Krell Amps vs others

You may want to give the Plinius SA-250 mk IV a listen. 500 watts into 4 ohm, Class A. I personally would go for a used pair of the Threshold SA12e monoblocks, they will also put out 500 Class A watts into 4 ohms. The best high power Class A amps period, IMHO.

John

Here is my favorite. Click on Gryphon Antileon Signature Mono

http://www.gryphon-audio.dk/indexmain.html

Be careful throwing around the "class A" terminology as nearly all amps that flaunt Class A status are only so for the first tens of Watts (even a hundred is rare), not for the full 500W or what. A 500W class A output would burn up 2500 to 3000W which is a tough thermal challenge. Generally class A refers to the fact that the BIAS is class A, and not operation at full power. Actually nearly all audio amps could be called class A amps. It is just that the class A upper limit changes making some more class A than others (e.g., some go AB at 50mW and some at 50W).

I also meant to add that the new Pass XA series is surely worth looking into (and the other Pass for that matter). Arthur

Pettyfeversk: Your Dynaudio's will take a million watts if you can feed it to them. So long as you keep the quality level of the power that they are being fed up to a high level, the more power that you can feed them, the better they will sound. Welcome to the world of "phenomenally thirsty" speakers. My guess is that about 800 - 1200 wpc should do it. Obviously, this will depend on the size of the listening room, type of music and the spl's that you want to achieve with good clarity.

John: I like your thinking. I too "love" the SA12's. I had a chance to buy a pair a while back for a very fair price and passed it up. I am kicking myself on a regular basis over this one. Out of all of the deals that i've passed up, this is the one that haunts me. Having said that, I'd like to see how the 12's stack up to the newer X amps in a side by side. Regardless of which one would "win", it would be quite fun and interesting to say the least : )

Art: Your right on the money. I wonder what amp is actually biased and operates in Class A the longest ( highest power ) ??? Bare in mind that as you drop impedance, your ability to remain in Class A also drops. I know that Bear's amp, which is a MONSTER ( or is it a "bear" : ) in terms of sheer weight, runs in pure Class A up to 50 watts. Anybody know of anything that beats that ? I know that a lot of amps say "Class A", but i sincerely doubt that they operate up to the levels claimed in Class A. Sean
>