Best Used Solid State Amp for less than $5000?

Plinius SA-250IV with the latest update.I used this amp with Hales and Thiel which is very demanding of the amp,and drove it gracefully and very musically.

Hey Y'all,

The Plinius, as I stated earlier in this thread, would be a wonderful choice but I would not sell the Sim Audio W5 short. I've heard this amp a few times driving Dynaudio 1.3 MkIIs and SEs and this amp paired up very well and did not struggle at all with these demanding speakers. I also want to mention that the Plinius SA-250MkIV toggles from class A/B to class A, meaning that in day to day use you may keep the amp in class A/B where the amp runs very cool and does not heat up the room like a furnace. On those occasions when you want to do some critical listening you can switch over to class A and enjoy how good this amp can sound, but make sure you have the air conditioner on in the summer time........John

Jrwr,

Plinius makes some great amps, and were I building my system from scratch, I'd consider a Plinius pre-amp and amp combo, but since I already have the SimAudio P-5 pre-amp, I'll stick with the likelihood of better synergy with the W-6. Unless of course the guy that's letting me audition the Stellavox wins the bet. In his opinion, once I hear the Stellavox, no other amp will satisfy. I still can't believe the things are only 10lbs each.

John_beavers,

My recommendation of the Plinius was for Russellrcncom, the clarification about the heat generated from the Plinius amp was made to address your statement about not wanting a furnace in your living room. If someone has a preference in amps, I've found it futile to try and dissuade them, I will only offer my opinion. Russellrcncom mentioned that the Plinius has made it to his short list and I was just nudging him towards an amp that has been very good for me.......John

Used to sell the Hales line - the T8 needs LOTS of guts behind it - the best I have heard with these speakers was the Classe CAM-350 monoblocks. The big BAT solid state amplifiers would also be a great choice. The Classe amps had a big stage with a black noise floor and were very consistient throughout thier power swings. Depends on how you like your sound - very fast and tight, a little lush - or somewhere in between. The PFR is an extremely fast linestage, which would work very well with the cam-350s. Just my opinion.