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At what price do amps start to sound

I can wax rather eloquently about speakers, but amplifiers are something that I know very little about. Actually it's probably a lot less than a little. So please tell me, at what price (generally speaking - of course there are alway exceptions) does one start finding amplifiers that offer decent sound and begin to hint at what the big boys can do? Now as a camparison, I can say that for around $700 new, you can begin finding audiophile-like mini-monitors (if you do your homework) that image well and convey a wonderful sense of space and excellent timbral qualities on instruments and voice. And if you're willing to spend somewheres between 3-4K new, you can have yourself a very satisfying listening experience with great sound quality. Of course if you can spend 10, 20, 50, or 100K you can get the best of the best.

So what is a comparable price point with power amplifiers? At what price (again generally speaking - and if I do my homework) can I begin to hear good imaging, depth and timbre?
studioray
french_fries
815 posts
 
had a denon that got killed by a hafler. the hafler got wasted by a levinson. the levinson sounded two-dimensional compared to a (newer-tech) krell. the krell sounded somewhat unnatural compared to a rowland. the rowland lacked the dynamic authority of levinson monoblocks. each changeover was equally matched by a significant price increase. do i now wonder what dartzeel's sound like (or the new VTL's)? yes, but i'm fairly satisfied at this point (thank goodness!).
if i had to choose a "cheap" amp that makes beautiful music, the pass aleph-3 (only 30W/ch though) is AMAZING (i heard it).
about $1,000 used.
facten
2,877 posts
 
for a grand used get a Portal Panche
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
considering new rather than used, tube rather than solid state, i would say $2000 =, depending upon power requirement. remember one mans rapture is another man's rupture.
jsujo
348 posts
 
You can get any number of David Berning models like the EA-230 now on the Gon for 700, or the large EA-2100 for 1,000.00. and these amps do extremely well...

You can buy Musical Design (John Hillig) D-75B's for way less than 1K and you are getting big league sound.

The same can be said for Monarchy SM-70's and so on...Besides personal experience, so amps are almost guranteed to sound great if mated to reasonably good speakers.

Oh, and Also David Belles plethora of amps for less than 1K..
erik0zpm's avatar
erik0zpm
8 posts
 
For 1,000, you can get Peter Daniel's to build an integrated amp/pre-amp with around 35 watts/channel that is basically a refinement of a gainclone amp. As long as your speakers are relatively efficient, it is a great value. I run one with some older audio physic tempos and I really like it alot. Sometimes I prefer it to my "big rig". You can research it by googling audio sector, or look for the six moons review of the audio sector patek amps. 1000 bucks, brand new, made by a perfectionist with good ears.
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