Best Digital Amp for Legacy Focus 20/20?

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

Switched to a 9bsst amp on my legacy focus 20/20's. Not as good as the V-5xe in sound but still darn close, nice bass! Still the 150 watts makes the focus 20/20's play louder than you can stand.

I had a 4B something-or-other that I replaced with a Mac MC-352, then a Krell FPB-300C, and now Theta Enterprise Monos. Each step was a noticeable improvement. One footnote though, when I had the Krell, I upgraded from the 20/20s to the Whispers. The 20/20s very likely prefer a different amp than the Whispers.

I say this because I tried my Theta Dreadnaught on the 20/20s and was impressed with the clarity and detail, but not at all with the bottom end. When I put the Dreadnaught on the Whispers, it had no problem at all, especialy the bottom end. This is why I eventually went with the Enterprises.

Feed these speakers well and they'll reward you in spades.

Just my experience...