One Amp To ‘Rule’ Them All....

@noble100 

My primary goal for beginning this post was: I wish to define for the whole audio community one or more common, competant, reliable, well executed, sonically comprehensive, reasonably affordable amplifiers that we can begin to use as ‘reference amplifiers’ to judge other amplifiers by. That’s it.

I am interested in hearing the Audiogon community’s continued thoughts.

@2psyop Thanks for understanding me.

Back in the day Capitol, Columbia, Verve, Blue Note, were all using McIntosh tube gear for playback and mix downs in the studios. Some of the remasters that are using lathes to cut new lacquers are using Mac amps with the set up. I’m not saying that McIntosh are the end all amps, but that a bulk of the music from the 50’s thru the 70’s used them in the process for mastering as well.   My 2 cents.

@efort 

thanks so much for your input. I would think a lot of 60’s and 70’s production used McIntosh...moving towards Yamaha in the 1980’s.

I think we need to consider amplifiers that were used in producing much of the music we like, and speakers. 

I have three sets of speakers, I have the infinity Kappas, Yamaha NS-10’s and JBL 4312a Control Monitors. I like using studio monitors to really hear what’s going on in my system.

brettmcee,

    Your Kappas are 6 ohm nominal but can drop between 1 and 2 ohms at 90Hz and are notoriously hard to drive.  You need a high current amp that at least doubles its power from 8 ohms to 4 ohms but one that can handle loads down to 1-2 ohms is preferable.  Only a limited number of amps are capable of this.
       I'd suggest bi-amping them.  If you prefer a single amp and want McIntosh, a used McIntosh MC2500 or MC2600 would likely work well with your Kappas.  But used high current amps such as Mark Levinson, Krell, Aragon and Adcom would also work.
     I can think of some better solutions but would like to first know your budget and whether you'd want new or used.  I'd still recommend bi-amping for best results.  Some single new high current amps will drive them but would be considerably more expensive unless you're willing to limit the playback volume.

Tim 
     

no matter what amp you have the speakers are the answer.took me a few years until i found the solution.i run 3 pairs of stereo speakers, all different makes and all different size drivers on my main amp. AR..SONY..MISSION.
the more the better...dont leave any gaps in the spectrum!hooked up another amp and speakers on the variable line out from the main amp, when i power the 2nd amp up it blows the mind...4 pairs of speakers all in stereo pointing at me..JBL control 1's running max 50wrms x 2.