Beginner Audiophile. How to chose a right amp? Recommendation for my setup?
These are great questions and I agree with others that a dealer will help you find answers. A good one will help you discover what you love, and, in my experience, that discovery requires actually hearing things for yourself. - Colin Fine audio dealer in Nashville, TN https://gestalt.audio |
The things you are looking for in a sound system, such as a wide soundstage, great 3 D imaging, airy voices, and great details with smooth yet realistic sounds, has more to do with the speakers, the set up between the speakers and your listening seat, and room acoustics. Amplifiers do have a sound of their own, but we all have our own ideas of what " realistic " is. The amp, ime, should be matched to the speakers, and I would think, at this point, get something inexpensive ( used ) to work with, and take time setting up the room as I stated. A Hafler or Adcom amp can be had for very little, are both good products, and will get you enough from an amplifier, to hear your system, and work with the tuning and tweaking, to your liking. You might find, you do not like your speakers, as you have already sent a pair back. Listen to what I am saying....and I am not saying anyone else is wrong, but as you are a newbie, I believe I am right. Happy Holidays to all, and, Enjoy ! MrD. |
Thank you all ! For supporting me to become a proper audiophile. All your opinions and tips are helping me a lot! For some reason, however, all the audio dealers in my are a seem to carrying extremely high end stuffs. This tells me I should definitely not bother them LoL But, in all honesty, they might have a wide variety of goods including more affordable ones. Who knows, I think maybe I will email them first to see if they even have something in my budget range. |
If I were you, I'd search every thread you can find on the Monitor Audio Gold 100 5G speaker to discover what others are using for amplification with this speaker. That will net you the best result. Synergy is everything in this hobby and finding an amp that plays well with the speakers you have is very crucial. Do not buy an amp based on WPC or some other spec; buy it based on how it works with the speakers you already have. |
Hey K, If you don't mind buying used gear, there is a couple amps that are extremely fine sounding with many different types of speakers. Nuforce Reference 9 SE mono block amps. There are a couple for sale on US Audio Mart. One set has a pencil diameter scuff on one amp. The other is in very nice shape. They are selling for $1200 for the pair OBO. Offer about $1000 and they should be yours. The other has TDSS upgrades done to them and are V2 so also an upgrade. They are selling for $1700. They are overpriced as I bought a pair of V3's for $1400 4 years ago. TDSS did their level 3 upgrades to them 2 years ago and turned them into superamps for sound and even more reliable. These amps sound incredible and take up very little room as they are advanced class D amps--Nuforce and Nuprime offer excellent sounding amps. They have very detailed and dynamic sound with excellent bass reproduction. The Ref 9's used to be their top of the line amps. These are basically the same company but Nuprime is the company name now. Jason Lin is the designer and most of Nuforce is still with Nuprime. I have these amps at a couple other's recommendation and will for as long as they live. My system is very resolving and yet is not hard on the ears at any time. The amps are much responsible for this. You will not worry about upgrading after buying these. I've tried them with 5 very different speakers at friend's houses. In each the Ref 9's produced the best sound with their speakers. Bob |
