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Mono Blocks on a Budget, is it possible?

I’m really struggling with the direction to take my system. I have the following:

Legacy Classics speakers
Aurender N100H media player
Schiit Freya tube pre-amp
Schiit Yggdrasil DAC
Schiit Vidar x2 (in mono block mode)

I will be replacing speakers at some point but the rest of the system I love... except the Vidars. Before them, I had NAD 356BEE that was used for the amp. Very clean and I loved it, except it was only 80 Watts. I decided to upgrade to the Vidars. They cost twice as much From a good manufacturer like Schiit so they must be better right? Not really. They are more noisy than the NAD amp and I’m finding myself less in love with them that I though I would be. I was planning the Vidar purchase for about a year and now that I got them I don’t know which direction to take in replacing them. I want to get cleaner mono amps but don’t want to spend more than $3k MAX for both. The Vidars are 400 Watts into 8ohm, are there any options out there for me that are close to the Vidar specs? I’m open to used but mostly I want the amps to sound almost completely clean with practically no distortion. 
xerotrace
gochurchgo
920 posts
 
@mastercylinder Klaus at Odyssey runs 1.7’s I believe. Call him about spec’ing out an amp.
psag
518 posts
 
If getting the best possible sound within a strict budget is the priority, I don't think monoblocks are the best way to go.  Dollar for dollar, better quality will be obtained by eliminating the extra expense of monoblocks.
lanceman25
7 posts
 
I second the Emotiva suggestion. It is well priced gear that performs above its class. Also very quiet. 
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
I also owned emotiva mono, stereo and 5 channel amps.
All I will say on that is you really do get what you pay for.
I swapped out the emotiva for the krell kav250 for stereo and the multichannel plus 2 mono s for a tiny nuforce 8 channel class d amp.
In both instances the emotiva were well outclassed.
Cheap bang for the buck but not quality bang for the buck imho
dorkwad
548 posts
 
If you want great sound with monos, a used pair of Nuforce Ref 9 V3 SE monos will set you back about $1400 ($5200 new). I bought a pair and after talking to many owners of Nuforce and Nuprime amps, got to talking with TDSS’s Bob Smith. After our talks, Bob convinced me that the Level 3 mods would be all I could ever want in amps. The Ref 9’s are 175 watts/ch into 8 ohms. The level 3 mods make they play like they are 250 watts/ch. All the sound parameters are improved after the upgrades and I loved the sound of the Ref 9’s prior to that. You could get the Ref 9’s now and save up for the TDSS upgrades for later. I’ve taken these amps to 5 different systems with totally different speakers. In all 5, the sound became present, more dynamic, with deep, articulate bass, and mids and highs to die for. The volume just scales to any volume level with NO overload at all. The sound is never harsh, but has great definition. The level 3 upgrades cost $2400 for the 2 amps total. So for $3800, you have an absolute SOTA mono amps that will drive most any speaker to great joy and live sound. If the extra $2400 is too much, TDSS has 2 lower cost upgrades that still are noticeably better than the already very good Ref 9’s in stock form.  If you did go for the level 3 upgrades, you will NEVER want for a better amp again.

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