Which Solid State Amplifier is Making you Happy?


I'm trying to find a new amplifier to replace a Musical Fidelity A3CR. There are lots of candidates: Rowland 501s, Pass Labs 350.5, Levinson 431/432, H2O, etc. What are people using and what has been a good sonic investment? I'm currently driving B&W N803s, so it's a pretty normal load. My MF amp does not offer enough punch or bass control. It flattens out at higher volumes. I'll spend what it takes, new or used. Less than $8K would be nice. All comments welcome.
Peter
pscialli
Jeff Rowland model 8T most musical satisfying amp I ever had. Second in my system with Acoustats the Levinson ML-2's. They do posses such a transparency and pinpoint placement of instruments but they could not properly drive my inefficient speakers. Eighteen Volts was max, but they can deliver lots of current and even drive a Apogee Scintilla 1 Ohm version.
Do not know how well the 8T performs in the lower impedence ranges (I mean 2 Ohm and below). It's specification says only 250 Watts @ 8 Ohm and 400 Watts at 4 Ohm. A perfect Voltage source should deliver 500 Watts at that rating of course. Maybe someone does on this forum?
Brian, specs for the JRDG 8T at:
http://jeffrowland.com/ClassicSpecs.htm#M8
show a damping factor of 100. This suggests that this amp may not be ideal for driving speakers with very low impedance. If you like as I do the special sound of Jeff Rowland amplifiers, you may have a look at the model 312, JRDG's current flagship. It has a damping factor of 1000 and an output voltage of 125Ohms. Yet, it is to my ears one of the most musical devices I have ever heard. . . plus the usual audiophilic musts of revealing, harmonic complexity, macro/micro dynamics, extension, staging, imaging. You can read a semi-technical sidebar I have just published on this device on the December 2008 issue of The Absolute Sound on page 80, part of my review of the Vienna Mahler speakers. Guido
Spectron Musician III Mk 2. Particularly as monoblocks - so relaxing and "real" sounding that it is a completely different experience for me.