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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
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.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
I would judge an amp by how good it sounds. Who cares what type of design it is?
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,887 posts
 
I'm not as well versed as most here but I have a Burson integrated that's a Class A/B desing which operates in Class A (or so I was told) up to near it's maximum rating and there is something special about that Class A sound that is bequiling.

Having rather efficeint speakers, I've never had to run it full out and never exceeded 1/3 full volume to have as loud as I needed so maybe that explains why it was always so bewitching to listen to.

The upside to all of this is that it never got really hot.

All the best,
Nonoise
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