Sigh... which amp do I need... I'm sorry I'm asking this!

I have heard these come up before. They do seem great on the the surface, very good value, however, I don't see any spec for it's performance into 4 or 2 ohm, these are specs that tell you a lot about the amp, and it's sound as the ohm load decreases as it does with ml. I can tell you, I have tried lots that didn't fair well surprisingly. The doubling down of wattage is sign of a stiff power supply etc, and without these specs, I would proceed with caution.

The Odyssey Stratos is a good amp and should be high on your list. Another combination to consider is the Parasound Halo A23 amplifier and the "matching" P5 pre-amp. The advantage for the Parasound combo are:

1. Upgrade path: you can add another Halo A23 amp in the future for bi-amping (vertical or horizontal). Or you can just turn the A23 into monoblocs at the flip of a swicth.
2. The P5 pre-amp has built-in high-quality BurrBrown DAC and it also has crossover support for bi-amping at the outputs.

Link to Parasound Halo P5 Preamp
Link to Parasound Halo A23 Amplifier


Good Luck with your system

I second the Parasound recommendation... Good gear and relatively inexpensive.

Gordon Gray said:

Be advised that they take quite a while to break in.

Maybe two to three months.

GG

Click to expand...

Seriously, I think more and more that the phenomenon of break-in for electronics is us getting use to the sound of a new component. Mechanicals e.g. speakers and cartridges, sure, because they have physical aspects that change over time but two to three months for electronics seems excessive to me.

DasBierChef said:

Is that a pretty unanimous opinion for driving Logans?

Click to expand...

You'll never get a unanimous opinion in this hobby other than it can get quite expensive

The A23 should be sufficient, right? No need to upgrade to the A21?

DasBierChef said:

The A23 should be sufficient, right? No need to upgrade to the A21?

Click to expand...

Herein lies the advantage of this Parasound combo. You have many options should you want to upgrade:

1. Get another A23 to be used as 2 monoblocs or bi-amping.
2. Get a tube amp to drive the panels and let the A23 drive the bass.
3. Upgrade by replacing the A23 with A21.

Whichever configurations you have in mind, the P5 will support all with its built-in crossover. Way Cool! :rocker:

risabet said:

Seriously, I think more and more that the phenomenon of break-in for electronics is us getting use to the sound of a new component. Mechanicals e.g. speakers and cartridges, sure, because they have physical aspects that change over time but two to three months for electronics seems excessive to me.

Click to expand...

Hi risabet,

Having just gone through breaking in my new preamp, I will respectfully disagree.

The CJ components certainly need some time before they start sounding musical.

Out of the box, my ET5 sounded like crap and continued in that vein for another 300 hours or so.

Don't know that the 150 uses teflon capacitors but it's accepted that this type of capacitor need a minimum of 400 hours to break in.

And it continues to improve after that.

Could also be the power supply.

GG

DasBierChef said:

The A23 should be sufficient, right? No need to upgrade to the A21?

Click to expand...

If you are looking to buy something cheap and on recommendations, why don'y you just buy the best used deal at a value you can resale it at? That way as you find out more about different amps and decide on your preference in the future, you will be able to exit this purchase with barely any loss

That's what I plan to do, unless I can get a great value through Kmart. I still want to have a specific amp or two in mind to keep an eye out for though.

Hello fellow Big Blue employee

You can typically find the Parasound HCA-3500 on ebay for $1200-$1500. Reviews for it are pretty solid across the board.

Hiya,

It took me a few months, but I came up with a MAC C-28 and MC2505 on eBay for about 1500. FWIW they sound great with my Aerius speakers.

Jake said:

Hiya,

It took me a few months, but I came up with a MAC C-28 and MC2505 on eBay for about 1500. FWIW they sound great with my Aerius speakers.

Click to expand...

I've basically decided on the Parasound A23, but the MC2500/2505 is interesting. The idea of seeing those blue gauges through my Salamander (which is my next investment) is pretty appealing.