[OlesonMD]

Does anyone have experience with this amp? This was Pioneer's direct assault on the U.S. manufacturer's (Krell, Marantz, etc.) in high end audio.
It is a true dual-mono design, 150 watts per side. Very cool looking and extremely heavy.
Is this a desirable amp in the current audio circles, or just an oddity of Japanese stereo? How does the sound compare with the current crop of amps available today? What sort of price would one in very good condition command?

[martyo]

Our impression back then was that it looked good, sounded bad. Of all Pioneer attempts at something better sounding than their receivers, the M22 (30 watts pure class A)was the only one that wasn't abrasive sounding. We listened to it with Dahlquist DQ10as, Heil AMT-1s, Magnapan MG1s and either JBL L100s or the L116s. That's what we thought. 

[turkey]

There are some people over on AudioKarma that are really into the Pioneer Spec equipment.

I met one really nice guy at their annual show (AKFest) and he (Steve?) had all Spec equipment driving a huge pair of AR speakers. He was getting some really good sound out of his setup.

I haven't done any real testing myself, but I bet that there's a lot of older electronics that sound just as good as new stuff. Pair them with modern speakers, modern signal sources, and a good listening room with some appropriate acoustic treatment, and I suspect you could have a very high performance system.