Agoners: Need Advice! Have 3K to spend on an Amp, what do I do with no way to audition?
One other company I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned yet is Bryston. They built their reputation on 20 year warranty on all their gear and guaranteeing that the parts would be available if needed. They are also particularly known for their ss power amps. Like Classe, they are a Canadian company, highly reputable and with a good track record. I would also cross Audio Research off the list unless you want to open it up to tube designs too. ARC is built on tube gear, and without hearing it, associating their beloved fans to there ss gear is a stretch. You built a good list of brands, now you really ought to consider a road trip to do some listening to figure out your preferences. Have to agree w/others that 30yrs is a lot to ask for, and especially if not buying new. Cheers, Spencer |
Since you might not live past Thursday, get a tube amp. Tube amps are more interesting, and often make make the owner of tube gear "seem" more interesting. A win win. Also, no amp (or pretty much any piece of audio gear) can really be auditioned except in your home, and then it has to be over a good chunk of time. Reviewers often have gear for many months. If you read enough reviews and opinions here and there you can likely make a relatively safe purchase based on all that, although, for example, if your listening environment is a leaky tent you might stay away from wooden speakers, or if no electricity is available you might have to learn to play an acoustic instrument and make the music yourself. These are important things to consider. |
audioman2015, I have been interested in the Parasound gear as well, just failed to mention it as a contender, as well as the Conrad-Johnson class Ds. All of them have great reviews....thanks. minorl, I agree that auditioning them is a great idea, but in most cases those of us on A-gon are in another state, I'm in Ft Worth, Tx. If I could find a deal in Texas, I would, most certainly, drive to audition and pick up. Most sellers are out of state. |
I'd give Klaus at Odyssey Audio a call. Talk to him about a Kismet Reference amplifier. I can't imagine you'd be able to get a better sounding, better built amp for anywhere near the price. Here's the link > http://odysseyaudio.com/products-kismet-reference-amplifiers.html |
In that price range I would recommend you consider Tom Maker's amps. Well built, very good sounding, ss amps, built in the USA so servicing is easy. You can get a stereo amp that puts out 225 watts per channel for about half your budget; if you want to spend the whole budget, there are mono blocks available. Here's one listing, but search on Maker for more. https://www.audiogon.com/listings/solid-state-maker-audio-g9-maker-formerly-edge-electronics-2017-02... |
Why can't you audition some of the amps available? I know we had a detailed discussion not so long ago on Audiogon about buyers that wanted to audition equipment before making an offer. Many here felt it is a great burden (physically and financially) on sellers to act like they are a brick and mortar store and simply let people into their homes to only audition. My policy, is the buyer must make a serious offer first and that offer accepted by me. If they are picking the unit up physically from my home, then I would gladly connect the unit and let them hear it. Which I have done many times and have never experienced any problems. I've actually enjoyed the conversations and music the buyer brought to demo the units for sale. But the offer must be made and accepted first. They can pay in cash when they get to my house. I know. If they change their mind after hearing the unit, I really can't do anything about that except make a negative review about them on Audiogon. In my case, not once have buyer changed their minds after hearing the units. I'm selling two Mark Levinson amps at the moment. A 23.5 and an ML3. They both have been serviced by authorized Mark Levinson service center and the ML3 upgraded also. My point is that they are extremely heavy and it is best if the buyer can physically pick the units up from my home. I can ship, but that is more costs to the buyer. In this case, I absolutely have no problem allowing the buyer to hear the unit at pickup after they have made the offer and I have accepted it. If, on the other hand, the buyer is too far away to do this, then that is a difficulty. In this case, the buyer should have a pretty good idea of the equipment and how they believe it sounds before purchase. I can't think of any electronics that last for 30 years without service or repair. Equipment breaks and fails. But, most equipment, especially amps can be repaired and serviced by knowledgeable technicians. It's only if the parts are no longer available that one experiences problems. But even in the case of my ML3, I still found quality parts for that unit (and I bought more, just in case). So, you can pretty much be assured that you can get your amps serviced and repaired. Digital equipment is another issue altogether. In my opinion, I'm only going with quality name companies with good reputations that stand behind their equipment. Not throwing any company under the bus but, two companies really disappointed me. McIntosh and Theta. McIntosh's MS300/MS750 music servers were nice units. But, McIntosh stopped servicing the units and sold the rights to another company. Panurgy OEM services the units now, but the company that has the license rights to Gracenotes for the units went out of business and you cannot get the album art or music information on line for the units anymore. That sucks. You have to physically type in the information yourself. Theta's older DACS are not serviced or supported by Theta. Due to some internal dispute with prior employees (I believe). It doesn't matter to me. If I buy a unit, I want that company to stand by their stuff. There are still several quality Mark Levinson service centers around and quality technicians that can service Mark Levinson products. Audio Research stands behind each and every unit they have every produced. That says something. I can still buy panels for my Martin Logan Monolith III speakers from Martin Logan. That's impressive. enjoy Hope this helps. |
