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Amp Recommendations for Acoustat 1+1s

Hi all,

I juat scored a beautiful pair of Acoustat 1+1s in an auction last week (thanks AudiogoN!) and am looking for a suitable amp.

First, I have to tell you about the Acoustats. They were one of the last 3 pairs of 1+1/2+2s that Acoustat made. The owner was a friend of the folks at Windham Hill Records who were friends of Jim Strickland. They asked him to make three more pair for their personal use. Mine are in MINT condition with beautiful rosewood bases and brand new black socks ordered from Italy. They also have the latest "red" medallion transformers. I'm just smitten...Can you tell?

Anyway, I'm currently driving them with an Adcom GFA-555II and it sounds great, but I know that I could do better. I also know that the Acoustats are famously difficult to drive. That being said, I hear of people recommending everything from moderately powered tube amps to high current monoblocks. Do they need current (solid state) or voltage (tubes)?

I should also mention that my room is quite large. It's 25'X35'. The Adcom doesn't seem to have any problem driving them to concert levels and the "clipping" indicators on the front of the amp never so much as flicker. The amp also doesn't get particularly hot - although it does get warm.

I was thinking about finding an Acoustat TNT-200 since I know that it was designed specifically for the Acoustats.

So, what would you recommend (less than $1,000...the cheaper the better!) to extract the best from these speakers?

I appreciate your collective assistance.
gullahisland
slappy
903 posts
 
I was thinking of buying some of these a while back, has some STRONG reccommendations for KRELL-KSA 50, as well as Forte 40a ( i think that was the model)

Mostly, the reccommendations were for solidly build CLASS A amps, they seem to work better with electrostatic because they can handle 2 ohm loads which these can drop to
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
Enjoy, as I have a pair of Acoustat X speakers, each with it's own servo charged built-in amp.

Great sound, could use some help with base, though.

I use them in two channel HT.
plato
1,543 posts
 
I would think the 1+1's would need quite a bit of power to play loud in a large room. Your Adcom seems up to the task, and frankly, under $1000, you may not do a lot better... Maybe adding a good subwoofer system would be something to consider... or using a decent tube preamp with the Adcom amp. Enjoy, the Acoustats are very nice speakers!
sgr's avatar
sgr
689 posts
 
I'd vote for the Acoustat TNT 200. I owned Acoustats and drove them with this amp and they sounded great. If you can't find one, the new Hafler designs are based on the TNT 200 Trans Nova circuitry and I believe they would be great too.
auaarons
94 posts
 
Consider the Adcom GFA-5802 at about $875 used on Audiogon. I never tried it on the 1+1, but experimented with it for a long time on my friend's pair of Magnepan MG 1.6QRs. The 1.6QRs are very hard to drive, but the 5802 drove them very well and delivered a non-fatiguing, rather musical sound with relatively low coloration.

The low power Krell KSA-50 will not work. I tried the KSA-100 on the MG1.6QRs and they did not work. They are stable down to 2 ohms, but stability without the current does not solve your problem. As for a TNT, I see more potential issues buying an amp without a manufacturer to service it. Electronics are more likely to require service than speakers.
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