integrated and features a good headphone output. Please well with bookshelves too. However if you have a turntable, you'd need an external phono preamplifier.

From your requirements, you should be really looking out for a NAD 3020 amplifier. Perhaps the 3020A or 3020B. Brilliant little amplifiers with great speaker and headphone outputs. The best thing is, everything that goes in, sounds very musical. The sound signature is definitely warm with large dimensions and very high quality. If you want the punchy type of sound, all you'd have to do is to turn on the loudness. Its hard to match this amp.

Grundig V5000, a masterclass amplifier, very highly under rated and perhaps never known off or forgotten. One of the great European amplifiers of the early 1980s, truly the last of the greats. Has a 4-band graphic equalizer which was unique for that point in time. Very warm sounding and smart to look at. Was brilliant with its matching cassette deck the CF5500-2 and Tuner T5000. Had a brilliant phono stage and a very warm sound signature especially if the tone controls on the equalizer were kept in flat position. The flip side is that this amp is difficult to repair.

All the very best!

 

[KlausAD]

Curious, why is the NAD C315BEE categorized as vintage? Its a model which was from the late 2000s. It does not have a phono input as it was from the CD era prevailing at the time. This series is the lowest powered NAD integrated and features a good headphone output. Please well with bookshelves too. However if you have a turntable, you'd need an external phono preamplifier.

From your requirements, you should be really looking out for a NAD 3020 amplifier. Perhaps the 3020A or 3020B. Brilliant little amplifiers with great speaker and headphone outputs. The best thing is, everything that goes in, sounds very musical. The sound signature is definitely warm with large dimensions and very high quality. If you want the punchy type of sound, all you'd have to do is to turn on the loudness. Its hard to match this amp.

Grundig V5000, a masterclass amplifier, very highly under rated and perhaps never known off or forgotten. One of the great European amplifiers of the early 1980s, truly the last of the greats. Has a 4-band graphic equalizer which was unique for that point in time. Very warm sounding and smart to look at. Was brilliant with its matching cassette deck the CF5500-2 and Tuner T5000. Had a brilliant phono stage and a very warm sound signature especially if the tone controls on the equalizer were kept in flat position. The flip side is that this amp is difficult to repair.

All the very best!

Ah man believe it or not, there was a 3020 that was being sold two hours ago and it got sold to somewhere else, as for me listing the 315BEE as vintage, I didn't really check the date but it was so beat up I assumed it was a vintage lmao. Thank you for the input though, I will try to get my hands on a NAD 3020 as soon as I see another one pop up.

 

[reubensm]

yes, NAD 3020 is the best for your requirement, here are the merits and demerits:

Merits:

• It is the highest selling and most famous integrated of all time, people respect a NAD 3020 owner
• It is easy to find a 3020 as millions of these amps were sold all over the world, there was specific models released for the Americas, Europe and Asia (all versions are essentially the same)
• Has a brilliant preamp and poweramp stage, even if you remove the jumpers at the back and use each half separately, the results are fantastic
• For phono users, has a great MM phonostage, this is a signature merit of all older NADs
• Cd, Tape and Tuner sound great as well, the inputs are very accommodative
• Bass and Treble are not boomy and screechy, the bass is deep and treble is smooth
• Great stereo imagery
• Power-packed loudness control, stereo imagery is not lost even if loudness is used
• The older ones have a mute switch, the newer ones have a stereo/mono switch
• No listening fatigue even if you switch on the loudness and turn the tone controls up
• Is very loud for its size, sounds like a much more powerful amplifier
• Can drive virtually any speaker, or speaker loads
• The headphone jack is fed by the main amplifier itself (it does not have a separate headphone amp inside, hence the quality which you get on speakers, can be heard on the headphones
• It is very easy to repair, all spares are still available, it is easy to recap as well

Demerits:

• This is a low power amp so it is at its best when used for moderate listening
• Has flimsy speaker connectors and input sockets, not suitable for consistent plugging and unplugging. They also need to be cleaned regularly as they are not gold or silver plated
• The faceplate on the older ones, becomes like biscuit over a period of time, tends to crack or break off, especially at the edges
• The heatsink on the amp may be inadequate for high volume listening, the power transistors tend to get hot when running vey loud
• The selector switches need to be kept serviced or your inputs may not switch well
• The amp develops a hum called welcome hum after some use. This can be fixed easily though (reference YouTube)

 

[KlausAD]

Thank you, I appreciate this information greatly. I will keep my eyes peeled.

 

[sunilj]

Hello, I am a vintage fan and am currently looking to replace my old Sony MHC-3500 compact stack due to it killing most of the soundstage with an integrated amp. I mainly use the stack for a minimum of 8 hours every day with my Hifiman Sundara headphones and occasionally use my Sony SS-H3500 Bookshelf speakers with them, after remodeling my room I am planning on using the Mission 720 speakers I have in the basement.

I do not have much experience with vintage models since there are so many of them to count but I want to point out I will mainly use them with my Sundara.
Due to my geographical limitations importing something is very difficult for me, I would like to give you guys a list of Amplifiers I have found available on the market, I don't expect anyone to go one by one through all of these but I would be very happy it if anyone were to point out certain models they recognize and point out whether they are good or not!
I am not really good with fixing amps but I do have a few capable establishments I know that can take patch them up for me but I really don't want to pay 200$ for capacitors, thank you for your attention!

PS: I am looking for a warm and wide sound signature.

1980 Luxman L2
AIWA A-2500
Grundig V 5000
JVC JA-S11G
Luxman LV-90
Monarch Model 80
NAD C315BEE
NAD Model 60
Nikko NA-1090
Pioneer A-441
Pioneer A-443
Pioneer A-5
Pioneer SA-420
Pioneer SA-6500
Pioneer SA-720
Pioneer SA-960
Pioneer SA-970
Pioneer SAS-740
Pioneer SX-580
Sanyo DCX6000K
Sony TA-333
Sony TA-F35
Sony TA-F445R
Sony TA-F545R
Teaec A-X5000
Technics SU-7300
Technics SU-810
Technics SU-A600 MK3
Technics SU-V505
Technics SU-VAkai AA-5500
Yamaha A520
Yamaha AX-392

I apologize for the random order of amplifiers, If there is anything worth it in this list or you have any suggestions please let me know!

Surprised, there aren't any Sansui's in your list.