Choice of Amps


I have an FT Audio LW-1 Passive with NEAR speaker's which have Metal Drivers.I have a choice of amps ,but cannot audition any of them.
My choices are:
Electrocompaniet AW-100
Classe DR-8
Monarchy 100DELUXE's

I was wondering which you would buy.The Monarchy's are the newest of the 3 .The Classe and Electro have been checked out.
NEAR's can handle as much power as you can give them up to 300watts.

My question is which would be the most musical?
abex

Showing 7 responses by abex

I only have approx. $1k and I am serching for used stuff.

The NEAR's are great,huh!You have to have the right amps for them to shine though.They tell you everything.How old are your NEAR M50's?I have meet Bill Kietyka who is 40mi. from me.Really an astonishing designer.
Freakin Stereophile really put his Co. under the P^&*(!Thanks Dick O.!
I will be getting a used set of M50se's soon I hope!I have a set of Modified M15's at the moment.

Anyways I am looking at those amps listed and really am leaning towards the Monarchy or Electrocompaniet.
Need the Impedence and sensitity level for the Electro. as I am using a passive.

Any help would be appreciated!
I have never heard of these.

The best sound I ever heard using them was with Mark Levinson amps and ARC Pre-Amps.That was before the Mods that Bill did after the appauling review DO gave them in Stereophile.

They have the same Tweeter design as the Watt Series speaker's and someone said they had heard a Electocompaniet Amp driving them at the Bangkok AES and they were awesome.I am thinking of trying that combo.

Aragon is Krell's affordable series I think and I have a Modified B&K which is really a poormans Krell IMO.I would love to have Atma-Sphere's,but they are really out of my price range. A used Electrocompaniet is all I can afford unless I wait for the price of Monarchy's to come down which I have only heard good things about.

Anyway's thanks for the advice!
Were they not sold to Klipsch not so long ago and before that their designs were based on Danny Ag.'s designs?

That is what I remember,but it's been awhile.

TIA
I did not check to see how old the Electro is.It has been checked out and the dealer has a return policy.That's a big plus!

I will look into the other amps mentioned.

Do not know why I equated the Aragon's being with Krell.Been awhile and it's hard to keep up with changes.

Have heard alot of great things about Monarchy's though,but I have to wonder why they are on the sell list so often.

Well I read that there was a Electrocompaniet\Wilson Watt combo that worked well.The Nears use an Inverted Ywetter which is of the same basic design which the Wilsons use.

I thought that might be a good combo to try with only some Electro's showing up on the used market.I would also think that the problem which someone had eluded to would have been caught by now this far along and would have been fixed.

What amps would you choose for Metal Drivers?
Dan-If CDC has had experience with Classe' amps and found them not to a good match for Metal Drivers,esp. NEARs,then I would really like to know about it.That's being constructive by warning me of a vertual mismatch that I can avoid.
If on the other hand he has not had a chance to try the DR series and has not tried Classe Amps with Metal Driver's then you might be right.

CDC-Please post a update and explain your experience with them.

Just trying to narrow my choices.
Thx
Just to let you all know.After conferring with Paul Lam of FT Audio and considering the used factor I have decided on getting the Monarchy 100Deluxes if I can get them at a great price.

The factors that I based my decission on:
-Has not been on the market long and means that it is currently up to date with little wear .
-Power to drive any speaker I wish to drive.
-Matching for Impedence & Sensitivity imparitive.
-Cost
-Value
-Musicality

Thanks for the help!