I’ll mention a couple of real sleepers here that you can get well under $2K, $1K in fact. I agree with the above on the Odyssey Stratos, my friend has one and at 150 wpc it sounds great.
B&K EX442 Sonata, 200 into 8, 360 into 4, 75 amps peak to peak, it is incredibly tubey sounding. I used to sell these at the retail level when they came out and got one for myself. I ab/d against Paoli M70 monos (8417 highly modded Dyna mkIII’s) and very hard to tell them apart.
PS Audio 200C, some were prone to transformer hum, but recently saw one advertised that had no transformer hum for $500 in mint condition.
I would also put a Moscode 300 & Counterpoint SA20/220 on the list as well. I recently heard the Counterpoint and it sounded spectacular. Some are cheap and I would avoid those. My friend paid $1600 for his and remarked to stay away from one that is much less, it will be problematic. I’m sure the Sonographe & Aragon 4004 are both nice sounding amps as well that can be had well under $1K.
Lots of choices but the best bang for the buck is the B&K.
B&K EX442 Sonata, 200 into 8, 360 into 4, 75 amps peak to peak, it is incredibly tubey sounding. I used to sell these at the retail level when they came out and got one for myself. I ab/d against Paoli M70 monos (8417 highly modded Dyna mkIII’s) and very hard to tell them apart.
PS Audio 200C, some were prone to transformer hum, but recently saw one advertised that had no transformer hum for $500 in mint condition.
I would also put a Moscode 300 & Counterpoint SA20/220 on the list as well. I recently heard the Counterpoint and it sounded spectacular. Some are cheap and I would avoid those. My friend paid $1600 for his and remarked to stay away from one that is much less, it will be problematic. I’m sure the Sonographe & Aragon 4004 are both nice sounding amps as well that can be had well under $1K.
Lots of choices but the best bang for the buck is the B&K.