Which "Dual Mono" Power Amp

eThink

eThink

Well-Known Member
I am looking for a "twin power" or "dual mono" power amp to use with my "vintage" harman/kardon hk-825 preamp and TU-915 tuner. My speakers will be ADS L-810s (6 Ohms nominal). I will be using a Dual CS-627Q turntable (with the ULM arm and Cartridge). I will listen to classical, jazz, new age and popular standards.
I currently have a Marantz SM-80 power amp from 1992 that uses a "twin power" design and is rated at 100 watts @ 8 ohms.
It is very nice, but I have been selling my Marantz units that go with this power amp and the buyer really wants to buy the power amp.

What other "twin power" design amps are recommended?

I am aware and considering:
- Citation 19
- Citation 16
- Citation 22
- (2) hk 775 mono amps

Are there others that I should look for?

I have not considred the hk870 power amp because it does not use the "twin power" design.

I have owned h/k "twin power" receivers and amps since 1973 and have always been satisfied.

TIA!

:confused:
 
Register to hide this ad
The Marantz "Model 16" amplifier has the dual mono design. It's 80 watts per channel @ 8 ohms.

Not too hard to find. Reliable amp
 
I own a harmon-kardon citation 16. Let me first state that I am a tube fan, and don't use solid state for my main speakers. That being said, I can state that the citation 16 can really ROCK. It has great bass (I'm using mine to power a subwoofer). I've used this amp as a PA amp before, and it worked well. The mids are quite clean and natural sounding. The only place I heard anything funky was the highs. There was noticable grain in the treble. I did compairisons with a GAS Grandson and a Marantz 2270 (ss), as well as a Heathkit AA-100 and harmon-kardon A-260 "Choral" (tube). All the other amps had a cleaner treble. Only the GAS had anywhere near as impressive bass. Overall, with the ss amps,IMHO, the Marantz and GAS were better overall sounding. The h-k could ROCK louder, though.
Hope this helps.
Dave:)
 
Hi Dave,
I am looking for a Harman Kardon Chorale A-260. If you know of anyone selling one, let me know.
Thanks
Hansen6l6gc
My music gear:
Harman Kardon Stereo Festival II TA260, Sansui 1000A, Sansui 500A, Sherwood S7000, Sherwood s8000 II, Marantz quad receiver 4300, Marantz 23125
 
hurdy_gurdyman said:
I own a harmon-kardon citation 16. Let me first state that I am a tube fan, and don't use solid state for my main speakers. That being said, I can state that the citation 16 can really ROCK. It has great bass (I'm using mine to power a subwoofer). I've used this amp as a PA amp before, and it worked well. The mids are quite clean and natural sounding. The only place I heard anything funky was the highs. There was noticable grain in the treble. I did compairisons with a GAS Grandson and a Marantz 2270 (ss), as well as a Heathkit AA-100 and harmon-kardon A-260 "Choral" (tube). All the other amps had a cleaner treble. Only the GAS had anywhere near as impressive bass. Overall, with the ss amps,IMHO, the Marantz and GAS were better overall sounding. The h-k could ROCK louder, though.
Hope this helps.
Dave:)
Click to expand...

The problem with most tube designs, poor bass.
 
eThink said:
I am looking for a "twin power" or "dual mono" power amp to use with my "vintage" harman/kardon hk-825 preamp and TU-915 tuner. My speakers will be ADS L-810s (6 Ohms nominal). I will be using a Dual CS-627Q turntable (with the ULM arm and Cartridge). I will listen to classical, jazz, new age and popular standards.
I currently have a Marantz SM-80 power amp from 1992 that uses a "twin power" design and is rated at 100 watts @ 8 ohms.
It is very nice, but I have been selling my Marantz units that go with this power amp and the buyer really wants to buy the power amp.

What other "twin power" design amps are recommended?

I am aware and considering:
- Citation 19
- Citation 16
- Citation 22
- (2) hk 775 mono amps

Are there others that I should look for?

I have not considred the hk870 power amp because it does not use the "twin power" design.

I have owned h/k "twin power" receivers and amps since 1973 and have always been satisfied.

TIA!

:confused:
Click to expand...

