Solid State Power Amp Reviews

Halcro dm58 monoblock power amplifier

Paul Bolin Oct 13, 2002 First Published: Oct 13, 2002

Revolutionary is a word that's tossed around all too lightly in the world of audio. The understandable impulse to tout every new development as a quantum leap forward in sound reproduction has made it difficult to sort out the evolutionary from the truly groundbreaking. And there's not that much left to do in amplifier design that is worthy of being described as "revolutionary," or so it seems. Vacuum-tube circuitry has been thoroughly understood since the late 1940s, and 40 years of development of solid-state has rendered it, in its finest implementations, a worthy competitor and alternative to the venerable tube.

Solid State Power Amp Reviews

Theta Digital Intrepid 5-channel power amplifier

Kalman Rubinson Jul 20, 2002 First Published: Jul 20, 2002

Theta makes a power amp?

Solid State Power Amp Reviews

Theta Digital Citadel monoblock amplifier

Jonathan Scull May 12, 2002 First Published: May 12, 2002

As we all know, it's the sound that counts. However, good looks enhance pride of ownership, and Theta Digital's class-AB, 400W Citadel is as handsome a monoblock as these jaded eyes have laid eyes on.

Solid State Power Amp Reviews

Rotel RB 1080 power amplifier

Kalman Rubinson Mar 30, 2002 First Published: Mar 30, 2002

What could be easier to review than a power amplifier? No features or functions aside from inputs, outputs, and a power switch. So when Jonathan Scull asked if I could help out by taking on the Rotel RB 1080, which another reviewer hadn't been able to get to, I accepted the assignment. Before I could click my heels and say "FedEx!" twice, Rotel's 200Wpc RB 1080 had appeared.

Solid State Power Amp Reviews

Smart Devices 2X150VT power amplifier

Michael Fremer Jan 10, 2002 First Published: Jan 10, 2002

If your audiophile habit goes back more than a couple of decades, you're probably doing a double take looking at the Smart Devices 2X150VT. Looks like a Hafler DH-200, doesn't it? That's because, at its core, a Hafler DH-200 is exactly what it is. Smart Devices doesn't name names in its brochure, but they do say that "You may recognize this amplifier as one of the dominant premium performers of the 1970s and '80s"—a reasonable enough description of the MOSFET-output DH-200, which combined outstanding sound with a very reasonable price—especially if you built the kit.

Solid State Power Amp Reviews

McIntosh MC1201 monoblock power amplifier

Jonathan Scull Mar 14, 2001 First Published: Mar 14, 2001

While walking home from the office the other day I passed a gleaming, perfectly detailed Harley-Davidson, lightly customized, as many are these days. I didn't stop and drool, but I couldn't unsnap my eyes from it. As I drew parallel to that hawg, a Ricky Martin look-alike threw his leg over the saddle and thumbed the starter. No, you don't have to be a tattooed, beer-gutted redneck anymore to rear up and slam down on a kick-starter of one of those beasts. These days, it's all done with the push of a button. Dude.

Solid State Power Amp Reviews

Bel Canto eVo 200.2 power amplifier

Kalman Rubinson Mar 04, 2001 First Published: Mar 04, 2001

The word on Bel Canto's upsampling DAC was already out when I visited their room at the 2000 Consumer Electronics Show looking to get one of the first samples. But despite my protestations, all Bel Canto's Mike McCormick wanted to talk about was their company's new digital amp, the eVo 200.2. Sure, there's a future out there in which all sources will be digital and D/A conversion will occur in the speaker (or later?). But today, I see no practical advantage in a digital amplifier with only an analog input. It may be more efficient and it may be new technology, but the amplifier has got to stand on the same footing as any analog design and justify its existence by the way it sounds. The eVo did make a good case for itself at the demo, so I signed up to get one for review.

Solid State Power Amp Reviews

Herron Audio M150 monoblock power amplifier

Michael Fremer Mar 04, 2001 First Published: Mar 04, 2001

Keith Herron plopped himself down in my listening chair and smiled, clearly pleased with the sound of my system now that his M150 monoblock power amplifiers had been substituted for my Musical">http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/205/">Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300. He began to tell me why.

Solid State Power Amp Reviews

Classé CAM 350 monoblock power amplifier

Brian Damkroger Jan 07, 2001 First Published: Jan 07, 2001

"Be careful what you wish for, or you just might get it."

Solid State Power Amp Reviews

McCormack DNA-225 power amplifier

Kalman Rubinson Nov 01, 2000 First Published: Nov 01, 2000

Back in 1992, Robert Harley's Stereophile review of the McCormack">http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/520/">McCormack DNA-1 and Parasound HCA-2200 amplifiers (April 1992, Vol.15 No.4) and the accompanying technical measurements piqued my interest. So, with great curiosity, I arranged to borrow a DNA-1 to audition, along with competitive amps from Aragon, Bryston, and PS Audio. They were all a leap ahead of my Adcom GFA-555, but it took an act of great courage to accept that, despite its less-than-stellar measured performance, the DNA-1 was my favorite. The bottom line was that the DNA-1 excelled at driving my Apogee Duettas to make lively and harmonically pure sounds. I bought my McCormack DNA-1 amplifier before I began reviewing equipment for Stereophile, and it still occupies an honored place in my system.