Hey Jay, happy to hear you really like Ralphs monos, though Im not at all surprised, and as to the M1200s, prior to them being available Ric Schultz offered a ground up amp (including Italian chassis) using dual mono IcePower AS 1200 modules, plus all his pixie dusty. I also have a Voyager GaN 350 but sadly I managed to take out one channel, so have re-enjoying Rics amp for well over a year.
Excellent Solid State or Hybrid Monoblocks Recommendations
I am interested in staying under 15k for a pair of high performing monoblocks, sold state or hybrid, to acquire.
My current system is an Aric Audio Motherlode preamp, a Space-Tech super tube rectifier, Teac NT-505 modded dac, outboard clock, Aerial Acoustic 7T modded speakers, ENIGMAcoustics Sopranino supertweeters, Grover Huffman Pharoah biwire speaker cables, Zavfino Silver Dart interconnects, Melco 6TB server, Melco CD transport, Waversa Reference USB filter between the cd transport and server, Waversa Reference LAN filter, Synergistic Research active grounding block, and Synergistic Research Ethernet Switch UEF.
My modded JC1 monoblocks sound heavenly. However, I am having issues with no sound coming out of 1 channel. My modded PassLab X250.5 amps sound really good but lack the top end sparkle, air and litheness of the Parasounds JC1s. I am gonna fire back up my Canary CA-160 modded tube monoblocks but am not wild about the tube maintenance requirements.
So, I seek another pair of monoblocks that excel in clarity, balance across the frequency spectrum but also present upper registers with delicacy, spaciousness, and nice instrument separation. I am looking at Audio Van Alstine 750 wpc monoblocks and the Thrax black monoblocks up for sale here on Audiogon. Other suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
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@jaymark Congrats on the new amps. You are likely the GAN expert on this site with all the GAN amps you have owned. I have the Ric modded PeachTree GAN1 on the sidelines for over a year now. However, I will put it back in my Livingroom system today as I sell all my amps, except the CODA #16. The GAN1 is not powerful enough for the Livingroom but it is all I got until I get something else.
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@tweak1 sorry to hear about your Voyager GAN mishap. These amps show up for a little over a grand on this site. Ric modded mine. It is not the best amp that I have for sure. However, the are really good and, for the money, is a great little amp. @yyzsantabarbara I am not really class D amp expert though I do currently have two. Class D has come a very long ways. The Atma-Sphere amps are very high performers to my ears. I have never heard the Peachtree amp. |
@joey54 I know of them but have never heard them. I am overrun with superb monoblocks right now - PSAudio Signature 300s, Atma-Sphere class ds, and heavily modded Parasound JC1 monoblocks. I will put them on my seek and listen list for sure. |