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?

blindjim

4425
Rowland 625 S2 has to be considered.

Yep. Saw that post. Saw too many Rowland owners do love those Rowland amps. Nearly pulled the trigger on one of his preamps years back, a ‘‘capri’ I seem to recall. Could be wrong. It was a while ago. Before I got the Thor line stage.

tpk123
Hegel H30 or Hegel H4SE The latter is 9.9/10ths of the former

appreciate it. I’ll see what I can glaen off the web.

respected_ent
Gryphon Diablo and Boulder 865.

thanks Ed.
I’m liking the press on your picks. Hearing any of them beforehand might be an issue however.

In the [past rigs Ive owned, I was able to acquire a strong degree of Illusionary Reality. Which is IMO, when you’re reaching for the virtual autograph pad to get an artists signature as they stand before you singing or playing. Much depended on the recording of course and it took a lot of matching devices, upgrading gear, and wires too. This inference occurred with lesser priced fare than I am researching presently for the next experiment in loosely controlled lunacy.

My preffs? Organic. Natural. Detailed. Extension, speed, engaging, and dynamic. The arrangement one simply finds very difficult to de-energize.
My aim is not to have an outfit which lessens my CD or Disc library so only very well done recordings are suitable for playback in it. Definitely, there are some dsics which are simply trashed and only suitable for the desktop speakers, some discs, I’d not play even there. Going back into the 50s and 60s pop or 70s rock veins eras only nostalgia keeps me clicking onto their tracks.

With such a listing of exceptionally well regarded power on tap in this thread alone, and a number of prime vintage options always about, the only major concern is what will the squeakers be? A short list of current candidates I think was already included in this thread. Few if any will require high degrees of WPC, and an upper limit of 200 or maybe even 300 should be plenty. Albeit, this too is in flux, so who knows what’s to come in as the squeaker du jour. They surely will not be panels, or dipoles. New ones, hopefully. Pre-owned units ain’t out of the question though.

ca couple spkr choices could do very well on 50 - 75wpc.

Hidden costs are sure gona suck as traveling is just about a certainty, unless some magical thing happens nearby. Still, there’s a road trip coming up I’m pretty sure. The question is ‘how long of one and or, how often’?

And right there sports fans, we can vividly see the perennial major ‘drag’ in this distraction.

Would have said ‘devotion’ but wanted to be cool and casually unattached..

another item which has begun to intrigue, is what I'm seeing on some of the very well done Integrated amps showing up in this list. having around a super nice secondary power supply is not a vrey bad idea at all.
Hi,
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Your list contains many 2-dimensional amps. I can 100% garantee you that no single person in the world will stay happy wiht any kind of 2-dimensional audio.

This is based on the fact that the human emotion will be less impressed by any kind of 2-dimensional audio.

When you compare music with a 2-dimensional stage to the same music in a 3-dimensional stage, the difference in how it effects your emotion in huge.

Because with a 3-dimensional system the music becomes more intimate based on the space around singers and instruments.

For the money you want to spend on an amp it would be insane to buy any kind of 2-dimensional audio. I talked to so many people in the last years about their systems.

There is one important fact and that is that people who spend a lot of money on audio for a long time never were that happy with their system.

This can be explained by the fact that they only had 2-dimensional systems.