Good Amplifiers in the sub $1,000 range

I am at a point that a lot of you might have been at earlier in your lives. I have about $1,000 I want to dedicate to a 2 channel amplifier. I see both the McCormack DNA-125 and Aragon 2002 on audiogon for around my budget, but I wanted to get the club's say before I pulled the trigger. Any of your personal experiences or recommendations would be great.

I would consider a used sunfire amp....I see some in your price range...Don't know what speakers you have - but you could go the stereo route - or possibly bi-amp with a 5 channel version as well.... just a thought.... For the price range you are looking at - I think this will blow your socks off....

Amps

You could consider a used Sunfire Cinema Grand or a Bryston 4B.The 5-channel Sunfire would be a good choice if in the future you consider home theater.:rocker::bowdown:

tsmooth said:

I am at a point that a lot of you might have been at earlier in your lives. I have about $1,000 I want to dedicate to a 2 channel amplifier. I see both the McCormack DNA-125 and Aragon 2002 on audiogon for around my budget, but I wanted to get the club's say before I pulled the trigger. Any of your personal experiences or recommendations would be great.

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I don't know which M-L's you own; I have a pair of Sequels that I bought new in 1985. I use an Audio Research Classic 60 which drives them fine at any sane level. A CL-60 can be had for about $1K if you are patient.

I have owned other amps including a Mark Levinson No. 23.5 which was in my system when I bought the ARC CL-60. I expected the 200 WPC Levinson to easily best the 60 WPC Classic 60 at least in the bass. It was actually very close. I later changed the CL-60 power tubes to Valve Art KT88s and drivers to TungSol 6CG7s; the improvement in the bass brought the CL-60 so close to the 23.5 that it was hardly worth quibbling over. The Levinson was only better in the subterranean frequencies that are found on very few recordings.

(I later added a Mirage dipolar powered subwoofer that I crossed over at 40 Hz and fairly steep slope with a Dalquist active crossover. I set the volume on the sub to a barely audible level; the fill is seemless. This resulted in an altogether glorious sound at all frequencies.)

The biggest difference between the CL-60 and the 23.5 was in the midrange and the sound staging where the ARC easily bested the Levinson. This is where the CL-60 works its magic. This is why you own Martin Logans isn't it?

I can recommend an Audio Research CL-60 without equivocation if you own anything except the large panel M-Ls. You won't be disappointed. :music:

Link to a Classic 60 review:
http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/586/

Current setup:

Center: ML Motif
Fronts: ML Sources (non-biwireable)
Sub: Dynamo
Rears: Monitor Audio B2

I could very easily see myself moving to the Vistas within 6 months.

Thanks for all the quick responses. I will look into the Sunfire, but please keep the recommendations coming!

Currently, I am about 50/50 HT and 2 channel. In the future, when I go back to school, I could see it moving towards 80% 2 channel. Right now I am connected to a Denon 2807 receiver to power the center and rears, and using a Rotel RB-1080 to power my mains. So a 5 channel amp might not be a bad idea either?

Monarchy Audio is a good. SE100 Delux.

Emotiva just announced their new XPA amplifiers and the XPA-2 is a beast for it's price.

www.emotiva.com
* Number of channels: 2
* Amplifier Class: Short signal path A/B
* Output design: Triple Darlington with Toshiba output stages
* Differential Drive: Dual Differential input
* Types of inputs: Both Balanced (XLR) and Un-balanced (RCA)
* Type of outputs: Audiophile quality 5 way binding post
* Display type: Digital VU meters
* Metering: 14) Blue LEDS and 1) red per channel
* Power output: 250 watts RMS/ channel into 8 ohms, 500 watts RMS/ channel into 4 ohms and 1000 watts RMS bridged.
* THD+N at rated power output: 0.007%
* S/N ratio: >100db
* Frequency response: 10 to 120Khz (-3db) and 20 to 20 (with less than .15db deviation)
* Gain structure: 32db
* Transformer size: 1600va mounted in a super structure
* Secondary capacitance: 120,000uF
* Weight: Approximately 75 pounds
* Retail price: $799.00

the suggestion for the arc classic 60 is a great one for a tube amp..that is one sweet amp.

Here are some suggestions for solid state :

Muse mono blocks- great sounding gear very reliable.
Audio research d200 - very respectable
Bat VK-200 - very nice solid state amp

tsmooth said:

I am at a point that a lot of you might have been at earlier in your lives. I have about $1,000 I want to dedicate to a 2 channel amplifier. I see both the McCormack DNA-125 and Aragon 2002 on audiogon for around my budget, but I wanted to get the club's say before I pulled the trigger. Any of your personal experiences or recommendations would be great.

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I had a Meridian 557 for a couple years and thought it was good...until I got the Monarchy SE-160 MOSFET-Tube hybrid mono-blocks. They added $5k to the sound of my ML's!
I might be selling these in the near future, but they'll be a little more than $1000, probably $1350. If interested, PM me.

Thanks to all, I actually went the a Sunfire Cinema Grand from our fellow member sleepsurf. As funds permit, I will probably move to Vistas so I can use this to biamp and also power the Motif. The sound I was getting from my center channel was not up to my standards, so I decided to go with an amp that was pretty solid for both worlds. Now I have to sit back, wait, and hope it gets to me safe and sound.

I humbly suggest looking into a used Odyssey Stratos. Several on audiogon right now.

Great bang for the buck. Build like tanks. 20 year warranty. Excellent upgrade path and service.

Plenty to read over on audiocircle.com / odyssey forum.

I love mine. No regrets. :rocker:

Bob

tsmooth said:

Thanks to all, I actually went the a Sunfire Cinema Grand from our fellow member sleepsurf. As funds permit, I will probably move to Vistas so I can use this to biamp and also power the Motif. The sound I was getting from my center channel was not up to my standards, so I decided to go with an amp that was pretty solid for both worlds. Now I have to sit back, wait, and hope it gets to me safe and sound.

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what are you replacing? I don't think you can go wrong with this amp....you gonna like it!!

Congrats tsmooth, and thanks for starting this informative thread. I myself have become very curious about the XPA-2. The pricing would allow me to go separates for sure.

I have a Rotel RB-1080 (which I loved and is posted on the classified) that was purchased when I planned on owning a 2 channel system. Then the Motif came along, and naturally had to pick up some surrounds. Now I really want to get the most out of my Motif, but I wanted something that is still good for 2 channel listing. I will probably upgrade the fronts in the next few months as-well, therefore the Sunfire could also be used to bi-amp the new arrival.

I think some of the Carver amps are under the radar and give great bang for your buck. The Silver 7t or 9t (same amp w/lighted meters) amps come in around $1K and have no problem driving any ML, including my CLS.



Then one of my favorites is the A-760x. It can handle it all; high power, high current, high impedance. I think you can pick one up for around $500 - $600.

Frequency Repsonse: 20-20kHz +0,-0.2dB
Power Output: FTC 20hz-20khz
8 ohm 380 watts per channel
4 ohm 600 watts per channel
2 ohm 1150 watts per channel
Bridged mono power output: 1200 watts into 8 ohms
THD: less than 0.08%
Dynamic Headroom: >1.0dB @ 8ohms both channels driven
Gain: 29.0 dB (+/- 0.5dB)
Input Impedance 47 kohms
Damping Factor: >150 typical (20hz-20 khz)

Give the Bel Canto 200.2 a whirl. I did a head-to-head against McCormack and Monarchy and it spanked them both in terms of detail and imaging.