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First foray into Class A amp -- recommendations

Thinking of checking out a Class A(or quasi) amp just to see if the sound is really better than a nice Class A/B amp. I want to buy a used amp and my budget is $2500-3000. My current class A/B amp is a McCormack DNA-1 Deluxe, rev. A.

I've been looking at a lot of amps here on A'gon and what I have come up with so far is the Krell KSA-200S, which, from what I read in reviews, operates largely in Class A into 8 ohm loads up to 200 wpc.

Considering that my McCormack is a pretty decent amp, do you expect that the Krell would offer a significant upgrade in my priority areas of bass slam and control, mid range transparency, and natural high frequencies? I also welcome any other suggestions or ideas. Thanks!
mtrot

Showing 2 responses by mitch2

mitch2
3,684 posts
 
I just switched from Class A Claytons to a fully tricked out Class A/B McCormack DNA-2 LAE with SMc Audio's best current upgrade package including some of Jupiter's new copper foil caps and other neat upgrades.
On SQ alone, the move was mostly lateral with the win going to the SMc amp, which is more open sounding with better dimensionality and excellent tonality. Ergonomically, I like the SMc amp better since it can remain powered up all the time (standby circuit), doesn't generate the high heat, and is very quiet. IMO this amp is more musical than the DNA 500, which I also owned.
At your price range, I would look at the Clayton S100 or M100s and listen to whatever you plan to buy before spending any money.
mitch2
3,684 posts
 
Getting a Class A amp doesn't guarantee any type of specific sound. Also, its very hard to isolate what portion of an amps sound quality is due to it being Class A, or some other factors. I know my answer won't be very popular because I'm not giving you recommendations on specific models that you can act upon right away, but if you do some listening, you'll probably find it to be truthful.
+1, Zd542 - I have found this to be exactly true, and based on his post above, the OP is finding this out too. The other lesson he will learn relates to the statement,
the Pass SHOULD sound better, as you are talking about an $18,000 set of amps.
Price and performance do not always correlate.

To Mtrot, if you want to run single-ended lines into balanced only amps, call Jensen or Lundahl transformers and purchase a set of input transformers for only a few hundred dollars. Assuming your amp's input impedance is sufficiently high, the transformers do a great job of single-ended to balanced conversion while also cutting down on noise.
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