Ideas for an amplifier?

Seconds on Parasound  great products high current amps that will drive power hungry speakers.

Is there anyone that comes to mind as your go-to electronic repair technician who can repair almost any amp?  These guys are becoming obsolete due to Chinese imports but that is a monster for a different forum. Cheers

My VTLs (mono blocks) just got a new capacitor and a bad solder joint fixed by a local repair place.

So IMO just start with a local place and see if they can do it.

@geworthomd 

Looks like your Sony HAP has both balanced and unbalanced outputs, so yeah I’d go for it. I’m not a wealthy man, and I’m not even in the market for a power amp right now, but if I had a line on an s/500 for $400 I’d grab it without hesitation.

As far as a source for potential service, that’s going to depend on your location, there’s a couple of reputable service centers near me, but I have no idea where you’re at. 

Well I looked like an idiot listening to the tweeters.

This was after unboxing the two Topping PA3 amps.
I prepped some 12 gauge wire and wired up the Vandersteens.

Ran an extra set of RCAs from the preamp, and had a Y adapter on each amp so the LHS amp is doing full signal out of both channels.
Same on the RHS.

Then each of the speaker bi-wore posts can get its own channel.

I turned the amps to 12 o’clock, which is difficult with no actual mark on the dial… so I used some tape make the mark on.

I have the Pre-Amp set at -8dB, and I usually run it at about -30 to -20 dB with most other amps. So I ran a much hotter signal.
There is something more like a high frequency buzz, than a ground loop hum, or like a white noise hiss.

If I run a 0dB single ended RCA, and rack the amp’s gain knob back it is OK for hiss.

The sound is not bad… pretty good really.

The gain management could be a challening, but they are designed for a full range signal, and will likely better with an XLR, which is the idea for ANV surround channels.

For $120 as a stereo amp, it seems OK for sound, other than the hissing.
(But returning them for an amazon refund)

ASR measured SINAD:

• Topping PA3s at 69 dB
• AIYAMA at 83 dB
• Upper end stuff is 100dB or higher

The AIYAMA is half way between say a March Audio and a Topping in terms in SINAD.

I think that the state of art class-D should be worth a try based upon the 30dB noisier unit being OK. I see how the AIYAMA goes on the morrow.
And maybe hook the VTLs back up.

^The Topping had a sound reminiscent of a TV fly back transformer.^

I hooked up the $70 AIYAMA today… Same cables, but as a single stereo amp, so I twisted the bi-wires together and put them into a banana plug on teh amp end.

I cranked the volume knob full clock wise, and it is the same volume as the PrimaLuna Dialigue HP Premium was a monumental earlier.

Zero hiss… nothing.

And it sounds pretty damned good.
Amazing really for a $70 amp.
The preamp is set back to -38dB, and maybe it is ~70 dB SPL… (just checked and it is 70 to 86 dB on NIOSH app. Playing Doug MacLeod “Black Magic”, so quiet to peak is a lot.)

But it is a pretty liveable sound. I have a whoppin big linear supply to use for a 5.1 center channel… but it is running on the switcher it came with at the moment.

Imaging, sound stage etc, are all pretty good.

ASR has It is rated at 83 dB SINAD, so the higher end amps around 100dB (+/- 5dB) should be better. 

And in reality these class D are always rated into 4 ohms. So halve the wattage when going into 8 ohms... so one likely wants a 250-400W version for powering a speaker like the Vandy, as we then get 125-200W into 8 ohms.
 

I’ll definitely be using this as a benchmark to compare other amps with. And moving it to do center channel work.
The only drawback (for some) is no XLR.

The preamp probably helps as it is a tube, so maybe it gives it some extra prescience?