Another Amp Recommendation Thread

I understand what you mean about feeling "a bit cheeky" going into a dealer and trying something that you probably won't buy,but in all honesty I am sure many of us have,and short of paying full price for a new item,it's expected.

The type of amp and speaker combination really will be influenced by your choice of music,and my tastes also run to jazz and rock,for which I find a detailed,but not overly forward sound works well.

You should try as many as you possibly can,and any of those mentioned already(Bryston,Krell,Audio Research,Parasound etc) would be a good choice,in that none of them are likely to give you problems with sound character(irrespective of what some may have to say about Krell)and all are good,powerful and load tolerant amps.

You may also want to include some of Tact Audio's more recent amps,and those from PS Audio,all of which have had good reviews,and the Tact amps are very easy on the ear as well as being detailed and powerful.

 

have a look at the shanling / vincent sp t-100 valve / solid state hybrid monoblocks and the matching pre. i use the mono's and love them - they are cheap too - so you could buy loads of new music with your budget.

 

It's off topic, but I'm impressed with the homemade speakers. The kits have always looked interesting to me.

were you good at soldering before you started making them?

How was it making them? Seems like a good hobby to get into!

 

thanks nils,
i cheated and got wadia-miester to build the crossovers for me, i can solder an interconnect up and might have been able to do it myself but i didn;t want to take the risk.
making them was a lot of fun, the construction method is very simple and the sense of achievement when i got the first one plugged in and music came out was fantastic. if you've got the time have a read of the diary i did (the link for it should be at the bottom of my 'kit' post link below.) it wanders on and off topic a bit but there are photos etc. which you may find interesting.