There are a lot of proud owners of these amps (myself included, so caveat emptor). Here's some opinionated facts about them:
- They are very competitive with amps costing 2-3x more.
- They mate well with most preamp types, tubes, SS and passive - and so integrate will with most existing systems.
- They have enought drive to power most speakers (100W into 8 ohms, 200 W into 4 ohms).
- They operate for the first few watts in class A (A-B thereafter), which is where you do 95% of your listening, so sound very smooth and unstrained.
- They are upgradeable by Steve McCormack himself. These mods can bring the amp to new levels of performance which very few products can beat. That's the real bang for the buck.
- Steve mates the science of amp design (layout, design, etc.) with the art (parts selection and voicing) better than most.
- The service and reputation are great.
- You can get one used for about $500-600 and get it upgraded later - or buy a Rev A already done and never need another amp again, unless you need to go tubed.
I'm tying to be honest and avoid the over-hype that you've seen elsewhere. Yes, they are very good amps that can be modded to be very great amps. The best ... what does that mean anyway?
Enjoy,
Bob
- They are very competitive with amps costing 2-3x more.
- They mate well with most preamp types, tubes, SS and passive - and so integrate will with most existing systems.
- They have enought drive to power most speakers (100W into 8 ohms, 200 W into 4 ohms).
- They operate for the first few watts in class A (A-B thereafter), which is where you do 95% of your listening, so sound very smooth and unstrained.
- They are upgradeable by Steve McCormack himself. These mods can bring the amp to new levels of performance which very few products can beat. That's the real bang for the buck.
- Steve mates the science of amp design (layout, design, etc.) with the art (parts selection and voicing) better than most.
- The service and reputation are great.
- You can get one used for about $500-600 and get it upgraded later - or buy a Rev A already done and never need another amp again, unless you need to go tubed.
I'm tying to be honest and avoid the over-hype that you've seen elsewhere. Yes, they are very good amps that can be modded to be very great amps. The best ... what does that mean anyway?
Enjoy,
Bob