2. amps-preamps
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Best Amp for $300 to Power Paradigm Monitor 9s

I'm looking for a 2-channel amplifier to power my Paradigm Monitor 9 (series 7) speakers. I want something simple, with few bells and whistles, but excellent sound. I've read that the Paradigms are bright and so a warm amp would be the way to, and have heard that Marantz pairs well, but am open to any quality option.

My budget is about 300 dollars, and I'd like something in the 100 WPC range, so I will likely buy second hand vintage.
commodus1

Showing 2 responses by wolf_garcia

wolf_garcia
6,794 posts
 
I'd ignore pro sound amps like the QSC since it has fan noise that is far too loud
for home hifi unless you will only be playing things really loud (I own a GX3 for
certain PA needs and the fan is way too loud even for my rehearsal/recording
studio....I use an old reliable and fanless Alesis RA100 for that). I recommended
Adcom in the other post as they are bulletproof and pretty cheap to buy these
days...they sound amazing for the price.
wolf_garcia
6,794 posts
 
I think I could stick a quieter fan in my QSC amp, but I only use it for live stuff (generally driving a pair of monitors) and in that application it's fine...but maybe mine has a louder fan than necessary, or a badly designed fan, or a faulty fan...but it's too loud for recording anything when it's on. I have extensive experience with PA amps as I do pro sound work, and I think QSC GX amps generally sound somewhat better than the inexpensive Crown amps...the higher end Crowns sound fabulous, but for hifi I think there are better sounding amps out there, as long as they're not too old with leaky bits...as bargains go B&Ks always sounded great, I loved my Forte' Model 55 (one of the last of those) and various Adcoms...used a 535 as a studio monitor amp for years, and the second model of those with normal binding posts is a smooth sounding amp. I owned an Acurus A250 that needed work from time to time (warranty so no cost for me) but kicked ass.
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