Sanders ESL Power Amp & Mono blocks

I have been using the Sanders ESL amp for several months and I just love it! It sounds very neutral and has great control over my Dali Helicon 400 speakers. I initially used it with a Rowland Synergy IIi, which is a very nice combination. I now use the Dodd Audio battery powered preamp, which sound wonderful with the amp! The only "issue" I am experiencing is the higher gain/voltage from the preamp. I barely turn the volume control past 8 on CDs or 9 on LPs. Roger also makes some very inexpensive and very good sounding ICs. He is a pleasure to deal with, as he worked with me to figure why there was so much noise when using my JRDG balanced preamp into the balanced inputs of the ESL. I did not know this, but Roger told me that there is no universal standard for balanced equipment and he offered to rewire the ESL to make it compatible with my Rowland preamp. I decided to stick with the Dodd after an audition and avoid the hassle of sending the amp back to be rewired. The neat thing about the Sanders amp is that it is designed to be left on all of the time, so it is ready to go. It consumes only 6 watts at idle, plus it stays cool to the touch. Roger's White Papers on amps and cables make for very informative and interesting reading.

I own the Sanders ESL amp and it's spectacular. I use it to drive my martin logan summits and the sheer volume of clean, crystal clear sound this amp is capable of producing is simply staggering. The power and control this amp exhibits are something that must be experienced to be believed.

I've even paired it with my Whatmough 505s in my second system, and even though it's designed with electrostats in mind, it made those babies sing like I was sitting front and center at a concert hall. Transparent, rich, and lifelike. The instruments came to life with a warmth and timbre that absolutely blew my mind.

It has virtually limitless power, is stable down to 1 ohm, and Roger, the owner/slash designer is a totally cool guy who will PERSONALLY help you with any inquiries you may have. The level of personal attention is amazing.

In short, I'd buy one again in a heartbeat, and I recommend them to ANYONE running electrostats or any other difficult-to-drive loads.

If you find one out there for a good price, GRAB IT!

04-26-10: Punishen1
[...] In short, I'd buy one again in a heartbeat, and I recommend them to ANYONE running electrostats or any other difficult-to-drive loads.

I agree. In my quest to find the ultimate ESL i've powered a number of them with the Sanders ESL amp. It has worked flawlessly everytime. Many solid-state amps pop fuses (or much worse) with ESL loads. This has not been my experience to date with the Sander's product.

Have you made any comparisons with the newer Sanders Magtech Mono Amps? And how do they sound compared with Gryphon, Plinius SA Reference, Bedini (803, etc)?

I intend to buy the Magtech Monos for my Shahinian Diapason speakers, Klyne 7 and Shindo Aurieges preamps, and they should outperform my two Bedini BA-803 in biamping. Will they do it, what do you think?

Hi Breezer,

I am sure Magtech are fine amp, however, I owned Diapason speakers for a number of years and the best results I obtained with Spectron Musician III. I know a few more Daiaposon owners who use Spectron amp and who are pretty happy with the combo. One of them wanted to send this amp to Dick Shahinian for trial but I don;t know if he did.