Hi Charlie,

I can't tell you what's changed in analog preamplifier audio technology in the last 26 years. I owned a Pioneer in the early 80's and thought it sounded fine at the time. But it sounded lousy compared to the Harmon Kardon I bought a few years later. Later, that Harmon Kardon in turn sounded lousy compared to the Sony I got in the 90's. And that sounded lousy compared to the 950.

Each improvement was to me, significant. Of course I also got newer interconnects over the years as well. I think radio shack cables today are much better than some of the "premium" cables from fifteen years ago, believe it or not. A few years ago, I replaced my old "premium" cables with newer RatShack cables since they sound so much better.

EDIT: This is only comparing raw stereo, not multi-channel which has also significantly improved over the years.

[This message has been edited by Will (edited October 04, 2002).]