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Choice of Amps

I have an FT Audio LW-1 Passive with NEAR speaker's which have Metal Drivers.I have a choice of amps ,but cannot audition any of them.
My choices are:
Electrocompaniet AW-100
Classe DR-8
Monarchy 100DELUXE's

I was wondering which you would buy.The Monarchy's are the newest of the 3 .The Classe and Electro have been checked out.
NEAR's can handle as much power as you can give them up to 300watts.

My question is which would be the most musical?
abex
jazzdude
332 posts
 
Abex, Mondial Designs started building Aragon amps in 1986. Klipsch acquired Mondial Designs and the Acurus and Aragon brands in 2001. If there is any Aragon history before 1986 I am not aware of it.
abex OP
322 posts
 
I did not check to see how old the Electro is.It has been checked out and the dealer has a return policy.That's a big plus!

I will look into the other amps mentioned.

Do not know why I equated the Aragon's being with Krell.Been awhile and it's hard to keep up with changes.

Have heard alot of great things about Monarchy's though,but I have to wonder why they are on the sell list so often.

ivanj
35 posts
 
The DR8 is a nice amp. Dave Reich (sp) (DR) is the current designer of the Theta amps. I would estimate it would give you a warmer sound. Will the dealer give you any sort of warranty? How old is the Electro? IS it one that Jason Scott (or whoever the current importer is) imports? Earlier Electros were know for good sound but problematic reliability - I have no knowledge of current production. My point is that if the Electro is early production and you have a problem it maybe difficult for your dealer to support you. If I offend anyone with these opinions I do not mean slander and apologize in advance!
rhljazz
1,255 posts
 
I have a pair of DR8's that I've owned since 89 and they are very musical, a nice warm intimate sound for SS. They are not the last word in either bass or treble extension. They do sound better balanced then single ended. They are built like a tank except for the power switch which fails in the "on" position due to arcing of the contacts. I use a home-made external "switch box" to power on/off saving the amps switch.
cdc
1,862 posts
 
Classe and metal drivers are a terrible match IMO. Or else Revel F-30's, F-50's, M-20's, Joseph Audio 33's are bad speakers. I heard all these with Classe.
Bad ringing, harmonics, overbright cymbals.
In a review of Classe pwoer amp, I think, Stereophile said all Classe amps are designed around the same basic circuit. So I don't think any Classe amp would be better than another to excuse the bad sound I heard.
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