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Most musical S.S. Amp under 2k used ?

i'm counting on you guys to fan the flames of this inquiry.

geez, i’m really going a lil crazy here with all this new and unexpected fervor toward this ridiculously addictive material. my girlfriends actually a bit worried about how much time i can spend on this stuff. guess the possibilities are endless. thank god i have a budget!!!!

just by studying the reviews i like what's been said about some of the krell's and mccormack's. which of these would be considered more musical overall - ksa-100, 150, 250 or dna 125, 225? what does 100 watts of krell sound like compared to 225 watts of mccormack?

other considerations: {please give feedback if you can... and remember - musical!}

PS Audio GCA-100

jeff rowland model 5

ayre v-3

edge g-5

conrad johnson - motif ms 2001

classe 201

gamut 100 mklll

arc 100.2

odyssey extreme

pass labs x-150.5

audio research 150.2

Meridian 205 100 Watts Pure Class A Mono block

Musical Fidelity A5

hosting a dear friend of 30+ years in my home in a couple of weeks and i really hope to have pulled the trigger on my upgrade amp. by then.

quite anxious to sit around the fire with my ole compadre - sippin on something smokey/peety & reminiscing... listening to tunes that helped define our youth. so looking forward to having the opportunity to hear some of our favorite music for the first time - if you catch my drift?

please help me to choose something worthwhile.

much obliged,
timtopper

Showing 1 response by ptmconsulting

ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
I think that musicality is a synergy between components. That being said, amps that have good PRAT tend to be more musical to my ears than ones that are overly bloomy or overly etched. The McCormack's ( I have a near rev A DNA .5) definitely have that PRAT thing going for them, especially after mods, and most especially when paired with a good tubed preamp (I have an Audio Prism Mantissa).

What are your speakers? If they are very efficient (>90db), and you can accommodate it, I would look at some tube amps. Mine have a silk dome Scanspeak tweeter, which I find more musical overall.

In general I get comments about my system that it is not "hi-fi". All the detail is there, it's just not in your face. It's a musical sound for sure. Perhaps a tad less open on the top end than metal dome or ribbon tweeters give you. But I smile every time I listen, and the foot goes tapping very often.

Enjoy,
Bob
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