Van Alstine?

Sorry. Misspelled the search. Found em.

Tonyptony,

Very insightful. Thank you.

There are very few recent posts concerning AVA so any additional information would be appreciated. There is also the Odyssey Audio Stratos and I am leaning towards these companies because they are designed and manufactured in the USA. If the quality is the same and the design is sound it is my preference. I am using Bel Canto M300 monoblocks which are also designed and built domestically and am thinking of a change. Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Face, you have a point. I would love to see the same testing done today. Today the solid state is better, the tube amps are better, and now there are T-amps and class D. It would be very time consuming but entertaining. I had to swap out my Bel Canto M300s and place Outlaw Audio M200s in their stead for 3 weeks. The difference was very clear and persisted until I replaced the BC M300s. I could have picked out those two from each other, but I'm not sure about any others. I was so used to the BCs that any change would have been noticeable. I think it would be more fair to say that if one stays in the same topography, be it solid state or tube or IC, the differences are slight. For me it is much easier to tell the difference between SS vs tube, or tube vs tripath or IcePower.

Personally, I love my delusions and I stand behind them 100%. I KNOW I can hear the differences between DACs and CDPs, even when I can't. Let's let this discussion of differences in solid state amps rest and get back to the original issue, which was "any opinions on AVA amps?". If not, carry on. Maybe one amp is the same as any other. If you have a comparison between AVA amps and another SS amp, please let me know. Thank you.

Jrtrent, thank you for your thoughtful response.

Yes,

I did gather up the information from before. And it did speak to my original question. Unless there is something spectacular about the AVA amps, then I see no reason to change. I do like my Bel Canto M300s but was interested in simplifying and going with a transitor stereo amp. On the other hand, the M300s do many things well and for now I intend to keep them. I strongly considered the W4S amps but at present it would be a lateral move and I would only do it to step up to 500W/1000W, and I most likely have no need. The W4S amps do have a higher input impedance (60,000 vs 10,000 via RCA) but my pre-amp seems to have no trouble with them. I am still learning. I am looking to simplify when I can, such as going to computer based playback. For the money, getting a W4S DAC would be a better move than a different amp. Thanks again for your info.