The Best Amp for the Price of Dirt

The tube amps in the "Big Rig" are in for a refirb. The A-500's never sounded so delicate ... Thank you to all ... You can not appreciate how delicate the sound is following 500 hrs of break-in. Thanks ...

Adcom 545 mk2. Hands down the value winner for me.

Arthur

This thread should have been entitiled " Best Mono-Block Amps for the Price of Dirt ". My fault.

The A-500's are best configured as 500W mono blocks with specs that can go down the page. They can be compaired Mono-Blocks costing 100 to XXX as more ; mine cost $198.00 ea. , including an additional 2 year, "No Questions Asked", warranty. The bite on them is that "Hi-Fi World" yawned in their review & Robert Hartley declined to review them for "Stereophile". "The Audio Critic" highly recommended them but some just love to hate the Editor and his recommendations : I view that behavor as unethical even if Peter is hard-core in his views. I have been reading his views for 30+ years. My view, he is more correct than not , even if he's a nut on a rare few issues.

The A-500's can hande almost any speaker from 2-16 Ohms with grace. Here's the rub ... Should you get a superb pair they work that way right out of the box. I am told a few % points of stock sold is terrible, Ergo the need for a modest cost extra protection warranty. I purchased mine from musican's friend web site , wonderful folks to do business with.

I'm certan lots of superior equipment exists but 0-500W @ 8 ohms ???? My only rub ... I only listen in 8 ohms & all should do so as mono-blocks.

It's warmed up in Texas and my room is already sweltering when I run my AR cassic 60. I decided to look for a warm weather amp for cheap. I found an audiosource tripath amp. It came today and so far it's sounding quite nice. I got it here on audiogon for " cheap as dirt". There were mixed reports about it on the web. No hum or rf iin my setup. I'm pleased

Docdan50: I reside in Maryland, land of 4 seasons. Here, the summers are getting hotter & more humid. In MD, A/C is very expensive , up near 500 % from the time when I purchased a tube amp. Thanks Gov'.

As in Texas warm weather relates to a change-over from tubes to solid state.

This year Dave Cocklin's S.O.B.'s;they are 84-90W,use 6550's or KT-88's Test-Beds , serial #'s I & II sneezed ; the iron plates in the chokes started to create a slight mechanical noise . Doc, these amps have been good to me. Besides unparalled sound, I have had no break-downs in 18 years of ownership . I am the second owner to David who is no longer with us.

Eric Falkenhan (410-467-3620) is to replace the Chicago Standard Collins R-63 Chokes with drop-in replacements. The alternative would be a mucho-buck rewinding & potting or re-dipping of the plates, not kind things to a bank account in hard times.

The A-500's have been returned to service in the "Big Rig". In my view they stand on their own merits with any speaker source & are of course "cheap as dirt".

Doc, the best to you & your amp source. Pleas keep us informed of your listening experiences.