2. amps-preamps
  3. 1409183756

First foray into Class A amp -- recommendations

Thinking of checking out a Class A(or quasi) amp just to see if the sound is really better than a nice Class A/B amp. I want to buy a used amp and my budget is $2500-3000. My current class A/B amp is a McCormack DNA-1 Deluxe, rev. A.

I've been looking at a lot of amps here on A'gon and what I have come up with so far is the Krell KSA-200S, which, from what I read in reviews, operates largely in Class A into 8 ohm loads up to 200 wpc.

Considering that my McCormack is a pretty decent amp, do you expect that the Krell would offer a significant upgrade in my priority areas of bass slam and control, mid range transparency, and natural high frequencies? I also welcome any other suggestions or ideas. Thanks!
mtrot
Post removed 
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
08-28-14: Viridian
I like the classic class A amps, Bedini 10/10 and 25/25, Classe DRA25, Levinson ML2, Rappaport Amp 1, etc.

Threshold SA-1's. ;)
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
You'll hear the difference if you can listen to a pair of Parasound JC1 monoblocks, as you can up the class A from 10w to 25w while listening with a switch on the back.

And yes the 20w class a sounds much more "richer" compared to the lower setting.

Cheers George
mtrot OP
804 posts
 
Thanks for all the replies and info! Well, because of space constraints, I am mostly considering stereo amps, which is why I sort of landed on the Krell KSA-200S. I initially was thinking used Pass X250.5, but that runs ~$5000 used and is Class A/B above a certain output level. And, you cannot get any more than 30 wpc in a Pass class A stereo amp(maybe the X250.5 actually sounds better than the Krell KSA-200S, for all I know).

My current speakers are Legacy Audio Signature II which are rated ~93dB efficiency, but I don't want to base an amp decision on that because they are rather old and I may want to get new speakers before long.
jpainter236's avatar
jpainter236
115 posts
 
Threshold SA-2 Class A Mono blocks up for sale on ebay.
More to discover