Recommendations for good Class A SS Amp 100-200W

Krell's are known for their bass slam as they regulate the high voltage to the output transistors. This is mostly unheard of and very expensive to do. This makes the amp have a very low source impedance hence the bass slam. I had always felt that the older Krell's sacrificed top end performance. I would not purchase a Krell of that vintage as they wind up having capacitor issues because of the heat generated by the amp. They are also very expensive to run and dissipate a tremendous amount of heat, i.e wasted energy. If you do feel the necessity to own a Class A amp, try listening to a Pass Labs Amp. High current delivery is most important when driving a dynamic speaker and that is not necessarily a function of Class A or class B amplifiers.

Thanks for all the suggestions and insight.

perhaps I should provide a bit more context of my set up and room situation.

My set up is::

PS PWD Dac =>Joles Electra LA-150MKII => Ampzilla 2000MKII => Celestion SL600; McCormick DNA 500 => Celestion 6000 subs

The Celestion sl6000 system is a monitor+di-pole sub combo, where the monitor is a SL600 and the 6000 subs; So I pretty much have to bi-amp.

My set up is in a dedicated music room ~ 22x26x8 with a fair amount of sound treatment. I have 2'x6' bass traps in 3 corners of the room and sound panels in the other four walls.

I did move the bass traps out of the corners of the room to test things out. There was more bass, but not the slam level that I'm still seeking. To be clear, it isn't deep bass I'm missing it is that slam factor as mentioned above.

I recognize the Krells are know for slam and dynamics but the Ampzilla and McCormick had been know for being high current amps too. This is why I'm some what puzzle especially because my friends amps were just 100w & 200w krell's and the Ampzilla is 300W and the McCormic is 500w into 8 ohms.

I had ran the system using my PS PWD direct into my amps just to make sure the Joules Electra was not the factor as the Joules is a tube pre. There wasn't any noticeable loss of bass when I had the joules in the path, so it stay.

Both the McCormick and Ampzilla had served me well with many hard to drive speakers including ribbons and electrostats. I'm some what stun that a cone speaker would be tame by these beastly amps.

Do Krell's really have such dominance in the slam department that even well design amps such as mine are not in the same league?!

Would love to hear from someone who has heard my amps and Krell's to tell me if I'm just going down the garden path here.

Geraldedison,

Go to hificritic.com Read the review from 1994 or so some Martin Colloms on the SL6000 setup...he uses one of the big Krells...possibly even the 250.

The Krells really are a tremendous bass muscle amp. I am sorry i cannot say that i've heard yours which no doubt are good...its just that the SL6000 does seem to be difficult to drive well and to 'full capacity'.

You might also find that room setup makes a difference. ARe you looking for more presence of bass...or more taut, gut-punch? the latter is often helped by the amp having limitless reserves.

thanks for the tip on the review.

I am looking for that taut, gut-punch as you described. That very much what I heard/felt in my friends basement with his SL6000 and the Krell combo.

His basement was bigger than my listening room and even in moderate volume, he had room locking effect with some of the heavy bass material we were sampling.

I couldn't achieve that same room locking effect with the same recording in my room thus far.

Crazy to think I may have to lug one of those monster Krell's into my 2nd floor listening room...probably will break my back doing so :)

Yes...its a heavy beast...but if it works...you'll get some very theraputic bass waves!!!