Amps which are Great, but either Unknown or Underpriced

I really like the sound of the croft integrated from the uk. Has the natural sound of my red wine signature 15 which unfortunately isn't made any more. Croft doesn't have lots of watts but the quality of the sound is hard to beat in the price range. A very special little amp. 

Herron Audio M1.  Outstanding amp personally tested by Keith Herron.  Not cold transistor sound, not artificially colored by tube warmth.  Just clean, detailed, dynamic and musical.  I own 6 Herron Audio amps, but 4 of them are too old to update to M1.  Even the old ones are outstanding.

Wells Audio Majestic 150 wpc integrated @$3499 . An incredible sounding amplifier.

Reference Line Model One Silver Signature. Many know of their passive pres, but their 100 Watt dual mono Class A stereo amp is a bit of an unknown honey.

Aavik Acoustics U300. A little pricey but with a built in excellent Dac and phono stage to boot for an integrated.

Krell.

Keeping in the context of the original question, I also recommend  Clayton Audio. Class A with a very "organic" sound.

I'll just say that I owned a Yamaha A-S3000 for a couple years and my new Rogue Cronus Magnum II is more enjoyable in just about every regard--missing the glowing meters. I don't know if Rogue audio is unknown but the value for money and amazing sound I'm hearing helped me get off the amplifier merry-go-round. If you've heard the previous Cronus Magnum, you need to hear the Cronus Magnum II, it's not even close and the Cronus Magnum was a lauded product. 

I really like my Jolida 502 P with factory mods and Tungsol KT150 tubes.  I also have a Conrad Johnson amp but find the Jolida just sounds better to my ears.  At less than 1/3 the cost of the CJ I would say the Jolida qualifies!

To me the real question is "What amplifiers give you the most audio value for your dollar?"  

I think there are very few audio buyers who don't care about value.  You make a purchase because you need something you don't currently have.  You carefully consider your needs versus your budget and then make a choice.  So most of the time, you choose a component that you feel will give you the most improvement in your sound at the price you're willing to pay.

We come to Audiogon because there is generally greater value in buying used gear.  That 3 year old amplifier probably sounds just as good today as it did 3 years ago and it's selling for half of what it was listed at retail.  Today's $5000 wonder is tomorrow's $3000 White Elephant.

So again, where do you get the most value for your audio dollar?  I run a set of Linkwitz Orions, which call for 8 channels at 60 wpc.  I've been running a B&K AV1260, 60wpc "zone amp" and they sound terrific.  I bought it used, of course, for $500.  They list new for about $1200.  The recommended amp from Linkwitz is a similar ATI amp which retails for $1600.  I've seen the B&K AV1260 go for as little as $250 on EBay.  Not a lot of call for 12 channel amps, but I think it's a very good match to the big Linkwitz designs like the Orion or LX521.  I think that's a Good Value.

Where is YBA manufactured?

@philipwu

Re: YBA:
1. Yves-Bernard Andre continues to be Chief Designer of ALL YBA products
2. Sound quality is even higher quality vs older designs
3. Construction quality is higher with all manufacturing/assembly in an ISO9001 facility to insure world class quality
4. Many parts continue to be sourced from France to YBA specs
5. Yves-Bernard Andre personally tests/tweeks/signs each Signature series product that is produced.
6. Yes, Signature series is beyond world class with that YBA iconic transparency, detail and emotional involvement...and much more affordable than other "top class" designs while offering a sonic quality that separates it from the big $$ products.
7. Passion series, although relatively affordable, offers more than a taste of the Signature series
8. Passion series offers higher sound quality than $300k SET amplifiers that passed thru our distributor doors
9. Our US website has many reviews of the "new" YBA designs - all raves!

Jim Ricketts/tmh audio
US Distributor of YBA...and much more

Audio Alchemy DPA-1

If bulletproof matters to you, consider Bryston.

The Juicy Music Audio pure class A Triode (pCAT) monoblock amplifiers are outstanding.  Unfortunately, they are discontinued, rare, and don't come up for sale often.

Agree on the Belles - still use one f his first, a Belles A, in a third system

The Yamamoto A08S 45 Single Ended Triode Tube Amplifier is gorgeous with a pair of 98db sensitive Lowther PM5A (Alnico) drivers in Open Baffle. It is hand-made and illuminates textures, detail, transparency, a haunting sense of 3-dimensionality and captures the ambient 'space' of where the recording was made. It also has that mysterious sense of 'flow' that helps bring music to life. Srajan of 6-Moons suggested it sounded more tonally richly saturated than a 300B tube SET amplifier. He was right! It is also uncannily quiet. Shigeki Yamamoto is a master. It should cost at least $8,000 but only cost a ridiculous $2500, helped by the currently strong US dollar. It is also beautiful designed. There are few audio amplifiers that come even close to it as a work of art.

I will add my 2 cents worth and say Odyssey falls into this category.

I second Quicksilver Audio   I have a pair of Mid Monos and I love them. One of the true values in audio.  

The McIntosh MC352 (listed here on this site for $3,300) is a phenomenal deal in audio right now. This amp was designed by Charlie Randall and is one of the best sounding solid state amps they ever made, all these new MAC quad balanced amps are its offspring. McIntosh does not make lower wattage (under 400 watts) SS stereo amps anymore, and what they do currently make is very expensive.

Matt M

That is funny you mention Jolida. My technician works on Jolida gear and he tells me he likes it better than the mega priced products. He said a lot of people don't buy it because they think it is to Inexpensive.

Get yer Williamson/Ultra Linear on...Jolida rarely gets anything reviewed and consequently is one of the best kept secrets (except my grabbing any opportunity to rant about these things) out there. I have a 4 or so year old "factory upgraded" 502p amp that is the quietest (seemingly zero hum or noise even if you stick your ear on the speaker) amp I've owned including a lot of SS amps, and festooned (!) with KT150s and some nice small tubes it sounds like the friggin Giant Killer it is. The fact that these things are inexpensive seems to be the only thing wrong with them…I've spent a lot of time listening to much more expensive amps from Rogers, VTL, ARC, etc. (albeit usually not in my rig with a few exceptions) and the results are generally "meh."  Primalunas get reviewed often and although closer to the price point of Jolida's  amps, and fitted with auto bias circuits and other interesting features, they generally are less powerful than a Jolida costing about a third as much, and don't sound any better to my ears (I tried a borrowed "HP" version…when I switched back to my 502 I felt the Jolida simply sounded better, although I have no "triode" switch). 

I second Clayton, and would add SMc Audio upgraded McCormack amplifiers and preamplifiers 

Quicksilver Audio!

I 2nd the Power Modules Inc.  Dave Belles is a real master and deserves the credit that guys like Nelson Pass get.  Dave is right up there with the true masters of the audio art.

Bottlehead. I have the Beepre preamp and it killed something four times the price. 

Good question.   More detail in answers on why said amp is great would be of interest.  Also compared to what?

Odyssey Audio

I second Music Reference.  I have had the RM9 mk ii for 25 years, and it has kept up with all the changes to the system.  Even now, I believe I still have not reached its limits, as I push toward the reproduction of the natural sound on a smaller scale.

I second BEL.  The 1001 MK V in particular.  

Redgum Audio in Australia. Not well known here. Don't know about being underpriced or not. YBA from France is well known to some but not to others.

The chinese brands: Line Magnetic;  Cayin;  Yaquin.

BEL, Music Reference.

Clayton Audio, First Watt