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Another amplifier question

JohnnieO

JohnnieO

Active Member
Ok here’s the deal.
I had ordered an amplifier and it didn’t work out due to the builder who I’m not naming having some tough personal and family issues. And I totally understand but….
Now I’m back to the drawing board.
I have been researching amps in my price range ($2000 or less) preferably $1500. I know that doesn’t buy much in this hobby but that’s my budget.
Now on to the question..I am going to use a Pioneer SA-8800 as a preamplifier and it has 85WPC. I am looking at the Galion TS75. It has 75WPC. And a beautiful build..Will a newer amp with fresh components and newer technology but less watts have a significant improvement over my old pioneer (that I love)
Also I do kinda want new not vintage. I started back in the hobby with vintage but want to eventually transition to modern equipment. Every time I power up the old Pioneer I wonder if it will be the last. So with that said any suggestions are welcomed to help with my decision.
So the real question…Is going down in power still an upgrade??
 
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JohnnieO said:
Ok here’s the deal.
I had ordered an amplifier and it didn’t work out due to the builder who I’m not naming having some tough personal and family issues. And I totally understand but….
Now I’m back to the drawing board.
I have been researching amps in my price range ($2000 or less) preferably $1500. I know that doesn’t buy much in this hobby but that’s my budget.
Now on to the question..I am going to use a Pioneer SA-8800 as a preamplifier and it has 85WPC. I am looking at the Galion TS75. It has 75WPC. And a beautiful build..Will a newer amp with fresh components and newer technology but less watts have a significant improvement over my old pioneer (that I love)
Also I do kinda want new not vintage. I started back in the hobby with vintage but want to eventually transition to modern equipment. Every time I power up the old Pioneer I wonder if it will be the last. So with that said any suggestions are welcomed to help with my decision.
So the real question…Is going down in power still an upgrade??
Click to expand...
As always…it depends. What speakers are you running?
 
Roughly speaking it takes 10 times the power (watts) to double the speaker output volume, so the difference between 75 and 85 watts is pretty trivial, assuming the manufacturers are reasonably honest about their amps' output (which historically has not always been the case).
 
Well, I think we all know what amp you were going to get because your previous thread is directly below this one. Not that it really matters. I get it. Things come up like that.

Anyway, not sure if there is any Luxman that fits your budget. Nice stuff. You could take a look at their website.

Best of luck moving forward.
 
The SA-8800 is a nice amplifier. Recap that thing, resolder the stabilizing transistors of the power supply (a must on all old Pioneers), and you have a versatile, strong, good sounding amplifier.

Edit: I forgot "reliable".
 
JohnnieO said:
Ok here’s the deal.
I had ordered an amplifier and it didn’t work out due to the builder who I’m not naming having some tough personal and family issues. And I totally understand but….
Now I’m back to the drawing board.
I have been researching amps in my price range ($2000 or less) preferably $1500. I know that doesn’t buy much in this hobby but that’s my budget.
Now on to the question..I am going to use a Pioneer SA-8800 as a preamplifier and it has 85WPC. I am looking at the Galion TS75. It has 75WPC. And a beautiful build..Will a newer amp with fresh components and newer technology but less watts have a significant improvement over my old pioneer (that I love)
Also I do kinda want new not vintage. I started back in the hobby with vintage but want to eventually transition to modern equipment. Every time I power up the old Pioneer I wonder if it will be the last. So with that said any suggestions are welcomed to help with my decision.
So the real question…Is going down in power still an upgrade??
Click to expand...

The 5 watt power output difference is negligible; it's only a .3dB difference in maximum output/headroom. Not a meaningful difference.

Will it sound better than your Pioneer? Only you can be the judge of that. But keep in mind that between a power amp and preamp, the preamp usually has more effect on the sonic characteristics of your output than does the power amp (assuming the amp is capable of meeting the demands of your speakers). So, assuming the Galion has a nice flat frequency response, I would think that the combination of the Pioneer preamp and Galion power amp will sound a lot like your Pioneer SA-8800 integrated amp.

The only other thing that struck me is that the Galion amplifier doesn't look like it will do much better into lower impedances than the Pioneer. I've not seen the impedance curve for the L5, but it's big brother the L7 presents what I would consider a fairly demanding load.
 
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coonmanx said:
Well, I think we all know what amp you were going to get because your previous thread is directly below this one. Not that it really matters. I get it. Things come up like that.

Anyway, not sure if there is any Luxman that fits your budget. Nice stuff. You could take a look at their website.

Best of luck moving forward.
Click to expand...
I can afford vintage Luxman but a new one at 5k + would not fly with the significant other.
Really wanting new at this point. I would Loooove one of the new Luxman
 
OP have you considered state of the art Class D amplification? At the everyman level there are wonderful options like the Fosi Audio V3 Monoblocks. I have them and they test better than pretty much ANY Class AB amp will ever test, provide 120W/8 ohms and 240/4 ohms and are 2 ohm stable and load independent. The grand cost for these? A little less than $200 delivered to my door. They also fit in the palm of a hand and are cheap to ship.

Want to go truly state of the art, better than ANY Class AB amp ever mass-produced? For $500-900 there are Hypex and Purifi amps built by the likes of Buckeye (American maker), Nord Acoustics and VTV.

