PS Audio GCA 100 - What is there to know?

[Jg_meyer]

Hi Everyone,

Until recently I had a PS Audio HCA 2 - while a little noisy at idle I loved what it did for the music. That is until the right channel kept on going out and needed to be fixed. After three attempts my local technician gave up and it was sold for parts. I swoped in a B&K ST 202 - which impressed me for its sound stage, yet I am missing the glorious detail I had before. I just saw a PS Audio GCA 100 come up for same and pulled the trigger. I understand that this one is closer to the Stellar S & M amps currently in production and improves upon the HCA 2, especially in terms of noise floor. I can hardly find any information about the PS Audio GCA 100 amp outside of one review. Even the manual does not even provide the specs. Does anyone have experience with this amp? Is there anything to watch out for, e.g. casing vibration or the like? Does anyone have the specs for this amp such as input impedance, head room or similar. Any thoughts on the power it actually provides; it is rated for 100 watts at 8 ohms and 200 watts at 4 ohms.

Thank you for your consideration!

 

[Jg_meyer]

Sadly, I received no replies. For this reason I am sharing some pictures, now that the amp arrived. I personally like the looks of it with the blue Knight Rider like glow. A lot of effort went into the case work. Looking at the top cover with the heavy metal plate welded to it or the solid aluminum front, it is clear that vibrations are to be tamed. The inside is a dual mono design. It forgoes the traditional toroidal transformer and is focussed on the two ice modules. Coming from a PS Audio HCA II, I appreciate the lower noise floor and better damped chassis. Sound is very similar to HCAII. I read somewhere that the CGA series needs to re-burn in if not used for a while. If that is true I hope this open blossoms a bit more still. I is already great sounding now, but why not hope for more?

 

[ErW]

So what are the result? I have a PS Audio Sprout 100 and at continually amazed at how good it sounds...