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what solid state amps for the soundlab u-1

hi gang, i am trying to find a solid state amp that will be able to keep control of the soundlab u-1 speakers. the catch is that this is going to be a living room "special" until i can go after a dedicated listening room setup. and no i cant futz with the electrical .this is going to be plug and play 15 amp regular wall juice.
audfile74
nealhood
199 posts
 
The Innersound ESL-300 works fine with U2's so, I would assume it would work equally well with the U-1's. This is one generation removed and I have not heard the current genertion Innersound amps but, one can only assume they would work equally well, or better. The Parasound JC-1's also are reported to work well with Soundlabs.

Yet when it comes to Soundlabs, in my opinion the Atmasphere amps (especially the MA-1 and 2) reign supreme. You must try one of these when you set up a dedicated listening room.
audfile74 OP
3 posts
 
i was not aware that there was a u-2 the website only lists the u1.
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
I remember a few years ago when I worked for a Soundlab dealer we were running the Fourier OTL amps with the A1s. I brought my old Krell KSA 250 over and everyone was surprised at how well the Krell did with the Soundlabs especially since they were such a high impedence. Since then the owner of the store has switched over to Krell for his own amp.
audiokinesis
2,754 posts
 
Among the amps I'd recommend with your U-1's include models from Parasound (JC-1), Pass Labs, Levinson, Accuphase, Jeff Rowland, Clayton Audio, and Warner Imaging. I'm sure there are others, but I'm limiting my comments here to my own experiences. Disclaimer - I peddle some of these lines (as well as Sound Labs).

If wall juice is indeed a limiting factor, you might want to consider the Model 501's from Jeff Rowland.

Duke
bpwalsh
1,207 posts
 
Don't know why my two previous attempts to post to this thread didn't make it, but I'll try again.

Audfile74: A pair of Sound Lab U-2s (similar in size to M-3s) I sold were driven by an Innersound ESL-300 amp, which is capable of driving the speakers to fairly loud levels, though you may prefer other amplifiers, including some mentioned in this thread. The speakers readily reveal the character of everything else in the chain, especially amps that are bright, too laid back or polite, and so on. If the sound is either fatiguing or uninvolving, keep looking.

Rwwear: Interesting story. The Fouriers could be spooky good but were finicky. I owned one of their stereo amps at one time.

Brian
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