I owned a Garrard 35sb turntable and a Fountain AF1250 amplifier but did have high quality home designed and made speaker. I went over to England in 1977 when only 18 years old and brought back a Marantz 1060; why the Marantz? I had a limited budget and went into a local Hifi shop, a specialist shop able to set up and compare a myriad of audio gear, they had a comparator system that allowed you to change amp/speaker/source at the touch of a few buttons. The shop salesman was really helpful and just loved to show everything and I told him I was definitely spending some money if not a lot. I was able to compare Kenwood, Pioneer, Sansui, Luxman, some British brands Quad! and many others, many were way above my budget including the Quad 33/303 (500 pounds ish?) The Marantz 1060 was reduced in price as end of line but compared with the amplifiers in original higher price bracket as well as one much more expensive, it typically beat amplifiers that were more that twice it's price and quite a few that were four to five times the price. A much more expensive Luxman came close, I couldn't afford it anyway but still preferred the Marantz. In what way was it better? It was clearly clearer in the mid-range, sounds/notes were not "fuzzy" as in comparison other amps were, the bass was tighter and more defined and the highs too were clearer. And keep in mind that despite being obviously interested in audio Marantz was not a brand I had considered, the more well known Japanese brands were usually pushed and recommended including in NZ, I picked it out as the best then compared it to some of the other much more expensive models, some were found clearly wanting even a very large pioneer I had always wanted; in quality I couldn't find a better but in power rating obviously the bigger "brothers" were more powerful...but I never needed a more powerful amp. BUT: OK I didn't compare with the really expensive and esoteric amps as I may have needed to go and sell body parts to acquire one of them, also the 1980's minimalist British little black boxes had not yet arrived, Hah the Marantz betters some of them as well, in latter days I have compared them. And not many amps have the longevity of the Marantz amps if looked after.