Switch from AB to D

It seems the Vidar's are not Class D, they are A/B. 


https://www.schiit.com/products/vidar


Just very compact.

Budget?

Yes, the Cherry amp has quite a reputation. I don't think they get much air time because of their marketing approach. 

There's a Nord Acoustics One Up on audiogon for $1050 (with discrete op amp input stage, loaded with Sparkos op amps).

Otherwise, the Nord Acoustics stereo amps start at 479 Euro ($540 USD).  200 watts per channel into 8 ohms:

https://www.nordacoustics.co.uk/product-page/nord-one-mp-nc250-stereo-power-amp

@vinylrecord61, I purchased 2 different class D power amplifiers and, in my opinion, NEITHER Class D amplifier was ready for prime time. I was not happy with the way they sounded, they were not musical and I eventually took the loss and sold them. As per many other Audiogon posts, it seems, everyone has an opinion about the sound quality of class D amplifiers. For me, class D amplifiers do NOT have the sound I was looking for at ANY price level. I give Class D amplifiers a F (my opinion) at any price range. I am sure that other people will disagree with me and that is okay. Everyone has a different opinion when it come to audio equipment and what sounds great.

I eventually purchased a SimAudio 700i V2 integrated amplifier and like it very much. Based on my experience, I suggest you audition some class D amplifiers and also some other class A/B amplifiers. I also own the SimAudio 340i amplifier and it is excellent. Please continue your research into class D vs. Class AB amplifiers.

Several retailers will offer you a home demo so you can listen to the amplifier in your system and then make your decision. The more important thing is maybe you NEED to find an excellent retailer (local, if possible) for advice and consult with them on what amplifier you should purchase. Based on your above comments, I strongly suggest a home demo is your best option to help you make a decision. Please remember it is your system, your environment, your budget, your other equipment and listening that decides what to purchase. It is not an easy process.

Please take your time and do not rush the process. I hope this helps.

hgeifman,
What brands of class D did you own???

You didn't mention a price. NAD M33 looks like a good all in one. If you just want an amp. March Audio in Australia has good Class D amps based on NCore or purifi. Nord, Apollon are others to check out.

Try a PS Audio S300.

I feel class D ,amps just just cut it.You get power but you lose the quality sound.

@mr_m,  As you requested, I owned the Hypex NCore NC400 Class D Power Amplifier dual-mono blocks (2 NC400's per box) and the Mola-Mola Kaluga NC1200 Class D Power Amplifiers.

Based on my listening experience, with both the Hypex Class D amps and then the Mola Mola amps, I did not feel they sounded very musical in my system and environment.   In other words, they did not sound natural and I had problems listening for long periods of time.
  
I asked several 'experienced' audio friends over for a listen and they agreed with my thinking.   As I said in my above post, this is MY opinion and others may disagree.   In fact, based on other Audiogon posts, I know that some people like Class D amplifiers.  I do not like Class D amplifiers based on my listening experience with theses amplifiers.   I hope this helps.  

I then purchased the SimAudio 700i V2 integrated amplifier.  My SimAudio 700i V2 amp sounds excellent. It sounds clearer with more musical detail, better bass and more.  The sound quality of the SimAudio 700i amp was exactly what I was looking for.   

Devialet could be an interesting option.

I think class D amps suffer from a bias issue.....but I'm not talking circuitry.

I'd wager that the initial A/B amps suffered the same group stoning...but I wasn't around for that, nor likely to care at the time...

I have a NAD M22v2 power amp paired with a Herron tubenpre amp.  The SQ is very good.  

Having said that, I'm going to purchase a tube power amp because I've never tried a tube amp before.

The Peachtree Nova 150 is a nice class D integrated. 

A. The schiit Vidar is not class D
B. Your Onkyo is not really 140w, it’s probably only rated that way When clipping
c. The Vidar won’t save you on electricity.

Almost any real stand alone amp is going to be better than the amp inside your Onkyo. The Onkyo has the power 9 Amps on a tiny little power supply. 
Are you doing home theater? If so, does the Onkyo have preamp outputs, or are you just going to ditch it? 

In my system a pair of DAC Maraschinos, class D beat various A/B amps in several respects.  Tightened the bass and mid bass, opened up the upper midrange, and just more musical sounding.  Speakers are either Magnepan or Martin Logans.  The Cherry amps are not cheap.  You could also try a Crown class D amp for about 200 or so.

Class A/B amplifiers in an AV receiver are usually not biased that high, so the amount of power they draw just sitting there is not very high. What is your power concern? Heat? Electricity bills?

