Meitner MTR101 Amps

There are a number of posts on the MTR 101s, so you might check the archives as well. I used them for a number of years as bass amplifiers for my four-piece system and also heard them at times as full range amps. They are very good pieces, but have a distinct sound tonally that you might or might not like. Very dynamic, excellent soundstage, rich, full and powerful bass reproduction, very rich and lush in the midrange for a solid state design, and rolled off sounding in the highs (some of my friends who heard it felt it did not reproduce the highs accurately, lacking air, I felt they did pretty well, though definitely not prominently, and that other solid state amps were too bright). They are probably not the last word in "transparency" or detail retrieval, I'd guess part of that is the lack of the treble emphasis. Binding posts were a problem, only one spade will fit in there and there is not a lot of room around them because they come right up to the heat sink. The later units used round heat sinks, which looked neat and were actually a very effective and innovative design. I believe that John Wright can update them, though, to bring them up to what he would call state of the art performance, and judging from what he has done with the Meitner Bidat DACs I would tend to believe him.

I recently had the urge to buy a pair that was being sold on Ebay. eventually, I passed them up after I did my research. What I found was more or less exactly what Rcprince wrote above. Plus, I spoke to John Wright & he told me that these amps were 10-12 years old now & that there were far too many reasonably priced amps in the market that would out-do a stock MTR-101. He modifies these amps for $1200 per pair. These amps are usually available anywhere for $800-$1000/pair. So, the cost of getting a pretty good s.s. amp out of it is an additional $1200 + 2-way shipping.
I personally felt that I could spend that much or a little more & get a more modern amp that had sound more to my liking.
FWIW. IMHO.

I've always had the urge to try these, but based on this discussion, I would put my $2k in an SMcAudio upgraded DNA 0.5 for 100wpc of outstanding SS goodness.

I used a couple different pairs of MTR101s for several years and liked them a lot, especially for current hungry full range speakers - these little guys can drive nearly anything. They used to be paired with Apogee Divas back in the day.

Plus, they're beautiful to look at and don't take up much space.

I would describe their sound as "musical". Not necessarily "audiophile" or "hi-fi". Not for some people or certain systems. Probably not the design for the ages that the Bidat was/is but still an option for some systems.

The first pair of 101s I had was on the warmish side, especially through the upperbass and lower midrange and was single ended only. Excellent dynamics, bass and tonality. Not the most extended or airy highs, but the 101s did a lot right and little wrong for $800.

A second pair I had, a so-called MkII version, had more clarity and resolution than the MkIs, with more air on top and were quite "modern" sounding amps. They also had balanced inputs as well as RCAs. These little guys sounded very good driving my Alon Vs, and I preferred them to several other SS amps I tried including Brystons, Conrad-Johnsons and McCormacks. I don't know if the MkIIs were ever an actual product or if what I had were a pair of custom amps but they sounded very good in my system.

Based on my experience of the MkIIs, I wouldn't hesitate to try a pair if I were looking for affordable amps to drive certain current hungry speakers (especially planars, especially if you have a largish room). If you can find a pair in good condition reasonably, and you like the sound, I would consider having them modded.

If you have easy to drive speakers, you probably have other options.

BTW, I replaced my Meitners with Herron M150 Monos, which are, in fact, much better sounding and superb with my speakers, but are much more expensive($5900) than even modded Meitners.