A rejoining member from the SF Bay Area

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bayork

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Greetings all! I'm a prior member(who didn't notice that accounts were DELETED if you didn't post an intro message....Duhh).

I've been a fan of ES/Planar speakers since one of my roommates brought a pair of Magnapan Tympani 1-D's to our apt at college to demo back in '79. I wimped out the FIRST purchaseand bought conventional main speakers(Polk RTA12A's). They had to endure a trip across the country/handling by movers. I had vivid images of ML's/Magnapans arriving with a hole punched through them.... :eek:

It was my great pleasure to replace them with a pair of Vista's in 2010, and I'm S-L-O-W-L-Y upgrading the rest of my system to the same level. Items not-soon-to-be replaced are my Velodyne FSR18 sub and Proceed AVP preamp....they'll get consideration for "uplift" after everything else is upgraded.

First on the list is an amp upgrade. That is where I expect to get the greatest leap in overall music quality/fidelity. I'll be replacing a Carver AV806X...it served it's purpose for HT-movies adequately, but just doesn't cut it for critical music listening, nor to drive my ML's.

I welcome suggestions.... currently on my list for consideration (my price point at the moment is $10K or less to replace my current 8 channel amp with 5 channels of much better/cleaner power.):
  • ATI
  • Bryston
  • Classe
  • Krell
  • Mark Levinson
  • McIntosh
  • Odyssey
  • Parasound
  • Pass Labs
  • Plinius
  • Sunfire
  • Theta

Eliminated based on research/feedback (does anyone know why the strikethrough bbcode tag.... ... is not implemented on this forum...?)
  • Emotiva

Some things I'm struggling with, and would welcome input and/or materials to read/catch up....

  • The plus/minuses of going with mono-amps? I'm thinking very seriously about taking that route.
  • I'm leery of Tube amps....how long do tubes typically last/how hard are they to REPLACE? Am I assuming the tubes are more delicate than they really are?
  • The whole Class A power vs. power at 8 ohms difference. How powerful does an amp need to be running class A to be enough? It seem like the ratings for class A are ~10% of the same rating into 8 ohms...
    • (Answered...was confusing class A and Class AB...am now doing remedial reading on the various classes of Amps!)
  • What is the likelihood that I will need to install a new 20 amp (30?) circuit to run some of the behemoth amps I'm considering? If I don't....how will it effect the performance of the amp?
  • HOW reasonable is the strategy of purchasing used high-end amps?
 
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Many audiophiles are constantly upgrading their gear, which means there is a good selection of used equipment on the market. IMHO, buying used is a great way to go... you can save thousands. Your list looks good. Emotiva is not in the same league as the others, though. Their stuff is priced well, though.
 
Welcome back !

as to your bullet points………

mono amps = flexibility, control and power at the expense of $$ and space

given your 5 channel preference I don't think tubes makes a lot of sense. For two channel listening…… nothing to be leery about

'Class A power vs. power @ 8ohm' ----- ???? not sure what you mean, power @ an 8 ohm rating is just that, regardless of the amps design topology. Assuming your trying to compare Class A with that of AB a simple 'Google' will get you all you need to know

I'm a firm believer in dedicated power, so if your gonna install one…..make it two 20 amp circuits !

As Tom said purchasing of used amps makes sense……. when done sensibly !
 
Thanks for all of the feedback. I should mention...I need the 5 channels for my Movie viewing(major cinemaphile), and didn't intend to indicate that all 5 channels needed to be from the same source, OR upgraded at the same time, for that matter. Upgrading 2 channels to power my ML's specifically for critical music listening is actually probably what I'll do, particularly if I end up taking the mono-amp path.

I think the class A question... I'm sure you're correct that I'm confusing myself. I'd already started reading what I could find from Google right after posting(ok...after first browsing Audiogon and drooling over possible upgrades....). Does anyone have a favorite treatiste on Amp design they could recommend?

As for room-treatments....I know they're another item that has immediate impact. I **wish** I had a dedicated room. Unfortunately, all of this is happening in our family room, and the WAF on treatments is about 0.00001% percent. (ain't gonna happen. :( )

Sounds like Emotiva probably won't hang in an A/B against my other "contenders..."?
 

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