I’ve been very happy with my tiny little NuPrime amps. They have different “flavors” of amps. There’s a matrix on their site to help find the sound your after. Mine are STA-9s running as monoblocks. Very warm like tubes but very fast with tons of grip for bass. I run very inefficient speakers and they can make them beg for mercy if I want to crank it up. On my old high efficiency ones, they can crack windows. 

After having AB for 40 years my present D is the best one I've owned. The last Superphon idled at 90 watts. This one idles at 13.  It plays loud at 30 watts consumption. I "Kiil A Watt" everything.
140 watts X 2 into 8 ohms, 300 X 2 into 4 ohms.  Damping >1100 @ 8 ohms.
PS Audio S300. You can trade in any crap you have laying around at it's MSRP.  Just no pro gear. Paul will ship it to you to try for 30 days. If your ears don't like it I think he will even pay return shipping, Fed Ex.  You can even schedule a home pickup.
If you can wait he does 20% off for shows and Black Friday week. Virtual Axpona is this week. Call and twist their arms. Ask for Joey Fisher. She was sales mgr.
I've met Paul Barton (PSB) too. Great guy. 

Good luck and happy hunting.

I forgot to tell you I'm on a budget sorry about that guys and my Onkyo does not have pre out or main in. 
  There are many good suggestions you guys are give me to wake me up a little bit but I'd like to keep it around $750 if possible. I got spoiled for a while having a a tube integrated amp from Paul Grybeck for about 4 years +-, had to help a friend get some money for his mothers cancer treatment. So I did what needed to be done.
Thank you one and all
Ron

I am a long time class D owner. Several W4S, Emerald Physics, PS Audio GCC 250 (bought new some 15-20 years old) and still using it in my video system); of late, I tried the PS Audio M700s which are pretty darned good (recently saw a pair for ~ $1900), but replaced them with EVS 1200 (~$2500), it is exceptional but sadly is no longer being made. It is based on the IceEdge 1200 AS modules, but highly tweaked. PS Audio recently introduced M1200s with tube buffer, which should be excellent, especially for the $5999 MSRP.

oH wait, yesterday I saw an ad from a guy in CA selling his Audio Alchemy DPA-1 AND DDP-1 AND PS 5 for $1595. I had all 3 and they are great value. See Absolute Sound March 2017 for a great review. You could buy them then sell the DDP-1 (DAC/Pre) and PS -5 (outboard power supply). There are people looking for just the power supply, likely get $600 for it alone, though the combo sounds much beefier


hth

I don't thin it's class D but something like this for 875 if you're looking for a 2 channel amp. 
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa13ha-amplifier-template-2-solid-state

You might scan the listings here there are a few that would meet your price. 

I just recently traded in a high quality class D amp and went back to a class A/B integrated and there is a difference in sound. I enjoyed the class D but the A/B sounds more musical to me. Even my husband, who is not an audiophile, believes the A/B is better after listening. His first words (without any prompting from me) was this is 'more natural' than the other system. Let us know what you decide on---good luck!

I recently acquired some Bel Canto REF500M class D amps and have been very happy with them, upgraded from Rotel A/B amps operating as monoblocks. I was comfortable trying class D amps in my system due to my experience as a bass musician. I use a tube preamp and class D power amp with my bass, and I feel the sound is natural and powerful. I find that the Bel Canto's revealed a new level of detail in my stereo setup without sounding fatiguing at all (listening to a mix of vinyl on a Rega table and FLAC files on a Cambridge streamer).

@vinylrecord61, You received 27 suggestions recommending Class A/B, Class D and class A.   In addition, you received specific recommendations for various brands of amplifiers (excellent information).   Most every post I saw highly recommended something and was very useful.

Your original question was "what am I going to experience putting a Class D amp with a hundred watts per Channel in place of my Onkyo with 140 watts per Channel at class A B power?an easy process?”.   Based on these 27 posts, I do not know if we actually answered your question.  I will say you received many useful and different opinions.

Since you are unable to visit your local retailer, I suggest you contact a retailer (local, if possible) that will loan you two amplifiers, class D and Class A/B, for you to demo in your listening room.
  
Please remember it is your system, your environment, your budget, your other equipment and listening that decides what to purchase. It is not an easy process.   Please keep us posted.  

I've owned class A/B from the likes of Carver and Marantz and upgraded to class D to get more power.  There are subtle differences in the sound but not enough to bother me either way.  The class D, I own and can recommend are the Peachtree Nova series and Nord's ICE1200AS2 based amps.  I have the Nord in my main system paired with a tube pre-amp and it's a match made in heaven.

