Suggested amp to pair w/ Aerial 7A's on a budget

Absolutely the best bang per buck I've heard on the 7As (which I own) is the McCormack DNA-.5s and DNA-1s.

An excellent combination of stone cold control over the bass (which the Aerials need) and finesse (nicely relaxed yet fully detailed sound with startling dynamics when called for).

I currently own an Aragon 4004 Mk II which has the control I need but loses out to the McCormack in terms of finesse (somewhat).

Best I ever heard on them was Rowland (a long time ago); but this is way out of your price range (I use the memory of that sound as a benchmark).

It would be interesting to hear what the new Nuforce amp, that is currently getting all the hubbub, would sound like on them.

Whatever amp you choose be sure it is a major current dumper and bass control freak!

Good Luck & Happy Listening!

P.S. The good news is that the Aerials get better and better as you go up in front-end and amplification - they are SUPER performers!

I cuurrently have Rogue M150s, PS HCA2, Hafler 9505, and two of the N.E.W 20 Class A amps. All have their strengths and weaknesses of course.
The hafler is great for the money - its main fault is excessive siblants with vocals. The folks at Musical Concepts agree. It can be bright when compareed to other amps I have and have had. At least with some speakers. I`ve never sold the amp though. I`d suggest a home trial of the HCA2. I usually go between the Rogues and the HCA in my system now. The HCA does the lows much much better. It sounds much more powerful than 150 watts per channel. You could be surprised with this amp. If you got the hafler you would probably want to mod it for around $600.00.

You may say it's too budget for your great speakers (and they are, I had the 6's once), but when I owned the Adcom GFA 5802 some years ago (I had B&W at that point) I took it in to the dealer to see about upgrading to a Krell amp. They set me up with Aerial Model 8's and let me compare the two amps one after the other - the Adcom smoked the 3k Krell (one of the KAV models, circa 1997), and I am not one to use the "smoked" adjective much. You can get one used for pretty cheap, I would think around 1k. If you mean 'budget' in the 2-3k range though, buy something like a used McIntosh MC300...
One thing is for sure though - get as MUCH power as you can for those speakers. The two I recommended are each 300 w/ch, a minimum I would think unless you have a very small room or listen to solo acoustic guitar music only :>} There aren't a lot of other 300 w/ch out there for the price...
That said, I've only heard the 7B's.

A balanced Forte 4 was an excellent pairing in an audiotion some years back. Surprising that its 50 watts drove the Aerial's so well, and this was in a good-sized 25x15 ft room w/ a cathedral ceiling. They do need some current. Good luck.

www.RedDragonAudio.com

The sa1000 would be an excellent match for your 7A's.

Hafler 9500 or 9505. Plenty of power and within your budget. A great amp.

Musical Concepts has mods for these that really sing too.

Best,

Paul :-)

I believe B&K products are as good as entry-level-high-end stuff gets. There are several 200WPC amps here now.
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