The Best Amp for the Price of Dirt

09-10-08: Crem1
Readers: It is true that the published bench tests reveal the A500's may not spec, as well as, say a Bryston. That is a fact. Nevertheless, the claim is these differences are subtle :The 500's are more than good enought to "meet all criteria for transparent sound " , as stated in a review. That critic believes no one , except a few 18 year olds , could actually hear the difference. Well, I'm over 18 so that leaves me out of the debate.

Except for one thing, and I find it incredible that more people don't make a point of this: treble extension in electronics is also indicative of its overall speed. The issue is not so much whether you can hear a 0.5dB drop at 18KHz, it's that if it's flat only to 10KHz, that means the amp is only fast enough for a rise time of 5 milliseconds. An amp linear out to 100 KHz (and many are) would have a rise time nearly ten times as fast--around 500 microseconds.

You may not be able to hear much beyond 16KHz, but I think most people can hear the difference between a rise time of 5 ms and 500 micro-secs. Anybody who's heard a Spectral amp could tell you that.

I don't know why Aczel conveniently ignores that fact.

That doesn't mean the A500 doesn't deliver fair value; it obviously does.

But here's another "dirt cheap" approach--the Onkyo A-9555. This is an integrated amp that you can get on the Internet from an authorized dealer for $400-500. It has a decent built-in phono preamp. When it's fully broken in, which takes a good 100 hours, it's competitive with amps up to $2K, and preferable over many between $1K and $1.5K at least.

Unlike the Behringer's dodgy specs vs. measurements, the A-9555 has a usable frequency response out to 100 KHz, (measurements here) and I can attest that this is one fast amp. With this speed (every sound wave is formed more quickly with less slop) there is a very audible improvement in clarity and the ability to hear multiple harmonic, melodic, and bass lines easier than with a conventional amp. This is very audible to even a casual listener, and you don't have to hear to 20KHz to be able to notice it, especially with more complex music. The distortion curve is very flat, varying very little around the .1 % mark from 10 to 20KHz.

It puts out a solid 100 wpc into 8 ohms and 175 into 4 ohms, both channels driven. It's able to deliver a lot of current when called for, and the amp sounds bigger than its power rating would suggest.

Being an integrated, you get a 7-input linestage and a pretty decent phono stage thrown in as well. Plus, the back panel accepts RCA inputs and you can connect speaker cables via bananas.

Oh, and a remote control and a 3-year warranty. This amp is currently made in Japan, so the build quality is excellent.

I'm not saying that this is a *better* deal than the Behringer, but all things considered, even though the purchase price is higher, it's at least as good a value.

09-11-08: Crem1
... Do you have any recommendations for DVD/CD players ? I personally like the OPPO products , what about you.

Yep! I have a DV-980H and like it a lot. Its SACD playback is quite nice and I can finally appreciate the extra mmph that HDCD-encoded CDs bring to the party. I was also surprised at what a difference DVD-A made over CD.

And if I want better smoothness and resolution than the Oppo can provide, I just spin vinyl through my new Onkyo A-9555!

The Onkyo beats many $500 players all to heck, and completely walks away from the Philips SA 963 it replaced.

09-12-08: Crem1
Johnnyb53, Any hands on experience with record player's (that's all in one)?

Could you elaborate on what you mean by that?

You know, I think that if you're going to dip into the economy pro-audio supply, a smarter bet might be the SLA1, SLA2, or SLA4 from ART Pro Audio. They are a little more money, but they are more solidly built, have far more rigorous specs (s/n of at least 100 dB, damping factor >100), and have a claimed stability down to 2 ohms. A fellow A-goner who has an SLA2 as well as amps in the $5K to $10K range, wrote me that his SLA2 gives at least 85% of the performance of the really expensive amps. He only cautions that the SLA series requires a long break-in to get there, and he recommends disconnecting the fan and front panel lights.

You can get the SLA1 at 100wpc for around $219, and the SLA2 at 200wpc for $299. The SLA4 is 4x100 wpc and seems like a bi-amper's dream at $439.

09-12-08: Crem1
Johnnyb53, What I ment , are you into analog and if so what analog rig would you recommend. I used the term record player to denote an all in one (turntable,arm & cartridge). Any ideas to share?

Oh, absolutely. I got a turntable in March 2007 and started listening to vinyl again for the first time in over 20 years. I was so smitten by the sound and the way LPs drew me into the music that I added aftermarket tweaks to the turntable, and this past May bought a Cambridge Audio 640P phono stage. That touched off a flurry of upgrading, resulting in a new cartridge, new speakers, and finally, buying the Onkyo integrated amp.

My turntable is a Technics SL1210 M5G direct drive turntable. I have added the kabusa.com tonearm fluid damper, have upgraded to a more rigid and non-resonant headhsell (Sumiko or LPGear ZuPreme), and Audio Technica AT150MLX MM cartridge, which--at $250--is one of the best-sounding cartridges available under $1000. I added threaded brass cones to replace the springy feet that came with the turntable and put that on a cutting board isolated by a couple of silicon gel keyboard wrist pads.

Out of the box, the Technics direct drive turntables bring a lot to the party. They are ruggedly and heavily built (about 27 lbs.) to very close tolerances, and the speed consistency and rumble levels are better than any belt-drive turntable under $4K.

