Poweramps : what are you guys using?

[George Necola]

I am looking to amplify proac studio 100 or NS-10s. nearfield, <100Watts speakers.

what are you using?

cheers
George

[kennybro]

Crown D75. These are hi quality low power amps, and fairly bulletproof.

Also love the DC300a Series II for more power, but you can't get parts to fix them anymore. Probably also with the D75.

[Syncamorea]

A couple of these should get the job done:

http://bryston.com/products/power_amps/7BSST-2-PRO.html

[George Necola]

Originally Posted by Syncamorea

A couple of these should get the job done:

Bryston Limited: 7BSST² PRO Single-Channel (Mono) Amplifier

8000k$ for the pair? holy crap..

[Syncamorea]

Originally Posted by George Necola

8000k$ for the pair? holy crap..

Yes, i was being a bit facetious in terms of the amount of power you'd need. The Bryston 100 watt per channel stereo amp is much more reasonable and is conservatively rated. The 7B could be used to weld titanium. It is a great amp for low impedance loads.

[Darenzo]

I use modified quad amps to drive My passive monitors you can get a quad 405 or 306 for like 150-250 on eBay nice amps if you can't afford a Bryston or gryphon antilion lol

[Syncamorea]

Originally Posted by Darenzo

I use modified quad amps to drive My passive monitors you can get a quad 405 or 306 for like 150-250 on eBay nice amps if you can't afford a Bryson or gryphon antilion lol

The Quads do get the midrange right, no doubt about it. Another inexpensive option is a used Adcom amp. I forget the shop that mods the NADS with a cap upgrade but I have a pair of the monos (565? can't remember) and they were a steal used at $700.

[George Necola]

Originally Posted by Syncamorea

Yes, i was being a bit facetious in terms of the amount of power you'd need. The Bryston 100 watt per channel stereo amp is much more reasonable and is conservatively rated. The 7B could be used to weld titanium. It is a great amp for low impedance loads.

Which bryston model are you refering to?

Sent from my GT-P7500 using Gearslutz.com

[JerryOrdoñez]

I got a yamaha P2200, and i love it! My yammies sound better than my JBLs haha.

I think that's the same amp CLA uses for his yamahas too.

[Sean Sullivan]

When I had NS-10M I used an Adcom GFA-545. I use the same amp with my JBL 4408A's.

[Syncamorea]

Originally Posted by George Necola

Which bryston model are you refering to?

The 2BSST and 2BSST Pro are 100 WPC and less than $3K USD if I remember right. The 3BSST and 3BSST Pro are 150 WPC. (at 8 Ohms) In my experience, those are very large watts.

The nearest dealer to you may be:

MGM
Rütistrasse 14, CH8952 Schlieren
Ph: +41 44 439 90 80 Ph: +41 79 336 19 65 Fax: +41 44 439 90 95 info@mgmaudio.ch MGM Audio

[Puffer Fish]

Originally Posted by kennybro

Crown D75. These are hi quality low power amps, and fairly bulletproof.

Also love the DC300a Series II for more power, but you can't get parts to fix them anymore. Probably also with the D75.

I also use a D-75 for a passive pair of older JBL boxes and it just chugs along and does its job. No fan noise since it uses passive cooling. And its a single rack space, so that is handy for not losing rack real estate.

They make the D-75A now in regards to getting the D-75 fixed. I do not really have any idea how much of a difference there is between the two on the inside of the box.

These are a staple in the broadcast industry, FWIW. Or at least they used to be!

[kennybro]

Originally Posted by Puffer Fish

They make the D-75A now in regards to getting the D-75 fixed. I do not really have any idea how much of a difference there is between the two on the inside of the box.

These are a staple in the broadcast industry, FWIW. Or at least they used to be!

Yeah, the A. Probably no significant difference. Specs look the same.

I've got a few ancient D75's that I've been pushing for 20 years. Not a hiccup out of either one, ever. Just happens that I had them on the bench bout a month ago, and they spec out wonderfully.

They sound, well... essentially flat, 20-20k, <0.1 THD.

[Puffpastry]

I use a Bryston 2BSST power amp and it was a HUGE upgrade from my prior (Hafler) power amp. The Bryston sounds great, has a really low noise floor, and runs extremely cool, which is great if you're going to rack mount it. It also has a 20 year transferable warranty!

[O.F.F.]

MC2 Audio (aka Quested Audio) which I preferred over Bryston or any other amp I had the fortune to hear so far.
Also they cost a LOT less, at least in UK.

Emotivas are supposed to be fine sounding amps too but not sure how easy to get hold of in Europe.

[FireMoon]

Parasound A23 stupidly good for the money. The A21 is even better.

[Syncamorea]

Originally Posted by kennybro

Crown D75. These are hi quality low power amps, and fairly bulletproof.

Also love the DC300a Series II for more power, but you can't get parts to fix them anymore. Probably also with the D75.

I've had a couple of DC300a S2's and although they have scads of power, I found them a bit forward in the upper midrange. The D75 sounds smoother to my ears.

Here's another awesome monoblock:

Jeff Rowland Design Group - Model 201

I heard these driving a pair of Vandersteins and was blown away:

http://www.manley.com/neo500.php

[O.F.F.]

Originally Posted by Syncamorea

I've had a couple of DC300a S2's and although they have scads of power, I found them a bit forward in the upper midrange. The D75 sounds smoother to my ears.

Here's another awesome monoblock:

Jeff Rowland Design Group - Model 201

I heard these driving a pair of Vandersteins and was blown away:

Manley 500 Watt Monoblock Neo-Classic Design

Firstly I have not personally heard 201s but inside are AFAIK B&O ICEpower modules which consistently rank bottom when it comes to comparing digital amps.

Consistently on top in these comparisons are the Hypex UcD based amps.
That said Hypex have recently introduced the allegedly even better sounding Ncore modules. You'd have to build it yourself though as these are currently for diy only. €325 for a mono 400w/4Ohm module plus a suitable PSU.

[tomdarude]

built a Hypex ...best money can buy for the $

[rob S]

Proacs powered by a bryston 3b sound good.
3B's are 150 watts a channel so you have enty of clean headroom.
I also really like Mcintosh 2105's and the audio research (cant remember the model).
Currently have an older audio research 240 on them which sounds good but is a little under powered.
The higher powered AR sounded kick ass though.
Also Experimenting with an old phase linear 400.
Sounds real good.
Beautiful bottom end.
The Mcintosh 240 (tube) is real nice sounding but seems better suited for hifi in my opinion.
The mastering lab modded yamaha sounded good too.
Real fast and plenty of power.
Interesting to hear the differences in the power amps and how the speakers react to them.
A whole other world of subjective and arbitrary.....

[kennybro]

Originally Posted by Syncamorea

I've had a couple of DC300a S2's and although they have scads of power, I found them a bit forward in the upper midrange. The D75 sounds smoother to my ears.

Agreed. Mids could be why a lot of bass players love 300's as live amps. A nice pre>DC300>4-10 cab or two kicks some serious butt.

[Zeljko]

Originally Posted by George Necola

8000k$ for the pair? holy crap..

Sorry for the shameless plug , I am selling this and I think it has a very good price :
Bryston 14B SST Pro Stereo Amplifier Pro Series | eBay

[lematrix]

Originally Posted by tomdarude

built a Hypex ...best money can buy for the $

Same here, good Amp for the ProAc

[O.F.F.]

If you build a Hypex amp use their Ncore module.

124dB signal to noise can't be bad for €320.

If you got time here is a little read:
hypex ncore - diyAudio

[Aa63]

For ProAc's the two standards are Bryston and McIntosh.

Bryston is "faster" sounding - a little more impact - McIntosh sweeter sounding.

Best bang for the buck is to pick up a 4bst.

I've used a pair of 2bsst's bridged, and a 3bsst and prefer the 4bst to them all. Should be able to pick one up for around 1100US.

For McIntosh, I use a 7150 (150 a side) and it is extremely sweet and accurate. It is in the modern (autoformer) era and is a gem. Also around 1100 US used.

I use them both. Prefer the 4b for mixing, the McIntosh for listening.

For ns10's, crown - cheap thrills.

[Tom Hakala]

Mission Cyrus Two for my NS10's. Great amp and can be found for 300 euros.

[Pinball Wizard]

Using Bryston 4b for mains & an Adcom home style power amp for nearfields.

[Granny Gremlin]

I use a NAD Monitor Series 2600. Any of the NAD Monitor Series or successor Power Envelope models are hard to beat for reliability and sound for the price (not always very neutral, but on a budget nothing is; they are very clear and detailed though and the bass is very defined if a tad hyped). Also they're all stable down to 2 ohms.

[NEWTON IN ORBIT]

Using an older Bryston 3b, and some other lesser (cheaper) amps.

I know these are a little obscure, and not big in the studio world, but here:

If I was trying to save money, and get another amp, I'd look at this, they were sold as package deals with B&W speakers. Pretty smoking deal at the current bid:

rotel power amplifier RB-1080 | eBay

Here is a review with some tech info, for whatever it's worth:
http://www.rotel.com/content/reviews...ile_mar2k2.pdf

Manual:
http://www.rotel.com/content/manuals/rb1080_multi.pdf

Good luck,
john

[retone]

quad 520f?