SST Ampzilla 2000 v2 vs Son of Ampzilla II

These are both excellent amps! The last masterworks of James Bongiorno! I own several of his designs from SAE, GAS and Sumo. The Ampzilla 2000 from Spread Spectrum Technology will be an excellent match for your SC-IVa’s! Plenty of power - no need for the Son monos. I’d put the Ampzilla 2000 up against any of today’s expensive ($10K  -$20K +) amps!

Rober is it true SOA II is not as warm sounding as the original Ampzilla 2000?

The original Ampzilla (1976) was considered the BEST sounding SS amp at the time! That is when I first encountered it! Harry Pearson (TAS) even thought so! He called it "surgically romantic"! James Bongiorno claimed that the improvements to the original design made a " better" sounding amp - the 2000. I never owned the Ampzilla. Only the original Sons. Now have two in my collection. Presently using a Son with my DCM Time Windows. Great sound - no urge to change (plenty of other amps in my collection). I’d bet the new versions sound great, too! The Ampzilla 2000 has plenty of power - no need for a pair of mono Sons!

Get the SST Ampzilla 2000. Use the money saved to upgrade your signal source. I own (and prefer the SP6) over the older SP3. New mc cartridge, DAC ... BTW, your SC-IVs with the beige grills look really nice! Don't go back to the black!

@kw6 : That I can't say! Either of these new versions made by SST are sonically competitive with today's expensive amps (no need to mention names here!). 

Contact Walter at Underwood HiFi as he was offering a great price on the Son of Ampzilla Mk II.  He has been in the business over 40 years and I am sure he has encountered many pairs of Dunlavy's over the years.  

@roberjerman aren't the 2000s the Monoblocks?

@counterreset : No, Ampzilla 2000 and the Son Mono's are different circuits - like the originals!

GAS offered a transformer for bridging the original Ampzilla and the Son. 600wpc and 240wpc, respectively. Into 8 ohms, of course! 

I just see a biamp option on the back of the new 2000 v2.

@jackd thanks for the heads up. I reached out to him and it looks like I could get better bang for my buck trade wise on a pair of Ampzilla 2000s than for the SOA2. The holidays are making it tougher to find the extra $$$ 😅.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5480969de4b0f0d437dda5d4/5697d38fbfe873ec75c280d7/5697d38fbfe873ec75c280d6/1425429391702/amp2000-back.jpg

*biwire

I ended up getting the Son of Ampzilla II from Underwood, but there is a faint buzzing. It is on both channels regardless of what preamp or input source. :-(

Reach out to EJ at W4S/SST and see if he has any suggestions.  I would try a cheater plug on the amp and preamp and see if that does anything.  

Hi! I've been using my SOA2 (220 VAC version) for almost a year without issues.

Dead silent from both unbalanced and balanced inputs. 

I use as source a Lindemann Musicbook 10 DAC/Pre, and speakers are Dynaudio Confidence C1 Platinum. 

Sebastian 

Noticed I never followed up. The buzzing ended up being from a Roku I had plugged into the same electrical circuit. Seems to be a common issue with Rokus. They really need to be grounded and just aren't. Just found an Ambrosia 2000 PreAmp to go along with the SoA2. Excited to finally upgrade from the SP3

I have just ordered a SoA2 and Ambrosia 2000 preamp.  How do you like your setup.  Any regrets.  How do they sound?  Are you running a sub?