2. amps-preamps
  3. 162703-141023

Amp recommendations

Looking for some advice. My 25 year old amp has given up the ghost and I haven’t kept up with what’s good out there. Instead of sinking money in my existing amp, I’m thinking of replacing it. The amp that went bad is a Cary Audio CAD 300B (none of the tubes are working, one of the rectifiers flashes when turned on, I checked the tube fuses). The preamp is a Cary Audio SLP-70 (I recently had it checked out and retubed it). The speakers are Chapman T-7. I also have a Creek CD-60 and Project 1.2 turntable. Music Meter inter connects. My budget is around $4000 for a new amp. Is this a reasonable budget? What amp recommendations do you have? I’d prefer to stay with vacuum tube but if there are solid state amps that you’d recommend, please do so. I can provide specs on the components if needed. Thanks for your advice.
z32kerber
jb505's avatar
jb505
60 posts
 
I’m with almost everyone else. Get your amp fixed at least so you may sell it if you want to go a different direction.+4 on the Quicksilver, awesome gear handmade in the USA.
puntobasta
16 posts
 
the primaluna hp power amp is, $-$, the best sounding amp I’ve ever heard. you can also fry a steak on it; runs hot. if you have the space for it check it out. about 4k but little more than half that second hand. 
tuberculin
81 posts
 
You can always count on Tekton man to shill that stuff.
middlemass
917 posts
 
"...Quicksilver Mono 120..."

+1
z32kerber OP
150 posts
 
@safebelayer
Thank you for the response. My plan is to have my 300B amp accessed and hopefully repaired. I did find someone local to me that came highly recommended. After talking to him, he sounds like he knows his stuff. But if you could send me Pat H's contact info, I'd appreciate it very much.
I looked online for Dennis Had and the only contact information I could find was through his EBay store. I sent him a message through EBay but haven't heard back from him.

This entire discussion has me thinking about upgrading my speakers to something like the Klipcsh Forte III and selling my Chapman's. If you could educate me a bit here. My 25W 300B is under powered for my 90dB Chapman speakers. I listen to mostly jazz and some pop. I rarely listen to anything at high volume as my system has always been more than loud enough at low volume settings on the preamp. At low volume settings, is the load on the amp too much or would that only happen at higher volume settings?
I guess everything hinges on how things turn out with my 300B amp.I should know more next week.

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