Ultimate Amplifier for the next 20 Years

Hi Ptheo -

True Class A at 60 watts per channel is defintely not cool-running. Are you serious about needing a cool-running amp? If so, may I be so bold as to suggest that the best deal in the world on a product that does't meet your requirements may not be such a good deal after all.

Warnerwh's suggestion of the InnerSound ESL amp is an excellent one. That's a killer little amp, stable into a .3 (that's "point three") ohm load as I recall. I used to sell them, and have one customer who used InnerSounds on Apogees and several who used them on Sound Labs (a different but still difficult load). You might even stumble across a pair of ESL 600's or Kilowatts, either of which are very very powerful amps.

I'm a dealer for Nuforce, but wouldn't be confident in recommending a NuForce to drive Apogees. You can try it and it might work, but if possible arrange to have the option of returning the amps if they don't work.

I'm also a dealer for Jeff Rowland. The 501 is a very powerful cool-running amp, but doesn't like very low impedance loads (below 2 ohms). I mention this in case you were leaning in their direction, as my experience would suggest you look elsewhere.

An amplifier that I'd be confident hooking up to the Apogees is the Parasound JC-1. In low bias setting, the first 10 watts is Class A (25 watts in high bias setting), so while I wouldn't characterize them as "cool-running", they're a heck of a lot cooler running than the Classe'. I have used JC-1's for years on hard-to-drive speakers. My impression is that the larger InnerSound amps are more powerful, but at least compared with the InnerSounds I'm familiar with (mentioned above) the JC-1 is a better sounding amp. But like I said, I wouldn't call it "cool running", except in comparison to something that really runs hot.

Best of luck to you.

Duke

I'm also using a pair of Apogee Studio Grands. They are really a great pair of speakers. The good news is that the Studio Grand ribbons are a pretty benign load. They come in around 6 mostly resistive ohms with little variation across the audible spectrum. They are very different from the early Apogee models such as the Full Range or Scintilla with 1 ohm impedances.

That gives you a wide choice of amps to drive them with. I'm using a pair of Pass Aleph 1.2s which sound great on the panels, but definitely violate your low heat requirement. You might consider some of the Pass X series - they sound pretty good and run pretty cool. Even tubes should work if you're so inclined.

True Class A at 60 watts per channel is defintely not cool-running.

My question is, what is too hot? Having owned a CA-2200, I didn't find this amp to be a "space heater". I left very little clearance above it in my rack and it was warm but not "scorching" hot.

Audiokinesis- Thanks for the info. I understand that the Classe runs class-A according to load. Meaning if not pushed it dosen't get to warm. Besides, a little heat doesn't bother me! Plus as Ghostrider45 states:
'Studio Grand ribbons are a pretty benign load. They come in around 6 mostly resistive ohms with little variation across the audible spectrum. They are very different from the early Apogee models such as the Full Range or Scintilla with 1 ohm impedances'.

Also in my old age now I don't crank it up as much as I use too!! Well, not yet atleast... : ) But when I want blast I want it to have balls!! Meaning: No tubes and no SS less than 200 watts per channel.