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SAE VS Soundcraftsmen

Sparkie

Sparkie

Active Member
I find myself wanting to get a new power amp to replace the QED power amp that i just fried. I had these two interesting pieces pop up near me and i sure could use a little advice from the experts. The two cost about the same.

!. Soundcraftsmen pa5001

2. SAE Mark IV-DM power amp
SAE mark IXB pre amp

The Soundcraftsmen obviously has a bunch more power while the SAE does come with a pre-amp. is there any other differences to help influence the making of an informed decision?
 
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Soundcraftsmen amps are much more robust and reliable and sound great. They are very difficult to blow up. It can be done but when it happens usually only one output transistor blows.
 
Probly won't help, but I've been running a Soundcraftsmen A2502 in my system for 15+ years, the only component that HASN'T been changed out at least once.
 
SAE amps are indeed not lightweights, but I have to agree with others that the SoundCraftsmen amps are virtually bullet-proof.
 
There are two ways of going about this, at the moment the stage is set for basically a popularity contest. Fortunately you have settled on two equally old and obscure well regarded power amps. With some added knowledge of your requirements and the equipment condition, more informed opionions could also be given. I like Soundcraftsmen, but maybe you need a better pre amp and have limited funds?
 
I've owned and run Soundcraftsmen products for over 40-years. I currently own two of their amps and over a half-dozen pre-amps and EQs. I have a complete bi-amped SAE system. All the SAE components have failed and I haven't bothered to find someone to fix them.

I know everyone prefers the big black Soundcraftsmen with the huge meters. My favorites are the Pro-Power-Four with the LED signal indicators.
 
After much research i did end up getting the Soundcraftsmen PA5001. i was worried that i would not have enough speaker for it but the Watkins 1-ABs kept up just fine. I also have been messing with my preamps trying to find some synergy. so far i have used my sansui au-517 in preamp mode and my tiny little mitsubishi P01 preamp. The Mitsubishi wins out so far. While obsessing about preamps i did find this soundcraftsmen pe2217r on e-pay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sound-Craft...375656?hash=item3d2b0e8028:g:dooAAOSwKOJYJnZ~ any thoughts?
 
Sparkie said:
While obsessing about preamps i did find this soundcraftsmen pe2217r on e-pay. any thoughts?
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I've owned one since new (early brass finish), as well as a couple of DX4200. They work well, behave like a good pre-amp should in not adding any color, the phone section seems to be quite good, but the older-style slide pots get kind of cranky and they all seem to have a problem with the balance control and uneven channel output. I sent my first one back for that, it was returned with a really tight (new?) balance pot but no difference in unbalanced output measured by a meter. I currently use the Pro-Control-Four and the Pro-EQ 44 and much prefer it, though I still have all the Soundcraftsmen stuff I ever owned.
 
I have the most mint recap SAE collection, since Jim doesn't collect anymore. SAE recap are one of the best, and yes made perfect and no light weigh, The 1M is as good as 7T, 3300, and so on. I have Marantz. And amps SAE made the best, Mark 3, 2500, 2600, A501, A1001. With all that said I am building a Soundcraftsmen system.
 
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