Why does this circa '75 receiver sound so good?

I had an Adcom 5400 amp (the little brother of the 5802) and a GFP 750, both modified by Stan Warren. They were pretty good, especially for the money. I paired them first with Martin Logan SL3's and then with Audio Physic Avant II speakers. The amp did not do well with the SL3's - too difficult a load. It did much better with the Avanti's. I moved to a tube amp (the Berning ZH270) which is substantially better (at 5x the price). If you decide on the Adcom amp, I would buy a used one and then have it modified - it will improve substantially. The GFP 750 is a very nice preamp, and a very good value, especially if you are able to get a used one. Still, for the pair, unmodified, you are probably looking at around $2k used (maybe less if you are patient). If you are going to stick with SS, I would look for a used good quality integrated amp. I have seen used Rowland Concentra's, for example sell in the mid to low $2k's, and the Music Fidelity integrated's are even less. My guess is that either of these would be at least the equal of the Adcom pre and superior to the Adcom amp.

I've just discovered the same thing - my late Father's 1975 Trio 15W/ch receiver sounds better than my 900GBP Linn Kolektor/LK85 combo. It has much greater transparency and depth to the stereo image.

John

Late post to a very interesting thread.

I acquired a new Luxman R1120A receiver in 1982 (1976 design). It sounded so wonderful with Acoustat Monitor 3's that I never thought about listening to anything else for 15 years. Since they have both broken, I've been through a lot of expensive new equipment, but I still missed the old receiver. So much so, in fact, that I've spent a lot more than it cost new getting it completely rebuilt and upgraded with modern parts.

I'll let you know if I'm crazy after I get it back.

I guess you're just lucky you found a combination to work well together. I have two old receivers, a Marantz 2230B and a Kenwood KR6170 which I keep around and I have compared to my Cary SLI50 integrated amp and the Cary is far superior. I use the Marantz in my office with some Radio Shack Minimus 7 speakers and it's fine for that type of listening.

Lets not overglorify 70s solid state sound...my new NAD intergrated pulled the pants off my older yamaha amp and Pioneer sx series receiver...however...vintage tube gear is another story...older Marantz,etc sounds great...and looks cool...