The tonearm wire on the stock model leaves a lot to be desired, and makes the turntable sound unnecessarily dark and closed in. The SL1210 M5G, however, has higher grade, OFC copper and sounds much airier and more extended. The tonearm is built to very high precision--the bearings are polished to a tolerance of 0.5 micron and the bearing drag is specified as 15 mg. In addition, for a mere $150 you can update this tonearm to work well with a wide variety of cartridges by adding the tonearm fluid damper offered by http://www.kabusa.com.

In fact, KABUSA also offers a Cardas tonearm rewire for $169. I'm sure that it's better wire than comes in the SL1210 M5G. Kevin Barrett (KAB) also performs a multi-point inspection of all Technics SL12x0 turntables and re-machines or corrects anything out of spec (for no additional charge) before he ships it to the customer.

I would recommend getting an SL1200 MkII from KABUSA and add the tonearm rewire and fluid damper. This would come to $794. He also has a wide range of cartridges available at really good prices. His prices on Goldring MM cartridges are particularly low. He could mount, align, and balance the cart as part of the order if you want an all-in-one unit.

09-12-08: Crem1
Johnnyb53, Thank you for your recommendations. Are there others out there with hands-on experience with recommendations ??

Certainly. If you ask your same question (and add your listening and operating criteria and budget) on the Analog discussion page here at Audiogon, you'll be overwhelmed with suggestions and answers.

09-13-08: Crem1
Johnnyb53, FYI : T.A.S. has included the A-9555 in its recommended buys for '08.

Yep, they and I seem to think alike when it comes to budget gear. I picked the A-9555 partially because of their (and Stereophile's) favorable reviews. But I picked out the Oppo DV-980H (also an Editor's Choice) and the Mirage OMD-15 loudspeaker (one model down from their Editor's Choice award for the OMD-28) on my own.

The A-9555 is also a Class C Stereophile recommended component, though I think it's better than that. It certainly deserves to be ranked above the Outlaw RR2150 receiver.

09-23-08: Cwlondon
Johnnyb53
At a glance, I would think a pair of SLA2s might also be a biamping dream on a budget?

How about an SLA4? It is a 4x100wpc (8 ohms) amp with the same wide bandwidth (10-40KHz), low noise ( 100) as the SLA4, and also fits in a single-height rack space. It also has a 2-ohm rating, so its current delivery must be pretty good. Although the Behringer is advertised as a 280wpc amp, it tested at about 120 wpc into 8 ohms, both channels driven, with the frequency response rolling off at 10KHz and fairly high noise levels.

For about the price of two A500 Reference amps you can get an ART SLA4, with 4 channels or 100wpc, wider bandwidth, lower noise, and better stability into lower impedances.

Can anyone else comment on how the build and/or sound quality might compare to Behringer and other cheap as dirt candidates?

I'm also active on a guitar discussion page, and while Behringer is considered OK there for the low amount of money spent, it's with the understanding that the build quality is not that great. The ART Pro Audio, however, is considered high quality.

Aczel stated that no one should be able to hear the HF rolloff. I say "poppycock!" For one thing, cymbals and violins make overtones out to at least 16KHz, and overtones define the tone quality and personality of the instrument.

Secondly, HF rolloff below 20KHz means the amp has an audibly slower rise time. If the ART SLA series is truly linear out to 40KHz as claimed, their rise time is four times as fast as the Behringer. This makes a significant difference in keeping the music sorted out and clear. Definitely translates into inner detail among other things.

The Stereophile Review of the Outlaw Audio RR2150, which also rolls off starting around 10KHz, also shows a visibly slower and rounder corresponding square wave response as illustrated and explained here.

04-26-08: Rodman99999
Davemitchell- Perhaps Mr. Aczel is a re-incarnation of Mr. Hirsch?

Mr. Hirsch may have shared Mr. Aczel's "It all sounds the same" philosophy, but he was never as hateful, condescending, nasty, and mean as Aczel is on every page he writes.

I don't agree with the late Mr. Hirsch, but he was a gentleman, at least in print.

09-24-08: Cwlondon
Does this mean the SLA4 can be bridged in some way to combine 2 of the 4 channels per side?

According to the description at ART Pro Audio's website, the SLA4 can be configured for 2, 3, or 4 channels.

Two bridged channels make 280w into 8 ohms. So it can be 4x100wpc, 2x100wpc +1x280wpc, or 2x280wpc.

09-25-08: Cwlondon
Re ART amps, are the "Euroblock" connectors recommended?

If I have to spend big bucks on weird cables, this amp might no longer be as "cheap as dirt"?

It's not that complicated. The SLA1 and SLA2 accept single-ended 1/4" phone plugs, balanced XLR, and balanced Euroblock. The SLA4 accepts single-ended 1/4" phone plugs and balanced Euroblocks.

In either case, if you have single-ended RCA interconnects, just get some RCA-to-1/4" adapters. If you used balanced XLR, you can plug them in as-is to the SLA1 and SLA2. If you want to use balanced XLR to the SLA4, you would replace the XLR plugs at that end with Euroblocks, which cost about $1 apiece from electric/electronic parts suppliers.