exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

alexh wrote: 01 Jul 2026 18:07 For example for no good reason electronics for audio amplifiers are now highly sought after. I assume it is due to old pharts like us want to rebuild the amp they had when they were kids? Or maybe uber enthusiasts who think tubes give better sound than transistors?

To Me sound is sound I'd just buy a decent new AV-Amp from Richer Sounds.

I must confess that I did buy a few different opamps to try in one of my amplifiers, including some rare ones but still haven't got round to it as it sounds fine as is.

PhilC wrote: 01 Jul 2026 15:26 @rubber_jonnie I don't think I have one of those but will certainly let you know if I have

Please do :)

alexh wrote: 01 Jul 2026 18:07 For example for no good reason electronics for audio amplifiers are now highly sought after. I assume it is due to old pharts like us want to rebuild the amp they had when they were kids? Or maybe uber enthusiasts who think tubes give better sound than transistors?

To Me sound is sound I'd just buy a decent new AV-Amp from Richer Sounds.

I don't go as far as tubes, but Japanese transistor amps from the late 1970's was a kind of 'golden era' for amplifiers. Beautiful solid metal chassis, polished silver fronts, glow of bulbs or VHD for displays. Then 1980s happened, cost reductions, component consolidations, cheap plastic, crap equalizers... then the 90s happened, even more cost cutting, 'bad cap era', basic amplifiers moving towards crappy AV integrations...

That late 1970's sweet spot was something magic... the height of consumer technology, the centre of the house was dominated by a quality amplifier. I was born in the 80's and I remember my Dads HI-FI system sounding better than anything I personally owned during the 90s, 2000s. Then one day I started going back to vintage audio, and straight away I was like 'damn, this is when audio was good'.

These are the DAC chips I was on about earlier. Lots of gold.
No idea what they are used it. Will have to do a Google search.

Steve wrote: 02 Jul 2026 10:28 That late 1970's sweet spot was something magic... the height of consumer technology, the centre of the house was dominated by a quality amplifier. I remember my Dads HI-FI system

Me too. He had a Marantz Hi-Fi. TT-1200 Turn table, ST-450L digital Tuner, PM-350 amp and SD-221 cassette deck. Much better than my Amstrad CDX-400M

When it says: MC68060 rev 6 Mask 71E41J

Oldskool wrote: 03 Jul 2026 12:28 When it says: MC68060 rev 6 Mask 71E41J

Got some of those. Will have to put them in the store at some point :lol:

exxos wrote: 03 Jul 2026 12:35

Oldskool wrote: 03 Jul 2026 12:28 When it says: MC68060 rev 6 Mask 71E41J

Got some of those. Will have to put them in the store at some point :lol:

Yes please...I am planning to place an order in the next few days so if you do, that might sneak on there as well! ;)

JezC wrote: 03 Jul 2026 12:41 Yes please...I am planning to place an order in the next few days so if you do, that might sneak on there as well! ;)

Its finding time to verify them that's the first problem.. Plus I need to 3d print some sort of transit package for them..

viewtopic.php?t=7911&start=10

exxos wrote: 03 Jul 2026 12:49

JezC wrote: 03 Jul 2026 12:41 Yes please...I am planning to place an order in the next few days so if you do, that might sneak on there as well! ;)

Its finding time to verify them that's the first problem.. Plus I need to 3d print some sort of transit package for them..

viewtopic.php?t=7911&start=10

Yeah, fully appreciate all the demands on your time so no problem from my perspective - might be an excuse to order some more stuff when you do list them! :D