The days of big box, blingtastic, heavy, expensive and big $$$ amplification are over. I know some older hobbyists are struggling to make the transition and have a hard time believing that world class amplification could not possibly cost a few hundred dollars and fit in the palm of your hand, but it is absolutely the case.

Food for thought.
 
DavidTT said:
OP have you considered state of the art Class D amplification? At the everyman level there are wonderful options like the Fosi Audio V3 Monoblocks. I have them and they test better than pretty much ANY Class AB amp will ever test, provide 120W/8 ohms and 240/4 ohms and are 2 ohm stable and load independent. The grand cost for these? A little less than $200 delivered to my door. They also fit in the palm of a hand and are cheap to ship.

Want to go truly state of the art, better than ANY Class AB amp ever mass-produced? For $500-900 there are Hypex and Purifi amps built by the likes of Buckeye (American maker), Nord Acoustics and VTV.

The days of big box, blingtastic, heavy, expensive and big $$$ amplification are over. I know some older hobbyists are struggling to make the transition and have a hard time believing that world class amplification could not possibly cost a few hundred dollars and fit in the palm of your hand, but it is absolutely the case.

Food for thought.
Click to expand...
I would count myself as one of those struggling with that class D transition. “Back in my day”…lol the good stuff was big heavy crome and blinky lighty . I guess that’s part of the allure. I do believe class D is the future though and I will probably be on board for a second system to play around with. For the price why not.
 
JohnnieO said:
I would count myself as one of those struggling with that class D transition. “Back in my day”…lol the good stuff was big heavy crome and blinky lighty . I guess that’s part of the allure. I do believe class D is the future though and I will probably be on board for a second system to play around with. For the price why not.
Click to expand...

Sure I get it and it wasn't long ago I felt the same way. It's been liberating as hell going to Class D and laughing at the ads for 'Big Iron' amps I see. But if you still love them go for it. One suggestion I would have is to always remind sellers, many of whom are also old and stuck in the old days, that their pricing for "Big Iron' amps in 2025 tends toward the ridiculous. Have you seen what it costs to ship a big, heavy amp in 2025? What it costs to have one serviced, if you can even find a technician to do the work?

I believe that buyers should leverage the availability of amplification from makers like Fosi and Aiyima to force sellers of old, 'Big Iron' way down in price to account for the factors I note above.

Best of luck in your search.
 
JohnnieO said:
I would count myself as one of those struggling with that class D transition. “Back in my day”…lol the good stuff was big heavy crome and blinky lighty . I guess that’s part of the allure. I do believe class D is the future though and I will probably be on board for a second system to play around with. For the price why not.
Click to expand...
fwiw, I'm more than impressed with the Class D mono amps driving the woofers and tweeters of my 3-way horns. They've been nothing short of astounding.
 
I had a similar problem as you and after overthinking the issue for months I finally settled on a Yamaha P3500S, 350 wpc @.1%. Yes, it's way more power than I actually need. Yamaha is the only pro audio brand amp I would put into a hifi system and it was very reasonably priced on eBay - $350 I think? It works great if you can live with all go and no show.

I love class D and have several. But the really big wattage isn't there with current chipsets - appears the best right now will do about 100 watts into 8 ohms. That is usually plenty of course but it is great to have the capability to play loud and clean without worrying at all about clipping. If they make a class D with 200 stereo wpc the 35 pound Yamaha will be back on eBay.

However, most class Ds - and my Yamaha - are ugly as heck. I would love to have the class D performance/footprint with the beauty of old receivers.
 
Try one of these bad boys, all the amp you'll ever need: 200 WPC at 8 ohms / 400 WPC at 4 ohms, 5 year Warranty

"Wotan starts with two separate 600VA transformers, for a completely dual mono amplifier design. Add 160,000uf filter capacitance. 24 150W Toshiba output devices..."


www.schiit.com

Schiit Audio

Schiit Audio designs and builds headphone amps, DACs, preamps and power amps in California.
www.schiit.com www.schiit.com
 
krautmaster said:
Try one of these bad boys, all the amp you'll ever need: 200 WPC at 8 ohms / 400 WPC at 4 ohms, 5 year Warranty

"Wotan starts with two separate 600VA transformers, for a completely dual mono amplifier design. Add 160,000uf filter capacitance. 24 150W Toshiba output devices..."


www.schiit.com

Schiit Audio

Schiit Audio designs and builds headphone amps, DACs, preamps and power amps in California.
www.schiit.com www.schiit.com
Click to expand...
That does look very well made.
 
JohnnieO said:
That does look very well made.
Click to expand...
I have their Tyr mono blocks, they never run out of power: I used them with my old Infinity RS4b speakers that drop down to 1.6 ohms at 35HZ and 1.7 ohms at 1.8 Khz and the Tyr's laughed at them when they shut down my Onkyo M-508 easily. The old RS4b also gave my Parasound NC 2250 amp a struggle (275 WPC) when I played them loud.
 
Ok, I think I get it now (maybe). You're currently using the Pioneer as an integrated amp and you plan to use it in future as a preamp in combination with a different power amp, right?
If so, the power difference between what you have now and what you'll have with the new power amp is negligible.
However, the total power output is only part of the story. You may find the new power amp is a huge leap forward. Or you may not. :dunno:
 
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