I got to thinking just now of all the power-amps that have passed through my hands over the years and marks out of 20 I would give 'em based on sound quality/enjoyability, coupled with that elusive 'float your boat' factor. Here's how they scored in ascending order:
Naim Audio Nap110.................................................8
Audio Innovations 300 valve integrated.....................9
Pioneer A400...........................................................9
Naim Audio NAP140...............................................10
ARC Classic 60 valve..............................................10
Audiolab 8000s integrated...................................... 10
ARC D200 modified................................................11
Albarry M408II monos........................................... 11
EAR 861 valve.......................................................12
Krell KAV300i integrated.........................................12
Bartolomeo 140....................................................12
Audion SilverNight mono valve................................12
Quad 405-2..........................................................13
Quad 606-2..........................................................14
Electrocompaniet AW220...................................... 14
Pioneer SX-636 receiver........................................ 15
Pioneer SA-9100 integrated....................................17
The SA-9100 has been marked down 1 point for that pesky speaker protection cutting-in! But you see it is strikingly so much better than most of the other fare that I have bought a second unit. When I bought the first unit, this year, I checked dc-offset at 43.9/3.4, pretty good. I applied Deoxit to all switches and internal wire-wraps and renewed all fuses(3), with dco readings now 9.4/0.3 . I have refrained from soldering the wire-wraps thinking Pioneer did not do it for good reason! So I am going Pioneer crazy right now and am shortly to take-in 2 x CT-F9191's. I cannot believe, with a little tlc, how good this stuff is after all these years and by some margin. :thmbsp: :thmbsp:
Naim Audio Nap110.................................................8
Audio Innovations 300 valve integrated.....................9
Pioneer A400...........................................................9
Naim Audio NAP140...............................................10
ARC Classic 60 valve..............................................10
Audiolab 8000s integrated...................................... 10
ARC D200 modified................................................11
Albarry M408II monos........................................... 11
EAR 861 valve.......................................................12
Krell KAV300i integrated.........................................12
Bartolomeo 140....................................................12
Audion SilverNight mono valve................................12
Quad 405-2..........................................................13
Quad 606-2..........................................................14
Electrocompaniet AW220...................................... 14
Pioneer SX-636 receiver........................................ 15
Pioneer SA-9100 integrated....................................17
The SA-9100 has been marked down 1 point for that pesky speaker protection cutting-in! But you see it is strikingly so much better than most of the other fare that I have bought a second unit. When I bought the first unit, this year, I checked dc-offset at 43.9/3.4, pretty good. I applied Deoxit to all switches and internal wire-wraps and renewed all fuses(3), with dco readings now 9.4/0.3 . I have refrained from soldering the wire-wraps thinking Pioneer did not do it for good reason! So I am going Pioneer crazy right now and am shortly to take-in 2 x CT-F9191's. I cannot believe, with a little tlc, how good this stuff is after all these years and by some margin. :thmbsp: :thmbsp:
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