Parasoumd JC-1 monoblock pair: 9000 pair. 1st 25 rma watts are class A beautiful, with 400 watts of pure signal path a/b in total. This is John Curls cut loose product, where parasound took the handcuffs off of him. If you are not familiar, John Curl is the designer that put Mark Levinson on the map, taking a big bight out of the likes of Krell and mcintosh, back when they were practically the only amplifier gods in town. At the very least, I recommend you give them a listen. Happy hunting!
2017 amps - $10K to $15K who is on your short list?
Hello!
I saw recently a short list by TAS on 2016 amps between $10 & $15K MSRP the TAS staff concluded were their choices of the best for last year.
Perhaps these were new entries from2016 only. I don’t know and thee article did not mention that aspect. The list also appears to be a global perspective.
The list contained:
Air Tight ATM-1S,
AVM Ovation PA8 preamp and SA8.2 Power amp,
Constellation Inspiration,
Dn D'Agostino Classic Stereo,
GamuT D200i,
Hegel Music Systems H30,
PS Audio BHK Signature 300,
Triode Corporation TRX-M300,
Zesto Audio Bia 120
Regretfully some more mainstream names were not included which came to mind such as, BAT, VAC, Pass, and perhaps a couple more.
My question here is which ‘current production’ amps in this MSRP financial ball park would be on your short list were you shopping for new amps, or are in your present system?
Valves Solid State, hybrids, integrated, or Class D which are not speaker specific, requiring high Eff speakers or horns to work well.
Let’s include current production amps which are near the upper and lower limits of the spread, so if in your opinion there is an amp at $8 or $9K which out performs those costing more, or is even on par, in your opinion, plese feel free to mention it or them.
All amps must be at least in production now stereo amps. If they can as well be run as monos, fine enough, but let the price range of more or less, 10 – 15K dictate your ascertions on two channel amps or twin monos which would land in or near the mentioned boundaries.
Here are some I feel should be among the TAS list but were not, in no particular order:
VAC Signature 200 iQ Stereo/Mono - $14,000
This one is here on rep and new technology in the bias circuit alone. Have seen no reviews, and I have not heard it. It does offer itself as a mono if an uncle or Aunt dies and leaves you an inheritance.
Balanced Audio Technology VK 76SE stereo or mono $13,995.00 2ch price
I previously owned BAT vk 60 and found it very acceptable. Also in mono, see ‘inheritance’ above if twin mono setup is desired.
Balanced Audio Technology VK-655SE $16,500
(well, it is within a grand or so of 15K and BAT has strong performance heritage and very good secondary market presence. Also, didn’t want folks to think I was biased to tubes only)
I’ve owned BAT VK500 BAT pack, and loved it. Purely musical with control and finesse. A tick or two on the warm side. The latest iteration scales up the power and refines the voice, if the reviewer isn’t deaf. Once more offered in mono config too.
no inheritance on your horizon? Perhaps you can get pics of BAT Execs with tempestuous farm animals to negotiate possible lower price for twin mono setup. lol
Who is on your list and briefly, why?
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I’d for for a pair of Bob Latino VTA M125 monoblocks, available in either kit or assembled form. Assembled, ready to run, they’re about $2800 pair. The kit, without tubes, is $1800, but y’all would never get your hands dirty, would you? |
Jim, If you want to hear the BHK 300 mono's and you ever travel to the NYC Area, I'm a dealer and would be glad to meet another A'goner and let you have a listen in Manhattan. Especially with NOS tubes and good power conditioning, I feel the hybrid design reveals the best aspects of both technologies and makes the TAD's truly sing. Bascom king did try a solid state input as part of the original plan to offer swappable tube and SS input sections, but once they heard how amazing the tube input sections sounded, they felt no one would use the ss option and dropped it. PM me if you like. |
Audioman58 Very nice. Thanks. I saw something online in a search that revealed ‘on a Higher note” which appeared to be a retail outlet for the Griffin products. Good. leeagc I guess you meant to write ‘Diablo and dnoe’. Yep. I could agree. Especially with the apparent output power rating. Vinyl and me, just don’t get along as well these days as we used to, so that portion of the spectrum has no appeal to me going forward. I’m strickly ‘digital’. Point and click. And click. And click. And…. Jriggy Thanks. Yeah. I’m finding out a lot more about Jeff Wells. A Friend of mine lives out that way and is quite familiar with him for some years now. I never knew. Oil well. The inference on the reported voice of Wells amps/gear seems appealing, being a tube first sort of guy lately. sfcfran Parasoumd JC-1 monoblock pair: 9000 pair. 1st 25 rma watts are class A beautiful, with 400 watts of pure signal path a/b in total. Thanks so very much. Saw a mention of these in a review I recently read which were part of the man’s regular system. Stereophile? Not sure. Hearing Curl’s lesser amps I came away with the impression they were well, too cool sounding. Maybe these are quite different. We’ll make the effort to find out with any luck at all. russbutton a pair of Bob Latino VTA M125 monoblocks, available in either kit or assembled form. Thanks for the info. Assembling an amp is what I used to do now and then professionally, long ago. Its not something that is doable now. Take another look at my Agon handle and you’ll figure out the why of it. Thanks again. I’m sure there are other signal amplifying Pearls which don’t often get the pub they might given the entry fees allocated for them by their makers. My aim is to splice the ‘whatever amp (s)’ downstream of my Thor line stage preamp which IMHO is a keeper fast approaching antinque status. This is despite the fact it has sat static for a few years on the tall Sound Anchor rack. A minor concern is my Thor TA 1000 MK2 is single ended in & out only. It has shown it works well with other purely balanced amps provided a quality adapter is inserted. so it’s as said, a minor issue and no deal breaker either way. I feel its as good a performer as many of the preamps selling now for about the same as the amps being placed onto this summary. It did originally sell for $10K sans the NOS tubes of course. The notion of a solid entry in the Integrated amp phylum however is not a bad idea at all. For anyone willing to spend for it or them. For myself, the problem is choosing the primary path and then of course, garnering as much synergy as is possible up and down the signal path, and with speakers. Yep. New upscale Speakers as well are going to be acquired as I alluded to previously. That is, God willing and the hurricanes don’t land in my yard. The Wells Majestic Int. sure does seem a worthy candidate to get a unit which would surely trickle down into a bedroom or ??, and could serve well as a baseline for comparison listening down the road. It would relieve some pressure too on making a hasty amp buying decision, if it, or another INT were bought first. Its damping factor keeps it as a very viable choice. Naturally, the chosen loudspeakers will or should, dictate the amp’s electronic attributes, the rest like voice, presentation, and degree of detail and extension which are ordinarily subjective anyhow, will finalize the formula as budget and conscience allows. Any MBL or other amp makers devotees willing to chime in here? |
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