5 Famous Vintage Amps You Can Still Buy Today (2024)

Table of Contents
Why Buy a Vintage Amplifier? NAD 3020 NAD 3020 Hafler DH-200 Hafler DH-200 Realistic SA-150 Realistic SA-150 Marantz 1060 Marantz 1060 Pioneer SA-6500 Pioneer SA-6500 Related Topics References

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If you’re building an old-school hi-fi system, you need a vintage amplifier to drive your loudspeakers.

5 Famous Vintage Amps You Can Still Buy Today (1)Manuel Breva Colmeiro

5 Famous Vintage Amps You Can Still Buy Today (2)

By Tucker Bowe

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If you’re building a vintage hi-fi system, you need a vintage amplifier as well. It’s a component that has admittedly gone out of style with modern hi-fi systems — due in large part because a lot of other components have built-in amplifiers, such stereo receivers, active speakers and digital music streamers — but it was a fixture in most traditional home systems.

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The job of these old-school amps was, of course, to drive your loudspeakers. Many of them had controls (for things like volume, treble, bass and balance) to better tune your loudspeakers and your preferences.

The reason you’d buy a traditional amplifier — also known as a power amp — rather than with a built-in radio (known as a receiver) or a built-in phono preamp (known as an integrated amplifier) is that there was less room for vibration or distortion; plus you had more freedom to tinker and upgrade individual components to your system.

Why Buy a Vintage Amplifier?

The main reason to buy a vintage amplifier is very similar to the reason why you’d buy a vintage turntable: the aesthetic and the nostalgia. They don’t make audio components like they used to, in terms of their look and feel, and quite of few prominent audio companies of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s — likeSansui, Realistic and Quadraflex— aren’t around anymore.

Thanks to a thriving marketplace of third-party sellers — like eBay, Amazon, Sweetwater or Craigslist — it’s not super difficult to buy a vintage amplifier. And you can probably buy one for way less than you’d spend on a similar modern hi-fi component.

The thing to watch out for, however, is that many of these older components aren’t in working order — in fact, a lot of them are just sold for parts — so you really have to know what you’re buying and the likely project that is going to come with it. (We suggest consulting your local hi-fi shop before purchasing anything to see how difficult it will likely be to refurbish.)

NAD 3020

5 Famous Vintage Amps You Can Still Buy Today (3)eBay

NAD 3020

Specs

TypeIntegrated amplifier
Original release date1979
Price$250 — $350

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The NAD 3020 is probably one of the most popular integrated amplifiers ever. It was one of NAD (New Acoustic Dimension)’s first audio products and easily one of its most successful. It’s a stereo amplifier that outputs 20 watts per channel — it was a solid budget amplifier for bookshelf speakers. It has a built-in phono stage, too, for connecting a record player.

Hafler DH-200

5 Famous Vintage Amps You Can Still Buy Today (4)eBay

Hafler DH-200

Specs

TypeStereo power amplifier
Original release date1979
Price~$350

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Even today, Hafler is still known for many high-quality and high-powered amplifiers at relatively affordable prices — and the DH-200 certainly fit that bill when it was released in the late ’70s. It’s capable of delivering 115 watts per channel (at 8 ohms) with very little distortion; if you need any more power, try looking for its big brother, the DH-500, which delivers 255 watts per channel.

Realistic SA-150

5 Famous Vintage Amps You Can Still Buy Today (5)eBay

Realistic SA-150

Specs

TypeIntegrated amplifier
Original release date1984
Price~$50

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The Realistic SA-150 is a pretty gorgeous yet simple integrated amplifier that outputs about 25 watts per channel, making it efficient to drive smaller loudspeakers. It’s really quite small and you can buy a matching AM/FM tuner for roughly the same price. It has a switchable phono stage (accepts MM and MC cartridges) in case you want to add it to a record player. It sold for about $60 when it was released in the mid-80s.

Marantz 1060

5 Famous Vintage Amps You Can Still Buy Today (6)eBay

Marantz 1060

Specs

TypeIntegrated amplifier
Original release date1971
Price~$680

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Like pretty much every vintage audio component from Marantz, the 1060 is incredibly sought after and difficult to find these days. But it’s for good reason. It’s one of the most popular integrated amplifiers of all time and the little (and slightly older brother) to the company’s iconic 1120 amplifier. The Marantz 1060 is a gorgeous silver design with symmetrically placed control knobs and switches. At 30 watts per channel, it was a great amplifier for most home loudspeakers.

Pioneer SA-6500

5 Famous Vintage Amps You Can Still Buy Today (7)eBay

Pioneer SA-6500

Specs

TypeIntegrated amplifier
Original release date1978
Price~$250

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The Pioneer SA-6500 is a beauty. It’s a stereo-integrated amplifier that’s housed in a gorgeous metal case and it outputs 30 watts per channel (into 4 or 8 ohms), making it a solid option to drive most home loudspeakers. It has a wide range of playback and equalizing knobs and controls, too.

  • 5 Famous Vintage Amps You Can Still Buy Today (8)

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    The Best Vintage Turntables That You Can (Maybe) Still Buy

  • 5 Famous Vintage Amps You Can Still Buy Today (11)

    Shopping for Vintage Speakers? Here’s What You Need to Know

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5 Famous Vintage Amps You Can Still Buy Today (2024)

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