If you were going to buy a modern power amp....

uofmtiger mentioned the audiosource amp at $260-- so far the only poster to mention the tripath amps. over the last few years, i've used phase linear 400, an adcom gfa-555, marantz 250, marantz 2325, and others i can't think of right now, but the audiosource provides completely neutral, clear, and unbiased amplification to whatever speakers and source you hang on it. i think its biggest problem is it doesn't cost enough to be taken seriously in threads like this. how could you go wrong for $260? i guess finding an audition would be a challenge.

and then there's the trends audio ta-110. a little over $100, an integrated amp which, when put on high eff speakers is absolutely phenomenal in soundstage, dynamics, detail, audiophile stuff....look for the lengthy article on 6 moons
 
Why, so they can double as space heaters? Very few solid-state amps operate in pure class A. They're expensive to build because they need huge heatsinks and they throw off a ton of heat which means an expensive power bill every month. There's nothing wrong with class AB, much cheaper to build, don't eat up power like mad.

I can't see that your power amp is going to raise your electricity bill by very much in most cases.

Class A is arguably superior for a home stereo system, although I tend to suspect that there isn't an audible difference between a good class A amp and a good class AB one.

You're right that even most amps that claim to be "class A" aren't at all power levels. However, crossover distortion may be more objectionable at the lowest power levels anyway, so it may be a good idea to run in class A at those levels.

I might not buy an amp specifically because it's class A, but I don't think I'd rule it out because it's class A either, providing it met my power (output) and cost requirements.
 
They will be out of stock until January according to the info in their forum. :tears:
I picked mine up when it was on sale for $599.00.

Their engineering office is around the corner from my house & according to them, they are waiting for the new/next generation of units to arrive. I run a couple of their little mono-blocks and was thinking of getting one of the larger 7 channel amps for the theater.
 
Their engineering office is around the corner from my house & according to them, they are waiting for the new/next generation of units to arrive. I run a couple of their little mono-blocks and was thinking of getting one of the larger 7 channel amps for the theater.

Sounds great. I read a lot of good things about their multi-channel amps as well.

Can't wait to see what the next gen. 2 channel amp is. I'm still holding out on their 2 channel preamp.

Paul
 
Modern power amps I've been interested in are the PS Audio brand, PSE, B&K, and Bryston. 10-15 year old amps for the most part.

I moved from vintage 70's amps to mid-80's amps and was quite pleased. another 7-10 years worth of refinement would probably be a slightly noticeable increase for me.
 
I can't see that your power amp is going to raise your electricity bill by very much in most cases.

Class A is arguably superior for a home stereo system, although I tend to suspect that there isn't an audible difference between a good class A amp and a good class AB one.
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Well, if it's a powerful Class A amp it'll be sitting there sucking up all that power regardless of if there's any signal being fed to it. Just look at those big Krell's that are Class A and how much heat they kick off just sitting there. My Parasounds are bad enough and just idling they measure about 160 degrees on the heatsinks. In the winter they make nice little heaters. A pure Class A amp would suck up a lot more power and kick off a lot more heat than those.
 
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