Your Favorite Sounding Power Amp, $5000 US Retail max.

@wjob

re "Van Alstine DVA M225 monoblocks - ~$3400 for the pair. Factory direct made in the USA. "

I read that review and was intrigued. The reviewer is an audio recording engineer and an experienced high-end reviewer (he put them up against Pass monos). I am surprised that there haven’t been more reviews... some of the other Van Alstine products have been chosen for multiple "best of" lists. I keep looking here for reccs by owners of these.

I love the size of them (similar to the small/light Benchmark amp)... perfect to place next to each speaker, and they are balanced with XLR connections.

@tomic601 

"i am a junkyard dog hiding inside a diplomatic robot" LOL 😀

I own the AVA DVA 225s - reviews are spot on.  These are great amps.  Only caveat is that each amp operates natively in bridged mode, 1/2ing the speaker impedance as seen by the amp.  Very low impedances on some speakers may be a problem.  I use them on Dynaudios rated at 4 ohms - no problems.

op

you'll need to tell me the speaker, then i can give you a proper answer

very different answers for say driving a wilson or mbl, a spendor or harbeth, an avantgarde trio... right?

the question asked in a vacuum is rather pointless

@jjss49 

thank you for the reply. 

I am just asking members what their favorite sounding power amp is and why (under $5000).  

Not pointless at all but a good survey and reference.