It is too bad you cannot listen to the different competitors since amplifier-speaker interaction can be important and is not always evident by looking at specs. One thing I have found by listening is that with SS amps, the output stage has a significant effect on how they sound to me. I almost always enjoy SS amplifiers with bi-polar output devices more than those using MOSFETs and that has remained constant at almost all price ranges up through Lamm's M1.2 Reference monoblocks at over $20K. Here are a couple of amps you may consider that should sound very good on your 802s; I had pretty good luck with Cary's discontinued CAD 500MB monos, which you can maybe find used in your price range. I believe these would not only provide the richness, warmth, and body you are looking for but would also provide exceptional control of the 802s. Do not get their newer SA-500.1 amps, which in my system did not have the same magic. Cary is still around to support repairs. I have had good luck with McCormack amps, although they sound very clean and clear, and do not add much mid-bass emphasis that you may need for the rich, warm presentation you are desire. You may even find a used DNA-500 in your price range. Pretty much built like a tank and Steve McCormack is still upgrading his amps and providing outstanding customer support at SMc Audio. Both of those amplifiers provide 500wpc into 8 ohms. If you want small and cool-running, you might try the Class D offerings from DSonic and particularly the M3-1500M monos that are in your price range new - review here; http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/dsonic/1.html The review provides some detailed impressions of how those amps sounded to the reviewer (which seem to correspond with exactly what you are looking for) and concludes, " The strengths of the M2-1500M in all combinations were obvious - detail, ease of dynamics, soundstaging and warmth. These remained core. Were there weaknesses? If the amplifier displayed a failing, it was a touch warm and forgiving. Perhaps the correct term might be "overly analog".... Some may interpret that as being a touch uncritical. Most will welcome it as acoustically natural.....The D-Sonic qualifies as true high end and deserves to be examined against higher tier components. It certainly competes against the best of its digital brethren and all tube and SS amps that have been in house." |
Heres another one for your consideration http://libertyaudio.com/products/b2b-100-all-mos-fet-stereo-power-amplifier Heres a review http://www.goodsound.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/520-liberty-audio-b2b-100-stereo-amplifier Heres the measurements from that review http://www.soundstage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1113:bhk-labs-measure... Heres another review http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue70/liberty_audio.htm From its maker Good Listening Peter |
Which amp does it all??? None, sorry. Asking any component to offer great detail, but also be rich and warm is asking the impossible. When looking for a newer component, it helps if one knows which general direction they want to proceed in. Generally speaking, fast, detail, transparent is one direction, while warmth, musicality, and richness is the opposite direction. One cannot head east and west at the same time. The best you can do is find an amp that will balance these attributes to your personal tastes. Anyone can tell you what works well for them in their system. However, that does not mean that the same amp will work well with your gear and suit your musical tastes. All of the amp manufacturers that you list will have their fans, and have had success in certain systems. That said, I own a pair of Pass Labs XA-100.5 monoblock amps. I would describe their sound as leaning towards the warm and musical side of neutral. Many who use Pass Labs will try to add a bit more detail with more revealing speakers, preamp, etc. Many, like myself, will use an ARC preamp with the Pass Labs amps to help provide a bit more resolution, and steer the sound back to neutral. My speakers are also very revealing, so the Pass Labs amps add a bit of musicality and warmth to balance the detail and resolution of my preamp and speakers.
That is an interesting comment. I don't recall hearing that before. Could you describe what "too much midrange" sounds like? |
wlutke, So you're saying to buy what I want, and keep looking trading until I find the perfect one? I'm running B&W 802 Matrix 2s, so no adjustment on the tones, they are midrange strong in many cases so having a bass/treble adjustment on preamp is almost a must. jperry, Thank you, for the recommendation. have seen a few of the Aesthetix amps, the used ones are still out of my price range. I'm aware of the recapping process needing to be completed, I've seen an average of every 10-20 years, depending on amount of amp use. So I am willing to put up with it, just making sure to buy American for that reason as well. |
cohicks4, I searched the forums for amps recommended as a good match for my speakers and that worked out well. I bought used - I assume for $3K you are too with those brands - so no problem if I didn't like the amp. I would resell and try again, if it came to that. My speakers have level adjust on the tweeters and mids. Oddly enough, I find a hot tweeter level is the source of the intolerable "midrange glare" while the midrange level has little effect. |
