classe Dr-3


looking for impressions on the sound of this amp...how does it compare to modern amps...im intrigued by it but it is 20 years old...i only have a lowly NAD c350 now but i wonder if it would be an improvement over the NAD in areas like imageing and transparency and grain/hashy noise.

any thoughts welcome
mbacinello
Drive tough loads is right. I once heard a DR-3 VHC (the big brother of the DR-3) kick a Krell KSA-100 into the weeds driving a pair of Apogee Divas. That was a phenomenal experience - Liszt's "Via Crucis" turned one end of the store into a cathedral with that amp. The Aleph J will not have the low-impedance drive capability of the DR-3 by any stretch of the imagination.

One thing to keep in mind is that the electrolytic caps in the old amp may need replacing at this point.
You can still send the amp to Classe if it needs any repairs. A killer amp, wish I would have bought one when I had the chance. You will notice an increase in your electric bill and you might not play it much in the summer.
I don't think there is a speaker it will not drive.
Gliderguider is right i owned a Classe DR3-VHC that stood for very high current from 1988 to 2000 when i sold this amp it was because i was moving in to a condo and my system was to big for the smaller place this amp only drove difficult loads 4 different pairs of Acoustat's speakers from 82db to 85db this amp had a minimum of 18,000 hours of use and the only money i spent on it was for WBT rca plugs and big electrical bills all this time it was matched with Classe DR-7 preamp Conrad Johnson premier three and the last one was a premier ten the DR-7 was a very good preamp but i prefer a tube preamp with solid state amps i'm a smoothy kind of guy i sold this amp the same price i paid for it in 1988 and the guy that bought it was very happy ( me too )