Mark

A/B to A/B is apples to apples. The Vidar will blow the Onkyo away. See how it sounds with your old preamp. And when you get a good excuse, audition the Schiit Freya+. 15 days to decide whether the Freya is enough better than your old pre to justify the $900. I'd totally forget about Class D for the moment. Maybe someday a D-powered sub. Many good ones to be had for not much $ if/when you get to that point. 

I've been very happy with an Ncore Class D diy kit, but also with the Nuforce STA200 which is class a/b.  Both can be had for about $500, and in conjunction with a Schiit Freya, sound heavenly.

I’ve been researching integrated amps, and the name that keeps popping up is Rogue Audio, particularly the Sphinx. I’ve not yet heard it, but plan to audition the v3 in the near future. In many of the reviews and comments, people seemed generally surprised with the sound that’s been achieved with a tube preamp and class D amp and crediting the engineering.  

I have had several class D amps over the years. I don't agree with all of the "not ready for primetime" feedback. Your price range is a limiting factor, but I would look at a used Peachtree. 

I concur with why0why,
There is a huge difference in performance in Class D amps based on how much they cost.  Inexpensive amps use switching power supplies and limited feedback engineering and most of the time an off the shelf Ice power module.   I have listened to several of these type of amps; they all have a huge amount of output power, especially in the lower end (which is why they are pretty much exclusively used now in sub woofers and that is where there is extremely low distortion.   If you move on to a main power amp which of course is reproducing a very wide frequency range, the upper end is where things can get dicey.  I have found the lower price range Class D amps tend to get a little harsh on the upper end to my ears and I a don't particularly enjoy it after a long period of listening.  
Now fast forward to a very well engineered design in Class D such as the Anthem M1 monoblocks.  These amps do not use any off the shelf power modules, it's all proprietary output design with an amazing liquid cooled output stage using alcohol filled copper heat pipes.  The amps when fed with 240 volt main input loaf along with 2000 watts per channel and are stable down to 2 ohm loads where the output goes up much higher.   If you do what I did and feed each amp with a dedicated 240 volt/15amp direct run from the service panel (and all copper busses is a must in my opinion), it is simply incredible how smooth things can get, not to mention even more output power.   
I have a very well regarded Class A/Ab amp and I have done a lot of comparisons with all kinds of music; hands down the M1 Class D just blows my A/Ab amp out of the water and my brother who is a professional video/audio producer with a ton of experience with music completely agrees.  BUT, amps like the M1 are going to set you back $7K, they are not inexpensive!   However well worth it.  Not to mention they only use 3 watts in standby mode and 13 watts in idle.  And they never get warmer than a cool cup of coffee to the touch.

If you spend the money on well engineered Class D, you will never go back to A or A/b and certainly not Tubes in my opinion :)

I want to thank all you fine people to post in on my question. A lot of ideas for thought and I would like to stop the post now so I can think about everybody's comment's and do some research. Seems like to get a good class D I would need to spend more money which I have.
As always very dependable for getting opinions thank you
Ron

Good luck Ron. I remember on the Cherry amp site they have demo units they sell at times. One thing to be cautious about is whether you get the remote control features you want ..seems small, but can end up being something you regret coming from the consumer feature world.

Crown xls 1002 for $349.00.Nice reviews on You Tube.

Hey Ron,

I replaced an Edge M6 A/B amp with Nuforce Reference 9 SE V3 mono amps that are 175 watts/ channel class D.  I loved the sound--much more detail, more dynamic, and just better all round.  Later on,  I had TDSS do their level 3 upgrades to the power supply along with key other areas.  Suddenly, I had very near SOTA amps in SQ and they would be even more reliable--TDSS does not change any of the circuitry, but does change key elements in the amps.  These amps new were $5200 for the pair without the TDSS mods. 

I have VMPS RM40 BCSE w/ MLS cabinets and most all the upgrades in them.  These have 40" of ribbon drivers, along with 2 10" woofers and a 10" passive radiator per speaker and have just got better with each upgrade I've done.  The amps are very small, don't get hot, and drive the power hungry 40's with great drive.  There is absolutely NO problem anywhere in the sound with these amps in my system.   I paid $1400 for the amps used originally and the TDSS upgrades are $2400, but even if you started with just the Ref 9's without the TDSS upgrades, the SQ is still very good.  Later, you could add the upgrades and be in hog heaven.

Bob