The Best Amp for the Price of Dirt

09-11-08: Crem1
... Do you have any recommendations for DVD/CD players ? I personally like the OPPO products , what about you.

Yep! I have a DV-980H and like it a lot. Its SACD playback is quite nice and I can finally appreciate the extra mmph that HDCD-encoded CDs bring to the party. I was also surprised at what a difference DVD-A made over CD.

And if I want better smoothness and resolution than the Oppo can provide, I just spin vinyl through my new Onkyo A-9555!

The Onkyo beats many $500 players all to heck, and completely walks away from the Philips SA 963 it replaced.

Johnnyb53, Any hands on experience with record player's (that's all in one)?

09-12-08: Crem1
Johnnyb53, Any hands on experience with record player's (that's all in one)?

Could you elaborate on what you mean by that?

You know, I think that if you're going to dip into the economy pro-audio supply, a smarter bet might be the SLA1, SLA2, or SLA4 from ART Pro Audio. They are a little more money, but they are more solidly built, have far more rigorous specs (s/n of at least 100 dB, damping factor >100), and have a claimed stability down to 2 ohms. A fellow A-goner who has an SLA2 as well as amps in the $5K to $10K range, wrote me that his SLA2 gives at least 85% of the performance of the really expensive amps. He only cautions that the SLA series requires a long break-in to get there, and he recommends disconnecting the fan and front panel lights.

You can get the SLA1 at 100wpc for around $219, and the SLA2 at 200wpc for $299. The SLA4 is 4x100 wpc and seems like a bi-amper's dream at $439.

Johnnyb53, What I ment , are you into analog and if so what analog rig would you recommend. I used the term record player to denote an all in one (turntable,arm & cartridge). Any ideas to share?