Best Digital Amp for Legacy Focus 20/20?


Hi: I will be starting a two channel from scratch and I originally was going to go with a new pair of Klipschorns, but didn't think the bass was to my liking for loud rock music,so I have now decided on Legacy Focus 20/20.
Due to rack space and electrical limitations, I was thinking of one of the digital amps being put out by a few companies.I am looking at the Acoustic Reality Ear202 stereo amp right now, plus others.
I do not have anything right now(saving up), so am looking for suggestions! The 20/20 are a 4ohm speaker, so I think most amps(digital)can handle under 4 ohms.Will a tube preamp work with these amps?? Just wondering if these amps can push the multiple drivers to my listening levels(85-95db)Thanks for all your help! Huck
huck55
Uh.......there is no "dead short" data. I think you mean "open" data. It won't work into a dead short, will it???

Yes, it may very well be pristine on yours. As I stated, it could be that it works out to be the right amount on your system. No one is questioning that it sounds right on your system. We are ecstatic that it has worked out so well for you. (Maybe the amp you had before it had too much, or too little HF roll-off on your system.)

It just may not sound right on the next guy's. And the chances are mine won't either in that case. That is the point.
I do think that you need to look closer at the graphs, though.

As for the ASP......some may not hear what you feel is an objectable amount of noise. In a HT system, it may well be the ticket. Lots of power in a small, light, cool running box, that is short circuit protected, has soft clipping, and will most likely be very reliable. I don't use them in any 2-channel products, but that may also have to with the user's perception of what a serious power amp should be like. Somehow, the idea of something that only weighs (say) 10 pounds putting out 500 watts seems impossible to some.

As for your generous offer.........I know how my amps stack up to the competition. Enough prospective customers have auditioned mine along with the competition. I suspect most will agree that is a more diverse, and possibly un-biased, cross section of the market.

Again, I don't think that there is enough of a difference between all the competing brands to say one stands out above, or below, the others. I tend to dismiss comments of that nature, I hear them all the time.

The only comment that makes me stand up and take notice concerns speaker cables. I have heard......many times, many sources..........that high capacitance speaker cables suck all of the midrange out of the sound. Some of that can be borne out in the performance data supplied. "Designed to be stable for capacitve loads up to 470 nF." Luckily, no load, even a 'stat, is purely capacitive.
I e-mailed the amplifier designer that said the difference between cd's and lp's were due to a frequency response difference. That's not the difference between analog and digital.
I had the eAR amp for a short time in my system. It was a revelation. It was the best sound I had on my large Apogee systems up to that time. Things just got better and better. BTW, the eAR MKII is a 500A amp.

The difference between the ASP and A versions is well documented. I am not saying the ASP amps are worthless. Henry of H2O has his own version. For a lot of speakers, an ASP amp will do wonders.
Ive used the bryston 4bst, 8bst (400 x 2 8ohms), and now a ayre v-5xe. The 8bst sounded wonderful, but I thought the ayre beat it out(150x 2 8ohm)(300@4). Although the ayre has a serious power supply and can handle any dip a speaker has(well, maybe not a large magnepan:) .Just my .02 cents
Many amps change their frequency response based upon load. This was much more of an issue 30 years ago when it was discussed at length in International Audio Review. At that time many amps were optimized for an 8 ohms resistive load and went to pieces into other loads.

I believe that the extent of mechanical and electrical isolation issues presnt in a system is at least as significant as frequency response deviations and can help account for diverging opinions on Class D amps. I have found that my H20 and eAR amps benefit greatly from a good isolation platform (pneumatic or bearing design)and from electrical isolation from the rest of the system. Isolate a class D amp as you would your front-end. In my system this is accomplished by the use of FIM bearing-based isolation platforms, PowerWraps on the power cords and the isolated outlet banks of the PS Audio Premier. RF picked up by speaker cables can end up at the inputs of amps. Powerwraps seem to have a different effect than other RF treatments (ferrite rings, 'magic dust', carbon) by removing only the crud and leaving the highs alone. I notice that Dave Magnan has quite a list of tweaks for Nuforce amps over at his web site. Many of these address vibration and electrical issues.

Bob