Sugden Amps


Hello wise men,

I have used tubes with my Klipsch Heritage speakers, lately having problems and tired of tubes. I just need to put they away for a while so need a good SS integrated that will pair well with my speakers. Something not fatiguing and I can listen all day…what do you guys think of a Sugden integrated?..I just want to turn it on and it’s good all day everyday. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated…

‘thanks a lot..

silverfoxvtx1800

Others besides Kevin Deal have reviewed the Musical Fidelity A1 (new version) very favorably: Taron on the YT channel A British Audiophile. As far as I can see, he isn't selling the amp, just reviewing, He gave it an "outstanding" rating, which he does not do often. It apparently is toasty, despite being only 25W. The form factor is attractive.

The benefit of Klipsch Heritage speakers, aside from nice sound, obviously, is the loudspeaker efficiency and the opportunity to experiment with confidence when it comes to lower power-rated amplification. If you aren’t going with a pure class-A amp (something about that "all-day, everyday" desire and the reality of significant heat generation from pure class-A makes me wonder if that is a good thing long-term), there are good hybrid options in Class A/ Class D. (NuPrime’s IDA-8 is Class A-Class D and has a low noise floor. Very compact. 100W.) The JBL SA750 has A/AB ("Class G") topology with a streamer, DAC and remote, 120W.

That's precisely why I bought some Klipsch Forte 4s (to experiment). I'm having difficulty deciding between class-A SS amp and tubes. Heat isn't a problem as I would use (whichever) only in the winter. I've owned tubes but never had a first-class preamp (like my current BAT VK-33SE) to show off their potential. On the other hand, I've never owned a class-A SS amp but my BAT VK-255SE is so good (IMO) that a class-A SS may be redundant. Fortunately, there is no hurry so will keep deliberating until I receive some divine guidance/inspiration.