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Threshold, Levinson, Bryston, Krell, ?others? used amps


Hi All.  I'm looking for a bang for the buck, diamond in the rough, 200-ish WPC power amp that will hang really tough with what's out there today in the vintage or recently new realm.  Trying to keep $$$ under 2K.  I currently own a Nakamichi PA-7 (Nelson Pass Stasis design).  Looking for an amp that is great at doing the disappearing act, smooth sounding, but not colored, and with lots of authority.  I realize that there are as many opinions on this as stars in the night sky but thought I would ask anyway.  Been considering a Threshold S/500, Levinson 23.5, Bryston 4B family.  Any standouts that I should try to find?  Let's hear from you.
mjt_tx
wspohn's avatar
wspohn
578 posts
 
Agree with Bedini, older Adcom, and Classe (older true Class A versions) that will drive just about anything.  I also agree that getting servicing on such amps is getting harder and harder to find, and some of those true class A amps are really heavy buggers (over 100 lbs.) so shipping isn't fun or cheap.

If you go that way, be aware that the ratings for Class A outputs are deceptive. I had my 45 watt amps driving the hell out of Apogee Scintillas which are a 1 ohm load and I still use one to drive original ML CLS, a fairly tough load and pretty low sensitivity speaker..
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kiwilinn
4 posts
 
Plinius make warm sounding class A amps. Great 2nd hand value because they are from a small makerr by world standards but read the reviews!
nagel
48 posts
 
A little beyond your budget, but I love my ML-532H for the money. Good tonal balance, great measurements, and reveals every change made upstream. I thought 300W was overkill but I'm glad I have it now.
mrdecibel
2,900 posts
 
As I am watching the MMA  prelims, I am scanning the "A'gon pages. I might have missed something, but what speakers are being used by the op, how is the room set up, and can an improvement be made upstream, in the system, prior to the amp ?
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