Have you tried the ART SLA-1 amp yet?

Since I was already in the market for a modestly priced amp for my office system when the controversial and now-deleted first thread on the ART popped up, I decided to take a chance on the ART SLA-1 and see what it would sound like in my system before moving it along to system B or selling it. It arrived today--without any mods--and I have had it playing for three or four hours now. Although it is much too soon to make any kind of judgment, I can give you my honest first impression, for whatever it is worth.

To these ears, the ART is a very clean sounding and powerful little devil. Whether it is as good as D911 claims remains to be seen, but it appears to be holding its own in my system. I will withhold further comment until I've lived with it for a few days and had a chance to get better acquainted. Based on what I've heard so far, I am looking forward to it.

Associated gear: Supratek Syrah preamp, Piega P10 speakers and Piega speaker cables, EMC 24/192 CDP, Nottingham Spacedeck/OL Silver/Shelter 501, Jena Labs Symphony ICs, Virtual Dynamics Power 2 and Audition ACs.

I have no affiliation whatsoever with D911 and no financial stake in the amp's sales. Just a curious cat and a bargain shopper.

Fool's gold? Maybe, maybe not. We'll see. I will be interested in others' impressions.

Guys, I'll admit I am in a bit of a quandary, and I am probably not the only one. The right place at the right time might well turn out to be the wrong place at the wrong time. Be that as it may, I am now owner of this amp and am letting it break in a few days before doing a head to head with my reference.

Now here is the quandary. I think it is clear by now that D911, at minimum, made some poor choices in bringing this amp and his mod business to our attention. I cannot disagree nor am I inclined to disagree with any of the negative remarks made about his tactics, and I plead guilty not only to a certain amount of gullibility, but to perpetuating his advertising with this post. Guilty as charged.

However, there is another issue: the amp. Is it any good or not? Is it a real bargain? How does it stack up to the big boys? How can one evaluate it fairly and post results for the benefit of others without helping D911's cause, unless it turns out to be a real turkey? The worthiness of the amp, it seems to me, is a separate issue from D911's credibility. The real question is whether any objective discussion can ever take place about its relative merits, now that the well has been poisoned. Anything positive anyone has to say will have stink all over it. We've already been branded as fools for buying it. Imagine what would happen if we liked it. And liking it, of course, would promote D911's business further.

D911, you sure have made a mess of things, haven't you?

Sean,
No apology necessary--not from you. Defending the integrity of this site is something we should all do as vigorously as possible. As for price, I got my amp from fullcompass.com for $209 delivered.

For anyone interested,
Dlshifi has just posted an outstanding review of the ART SLA-1 in the review section. I think his observations are spot-on, based on what I have heard of the amp in my own system, which, admittedly, is very similar to Dlshifi's (Supratek, Piega P10s). I want to give the ART more time to break in and experiment with some different power cords and tweaks before commenting further on the sound, but I think it is safe to say that the amp is pretty damn good, perhaps even remarkable at its price point.

I have spent quite a bit of time listening to the SLA-1 for the past week or so, and have more or less arrived at the following conclusions. First, it is an unbelievable value, and I like the idea of having it in a second system and as a backup amp for my main system. I cannot really improve on the impressions of Dlshifi in his excellent review--I agree with everything he said. The amp is dynamic and clean, with precise placement of instruments in the soundtage, but can sound hard or lean at times and does not quite have the extension/dimension or musicality of reference quality amps costing thousands of dollars more. At first, I was so impressed by the sound coming out of this little booger that I wasn't quite coming to terms with the fact that I was missing something I had with my Plinius SA-102.

So, was it a close competition? Well, yes and no. Yes, in the sense that the SLA-1 exceeded my expectations and amazed me with its performance for <$200. It is a credible performer even in audiophile systems. If I ever fall on hard times, I could easily "settle" for the SLA-1 and be fine. But the Plinius is just more musical. As my girlfriend said, "It just gets down in your ears more." Simple, but true.

I'm still impressed by how good the SLA-1 is, but I also know that I would choose the Plinius 10 times out of 10.