Stereophile Class A

I agree with DR Joe meitner 101 monos are under priced on the used market, very musical, my experience is that most cheap solid state and alot of expensive ss really sounds horrible. be carefull. class a is important for resale but try to be objective many class a components are junk.

How about a quality integrated amplifier, tuner, and cd player all for $1k used? The Linn Classik T goes for $1k used all the time. Add a decent pair of speakers and you're "in business." Cheers!

Pass Labs Aleph-3 "Beyond Class A" $2500 retail.No longer in production.Used $900-$1200 Will drive all but the most difficult speaker.

Abstract7 made the important distinction between Class A operation and Stereophile's rating system. If you're talking about the Stereophile system, that is defined at the beginning of the April and Oct. component rating issues, and of course in this case, Stereophile defines the classes.

I can strongly recommend the McCormack DNA-0.5 and DNA-1 amps. They operate in A/B mode-- this means that the first few watts are biased into pure class A output. Class A output means that the amp is running "wide open" with only one regulation device. These are both Stereophile Class B amps. The Deluxe models are slightly better. The .5 can be found used for $600-700., and the DNA-1 about $1000. A nice aspect of the McCormack amps is that Steve McCormack of SMc can up-grade them to standards that will easily meet or exceed Stereophile's Class A standards, as your budget allows.

I had a pair of DNA-2DXs up-graded to Revision A, and they are fantastic with great bass and a tube-like mid-range and treble. Good Luck. Craig

You can never have too much power in an amplifier. Simple rule to follow: If the first 5 watts are very good, why wouldn't the next 195 be just as good? As far as a recommendation is concerned, I wouldn't sweat "Stereofool" lists too much. Those listings have entirely too much to do with advertising dollars and not enough to do with system synergy.
Most of the amps recommended to you on the other posts are very good. However, check out the Muse Model 160 or any of their amps for that matter. You can get em' used for a song on Audiogon and ironically, the 160 was a Stereofool class "B" contender with $$$ next to the listed price. Maybe they didn't advertise as much as they needed to get that coveted "A" rating. Maybe the amp was too cheap. Who knows? That aside, I used to own it and it drove a few great pairs of speakers that have come and gone in my system, and drove them well. Since you're in college and space is probably a factor, any of their amps will drive the better monitor speakers out there exceptionally well.
Good luck in school and best wishes!