Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
Why would you want to buy old "vintage" receiver when it may not be as good as one that is new. Vintage is a fad but not all vintage is better.

First to answer your question the only receiver probably built to drive 4 ohms would be a Harmon Kardon, excellent receivers in the 70's & 80's. Onkyo would do it if you could find one. Others may still be able to drive a 4 ohm load but may run a bit hotter. Also, and my recommendation would be to look for a used Adcom preamp and power amp which you should be able to get for the $500.00 range, Adcom will rock a 4 ohm speaker and sound better than almost anything vintage. The power amp gfa 535 is about 8x2 and would be the cheapest, a gfa 545 or 5400 is a very strong 125x2, I think if you went larger you would be out of your budget. You can get a gtp-450 preamp with built in tuner used for under $200.00. Actually I have a gtp-450 & gfa-535 around I'd sell under your budget, if interested send me a private message (PM) or eamil. Older and usually highly sought after Sansui integrated amps are very good, especially certain models. I had a AU9500 which was not probably designed for 4 ohms but drove my 4 ohm Dynaudio Audience 60's very well. Older Arcam Alpha series integrated could be found in your price and were built for 4 ohm loads and sound very good, they put Arcam on the map.

I would suggest taking a look at a NAD or Cambridge Audio integrated, or even Jolida which all would be in your price new. That is assuming you want only 2-channel playback which is reasonable since you were looking at vintage. Be sure to check the specs on the NAD I bought my mom a NAD combo unit and the manual recommended staying with 8 ohms but typically their integrated amps are at home with 4 ohm loads.

All of the above would give you more for your money than going out and buying an old Pioneer, Yamaha, Kenwood etc receiver.

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