Best power amp below US $ 20.000,00 ??

Twilo,

Hey I just happen to own both amps that you just mentioned. I am going to keep the lamm 2.2. While the rowland is a tube-like solid state amp, the lamm 2.2 is a hybrid that really mates the solid state and tube gear together seamlessly.

They are both excellent but with my emmlabs dac and transport and wilson speakers, the lamm is better.

I think that the rowland is one of the best all solid state amps ... just depends on the other equipment you got and how it all works together..

The weird thing is that while many people agree about the rowland in general and the 302 in particular, I am having a devil of a time selling it? Most of the time, I just get tire kickers who end up buying krell stuff. Well their loss.

Rushton -> Atma MA-3 is around 28k new, which is a over my budget. I could probably strech it a little bit more if only Atmas weren't so ugly ! I think my wife would divorce me If I got those home. j/k. Plus, them must generate an awful lot of heat, which maz be an issue in the summer months (I have A/C in my room, but I tend to switch it off when listening).

Elberoth2,

If you have axcess to the Musical Fidelity KW750, I feel that it would be worth an audition in your system.

Michael

Hi Adam, lots of advices?
OK. Tubes:ARC REF210, VTL S-400
Solid state: Ayre V1xe, CJ Premier350, Pass X350.5 or
Plinius SA Reference
Keep in mind that CJ inverts phase...
Happy hunting!

Artizen65 -> I have heard the all kW setup (CDT/DAC/pre/power amp) during the last HiFi Show and it was one of the worst sounds of the show. I have never/ever heard SF Guarnieris that were hooked up sounding so plain bad. The sound was thin, bright and hard.
Besides, to me, owning an expensive MF amp is a little bit like having an expensive Seiko watch - deosn't really make sense.

In the meantime, I have had a chance to evaluate the Plinius SA102 this past weekend. SA102 sounds on the warm side, it definately is on the other end of the scale than the Digital Switching Amp brigade. I like that tonal balance though, it surely mates well with Avalons (and my personal taste), but to me the amp was just not transparent enough, I could not see deep enough into the recording. It also exhibited some grayness that IMO is typical to almost all ss amps, although to be fair I have to say that it was better than more expensive Nagra PMA in this regard, not to mention the cheaper BelCanto.

Anyway - I like it enough to be eagier to try the more expensive Plinius models. Unfortunately, I also got informed today, that my distributor doesn't have the SA Reference on hand, so I will be not able to audition it. If anyone have had any expirience with that amp, in context of SA102 and other HQ amps, pls share.

Today I got a local DSA amp based on ICEpower 250ASP module with build in SMPS power supply (the same that is used in Rowland 201, I belive) - I'm curious how it will compare to BelCanto.