Help! Need amp recommendations.......

dekay - oops!!! ;~) prolly shooda looked at the date...

Consider a second-hand McCormack DNA-1 (or the less expensive, less powerful DNA-.05) and a passive pre-amp: perhaps the Adcom SLC-1. Buying both should set you back just under $1000. I have that exact combination and am very, very pleased with them.

Hey Doug: Melish posted his want list over a year and a half ago. He probably has a Melos by now:-) David

hi,

sorry for the spam, but have i got the amp-n-pre for you! :>) seriously, this stuff will smoke the b&k, or comparable gear. i have an alchemist kraken amp& kraken preamp currently f/s on audiogon, asking $445 each. these units are about a year old, in excellent shape, and retail for $1080 each. they drove my brother-in-law's proac 2.5's to more than sufficient loudness, but he got the upgrade bug and bought $7k worth of arc gear. i got the krakens from him for a second system, but it looks like it now won't happen, cuz of a change in my plans. i have foto's if interested - this gear is way-cool looking, as well as having excellent sound... they are class a amps, which mean they put out lotsa current, and the power increases a lot, if the speakers' load in ohms drops. also note the separate power supply for each unit...

here's more info from the alchemist www:

http://www.alchemist.uk.com/frame_kraken_top_tsdi.htm

regards, doug

ps - apologies to all, i tried to contact melish directly, but he's not an audiogon member...

With a 1K budget is definitely better an integrated amplifier than separates. The Musical Fidelity A3 is rated 85 wpc but gives you 115 wpc easily. I've hear a lot of integrated amplifiers within your budget and this one is the best. Very transparent, tubelike sound, very musical and powerfull despite its 85wpc in 8 ohms. It can easily drive your speakers. see reviews about it in audioreview.com, but look for it in the amplifier section, it is not in the integrated amp section. You can buy it by internet in audioadvisor.com for $1000 with a 30 day money back guaranty. You won't be disappointed.

Excuse me, please repeat that, what did you say, that I'm DEAF? The Rotel RB990BX amp has been tested at 211 peak amps, and should be enough to drive almost any speaker to meltdown. The companion RC980BX preamp is certainly a good preamp, although plain-jane. The combo used should run inside your budget. This listener tilts towards Sony ES:the 2000ESD plus a TAN77ES or TAN80ES is a fine combo, and will also destroy drivers on demand, and I just purchased used ANOTHER 2000ESD digital surround preamp, plus TWO TAN55ES amps for $1000 (which put out more that 300 watts run mono). Don't count out Marantz - the MA500 is inexpensive ($299 list new) and as you get more $$$ you can buy another pair and bridge them for 450 watts per side! Any of these options will provide you with inexpensive, low-distortion, high-power, state-of-the-art sound. (Same reply to question elsewhere in the Forum).

Hey, this is Jeff again....I was considering the B&KEX442 or the B&K ST-140 for an amp and a B&K Pro-10MC pre.....what do ya think? Rotel? any ideas would be appreciated. One note: I want to be able to listen to rock n roll with layered guitars VERY loud with minimal clipping...you know what it's like to have clipping...and I hate that! Please help. Uncle Jefferson