Noob! Please help me replace my old power amp, some candidates listed.
ME
Elderly, lifelong guitarist, I have a few well maintained tube amp circuits (JTM45; overbuilt "double" 5E3 1x12 combo; 5F1 1x12 combo; Weber speakers and NOS tubes). I am NOT audiophile.
MY HiFi GEAR
Yamaha M1 (1984) power amp (this is what I'm wanting to improve on)
Kenwood Basic C1 preamp
TC-750LC phono pre (regulated supply)
Pioneer PL-A450 turntable; Denon DL-110 MC cart (yay!)
ADS L710 pair (6 ohm, 94db)
ADS L1090 pair (8 ohm, 90db)
Sansui SP-2500 pair (8 ohm, 100db)
iPad (DAC)
MY MUSIC SOURCES
FLAC library on Plex server over Wifi or 1000BaseT
Vinyl
MY APPLICATION
Small room, up close, not much conditioning but hope to add some.
I love electric blues, jazz, soul, pop and country but touch on everything. I play electric blues and love '70s fusion.
Looking to replace my dicey old power amp.
In general I like more reveal but I don't like "clinical" hifi, I have cheap but surprsingly effective Mackie active monitors that do that. Obviously I'm budget concious, lol!
MY AMP CANDIDATES
Audio by Van Alstine (AVA) MOS-FET 150B
Early '80s and all original; $500 used; class a/b; 75w/ch; gorgeous "servicable" layout/build quality; conventional transformer
B&K (BK Components) ST-140
Early '80's usually all original; $300-$400 used; class a/b; 70w/ch (kinda confusing revision history)
AVA NP-1
$1200 new, $800 used; class a/b; 55w/ch; I assume surface mount
Buckeye Hypex NCx252MP
$625 new; class D; 150w/ch; surface mount (board swap repair only)
Class D Audio USA Premium GaN 3.5
$750 new; class D; 135w/ch; surface mount (board swap repair only)
Admittedly class D makes me nervous but I'm open if the hype is even somewhat justified. I will do a tube amp eventually, but today I just want to plug in a new-to-me SS power amp. I'd do a Zen Triode but I might not live long enough, lol!
Brand new here so I hope I'm doing this right? Thanks!
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Check out Buckeye Amps. https://www.buckeyeamp.com/shop/amplifiers I have the Hypex NC502MP driving Sonus Faber Sonetto’s. These amps ain’t the prettiest, but damn do they perform. And they punch WAY above their cost. Dylan hand builds each amp to order. I took a chance due to the glowing reviews and I am thrilled with the Performance! |
Well, the Schiit Vidar 2 recommends really resonated!
I'm going to buy a Vidar 2F and the SYS passive preamp. This will hold me until I ultimately add a second Vidar and a pre with balanced outs to run the amps mono. The SYS' 2 inputs will handle my 2 sources, phono pre and DAC.
I want to thank everyone for great replies! My first post and engagement here is great! I'd have been more responsive myself but I'm confused on how to reply directly to specific posts! Doh! I'll figure it out and do better next time.
Thanks y'all! |
Bad idea your best bet is a high quality integrated amplifier over any of these
For roughly 2kish you can get a brand new trouble free unison research primo integrated which is a hybrid design, with tubes in the preamp stage and you can order it with a built in phono stage. So you get the warmth of the tubes with the puch and bass control of the solid state amplifier stage all in one elegant design.
Dave and Troy AUDIO INTELLECT NJ Unison dealers |
- 29 posts total