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Twenty watts of class A power for my 91db spl speakers.
It's been a while since we talked about our amplifiers (23 months in fact). So we'd like to know what you are using now and why you like it.
A pair of Krell Full Power Balanced 650 Mc monoblocks, connecting to Wilson Grand Slamm speakers via Transparent Audio Reference cables. The Krell amplifiers seem to be so effortless in bringing out clearly every little detail in the music, with very tight and clean bass. The sound is simply heavenly and hits me smack in the face every day.
My system consists of Apogee Mini-Grands driven by Spectral DMA-360s for the ribbon panels and a Krell KSA-250s for the subwoofers. Together with the DMC-20 Series II, the Spectral amps provide the most satisfying and non-fatiguing sound I have ever had in my home. No glare, no etch, no noise - just music. The Krell does a great job on the bass.
I auditioned and purchased a musical fidelity A3 integrated amp. I am retired on a fixed income so price was important. It's amazing how much great sound $1000 can buy. It's one of the best purchases I have ever made. This thing really boogies!
These new Linn Switch mode apms are the best things I have ever come across. I couldn't be happier. You won't see me in the amp market till one of these babys gives out! At that point I will probably replace them with another linn!
I use the conrad johnson 2500 power amp. This amp along with the cj pv14 tube preamp. To me this combo, along with the Sony es777sacd player is a very good match to my magnapan 1.6 speakers. The conrad johnson gives me enough good clean power to drive them without sounding hard or harsh, and it keeps the music that is recorded on some cd labels which don't take the time to put a lot of effort in the quality of their sound, like the JVC XRCD series do, from becoming too tiring to listen to for a long period of time.
Graff GM-20s. Mesmerizing. Very detailed, but never harsh. Full, taut bass. The best midrange I have ever heard. The music -- especially well recorded music -- fills the room with three dimensional images. I cannot even envision hearing something better. And I cannot understand all the hype surrounded multi-channel music. The GM-20s will envelope you in sound.
Adcom 5802 into Martin Logan ReQuests and the Velodyne FSR18. Works for me, but I would love a larger room. I still have a Marshall Leach low TIM and an older Ampex tubed power amp that I drag out when I get bored and need to re-afirm the hobbyist/experimenter side of this insanity called hi-fi.
It's a Chinese built Spark 530 with an assortment of old British and Soviet valves. Class-A, 50W/side. After owning too many trani's and falling to sleep with single ended, this amp is firm but smooth, and for the giant-killer build-quality, cheap. Runs with TEAC VRDS 25.
My system consists of a Denon preamp and four monoblock amps (also from Denon, two driving the bass drivers and the other two the mids/trebles) driving a pair of B&W Nautilus 803s. This set-up also serves as AV L and R front chanels. The other speakers (B&W HTM1 and Nautilus 805) are powered by the Denon AVC A1 AV amp (European equivalent to the AVR 5800). This setup allows me to hear full spec stereo and home theater without compromising the quality. To hear plain stereo, I just connect the balanced inputs of the power amps so they are exclusively driven by the preamp; in HT the AVC A1 drives front center and rears speakers and sends the front L and R chanels to the stereo preamp. Bi-amping the 803s brings enormous improvements in imaging and absence of compression at mid to high volumes. I run bi-amp systems for more than a decade now and from my experience I can attest that this is an option that most if not all of the times surpases the results of systems with a power amp costing the same as the four monoblocs of two stereo amps. Couldn't be happier!