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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
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.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
@Mtrot, you might look into CODA amps since you are using Legacy speakers. Bill Duddleston is a big fan of CODA, in fact, he had them design and manufacture his Legacy line of amps and preamps. CODA also designed and built amps for Innersound. CODA is an offshoot of Threshold too, started by three former Threshold engineers.

I own a CODA Model 11 amp, a 100 wpc pure Class A design that weighs in at about 85 pounds. These can be had for under $2K on the used market. Currently I am using a tube amp, but I will hold onto the CODA amp because I don't think it can be beat for the $$$, and it makes for a nice change of pace. Do a little research and check out CODA Technologies.
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