Which Solid State Amplifier is Making you Happy?


I'm trying to find a new amplifier to replace a Musical Fidelity A3CR. There are lots of candidates: Rowland 501s, Pass Labs 350.5, Levinson 431/432, H2O, etc. What are people using and what has been a good sonic investment? I'm currently driving B&W N803s, so it's a pretty normal load. My MF amp does not offer enough punch or bass control. It flattens out at higher volumes. I'll spend what it takes, new or used. Less than $8K would be nice. All comments welcome.
Peter
pscialli
I have had several Krell FPB (200, and 700cx) amps which I enjoyed, Aragon makes a good amp, but I think that would be a step back for you, some of the Classe stuff can be had fairly inexpensively since the newer models are out.

I bought a used Classe Omicron and I think it is really something special. The Krell FPB 700cx can be had in your price range, and it will drive anything without flattening out. Of all the amps I've owned, the Krell gets out of the way of the music the best. I found it to be very musical, more so than the older Krell amps. This probably creates an ugly image in your mind, but when I'm really enjoying the music I find myself singing along. With the Krell, I sang a lot!
I'm using a Transistor Research Labs (from the Tube Research guys) 225 watt/channel amp. 3 inputs separate for each channel, and separate 45 stepped attentuators each channel. Price? $5500.

After all the talk, I was considering giving the DartZeel an audition. Not any more ...
SimAudio W10's are the best I've heard so far....pick em up for under $6k used. Good partner with Maggies or anything needing some oomph. Not your typical sterile sounding SS that hides behind bass wallop and has little else. Good amps.

Rooze
I am using the Innersound ESL-300. I know it doesn't cost enough ($1500 used) but I stand behind it. Drove the pee-diddly out of Maggie 3.6s and sounded better the hotter it got. Never petered out. 600WPC @ 4 ohms. Now drives my Eros MkIII very well, naturally. Spend more, go ahead, 20K for the dartzHeel 100WPC. Excuse me?