Michael Fremer article follow up or Put together your audiophile system

[Mr Peabody]

Well, it depends on which Kenwood amp, they made some decent higher end stuff. What i mean by higher end is better than their mass market, it would compete today with some of the mid-fi gear. The D series I owned was very good, the Basic line was pretty good, right after the D they built separates I think "L" series that was pretty well regarded and I'm not sure if or what they did similar to this in the 70's. Kenwood was a firm believer integrated amps was the best way to go. They never went as far upstream as Marantz or Denon though.

That reminds me, i saw a Yamaha M4 on CL, the ad said it was Class A. Anyone know about this amp?

[hifitommy]

"people who find the differences between amps far more modest than the differences between speakers "

yes, and no. once you start this trek, you find speakers that elucidate the music, then you change or borrow a piece of electronics that opens up the world. i have had some pretty good electronics in years past and been blindsided by a piece new to my system.

example: i had quatre and nad preamps that sounded great and thought i was moving up the chain with the adcom gfp565 with its glowing review in stereophile. had that for years, it was good.

THEN i was in audio den in van nuys california and a guy brought in an audio research SP3A1 in to trade for another piece. i snagged it for a song, took it home and was FLOORED by the improvement in sound. i wasnt sure WHAT to expect and certainly not that.

and that was with an oscillating power supply (a defect in need of repair). it went back to minnesota and came back just fine. years later a distortion reared its ugly head in the ARC and i put back in the quatre pre. GREAT. oh, its not as good as the arc but it made me glad i didnt dump it.

dont be so quick to think that electronics are much the same, theyre NOT. the more you improve the system, the better you can hear improvements. thats why we hear wire diffs and pursue better sounding wire. and you dont need to go broke doing that either. therein lies many other adventures and stories.