If you like H/K- stick with it. However if you do some research on H/K amp designs/designers over the past 25+ years, you will find, according to the design teams, that the twin power was more of a marketing strategy, or gimmick if you will, than providing true sonic benefits.
In fact, for awhile it was cheaper to use two smaller transformers (laminated square types) the one large torodial one. So the marketing dept got their sales pitch, while the bean counters were happy.
As cost's rose, later desings moved away from the dual transformer design to concentrate on improving other circuitry.
As described in the atrticle, the main therory of dual design is improve cross talk figures. These figures can be improved in a single tranny amp by circuit topology, and regradless in either design the figures are negligable. Second, the taxing of power supplies, one channel vs the other can be accomplished with large single-dual tap transformers.
If you look at their progression of amp designs, (sans the Citation XX-which is in a totally different class) such as the PA2400, and their final real killer amp, the Signature 1.5, they all used large single torodials.
Both are super clean sounding amps with tons of current/bass reserve, I think you would be hard pressed to find superior sonic benefits of the older twin power supply designs over these newer amps.
I will try to drag up this article-but my point is why limit yourself to only twin power supply H/K's, when the designers themselves found no real sonic benifits.
 
Last edited:
Carver TFM-75 if you can find one. The most power you'll ever find in one box. True dual mono design, it even has seperate power cords.
 
Mitsubishi DA-A10DC (100 wpc)
Mitsubishi DA-A15DC (150 wpc)

Real sleepers. Big, heavy, good looking, and sound great.
 
skipf said:
Carver TFM-75 if you can find one. The most power you'll ever find in one box. True dual mono design, it even has seperate power cords.
Click to expand...

It may be very powerful, but it's far from the most power you'll ever find in one box. Perhaps you mean that in a more specific context?
 
Strawman said:
Does anybody realize that until yesterday, this thread has been quiet for almost 7 years?
:scratch2:
Click to expand...

Based on post count the last 2002 poster. Dave (hurdy_gurdyman) has been quiet that long too.

Dave come back I never knew ya!:tears:
 
Update to the original post

eThink said:
I am looking for a "twin power" or "dual mono" power amp to use with my "vintage" harman/kardon hk-825 preamp and TU-915 tuner. My speakers will be ADS L-810s (6 Ohms nominal). I will be using a Dual CS-627Q turntable (with the ULM arm and Cartridge). I will listen to classical, jazz, new age and popular standards.
I currently have a Marantz SM-80 power amp from 1992 that uses a "twin power" design and is rated at 100 watts @ 8 ohms.
It is very nice, but I have been selling my Marantz units that go with this power amp and the buyer really wants to buy the power amp.

What other "twin power" design amps are recommended?

I am aware and considering:
- Citation 19
- Citation 16
- Citation 22
- (2) hk 775 mono amps

Are there others that I should look for?

I have not considered the hk870 power amp because it does not use the "twin power" design.

I have owned h/k "twin power" receivers and amps since 1973 and have always been satisfied.

TIA!

:confused:
Click to expand...

I went with the h/k 775 "mono-blocks" for my primary music system (Vinyl and CDs). The h/k 775 were part of the the h/k 7xx series from the early 1980s. The Vintage Knob (TVK) site has a great summary of this series http://www.thevintageknob.org/THEVAULT2/HK700/HK700.html

I recently changed are the speakers that I am using with this music system. I am still a fan of a/d/s/ speakers; I am now using a set of a/d/s/ L400s on F400 stands with a Canton Plus C passive subwoofer. The Canton Plus C is driven by a dedicated h/k 750 integrated amplifier running in mono-mode. :music:

Details about this system are available in this AK thread: http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=243134
 
My favorite dual-mono integrated amplifier is the Sansui AU-717. If you're looking for something more modern, a ten-year-old Aragon 8008ST is also a good choice, but 3x's the cash.
 
nguyenhansen said:
Hi Dave,
I am looking for a Harman Kardon Chorale A-260. If you know of anyone selling one, let me know.
Thanks
Hansen6l6gc
Click to expand...
I know it well and have restored at least 3 A260 Chorales over the past 5-6 years. 4x 6L6GC @32wpc and equipped with great output transformers, however despite individual channel volume and tone controls not really dual-mono (but also assuming the right speakers are used definately no lack of bass - LOL) I've identified there were a couple of versions with slightly different topology but I personally feel these are some of H/K's best integrated tube amps from that era, IMO far superior to most all of the later "Award Series" amps like the A300/400/500 (the A-700 being the exception) and the A-250 Epic is right up there as well.
WopOnTour
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom