Amp recomendations

[tullymars]

I have a denon receiver a pair of b.a.vr950,10' sub...I would like to own me a pair of the larger magnepans in the not so distant future.But first I would like to add a power amp,use my denon for a preamp,figuerd it wake up the boston's for now,I will most likely by used,I cant afford a really good amp new...Im strictly 2 channel,but I'll go with a multi channel amp if its the right price...give me some advice on what to buy.

[Wireworm5]

I recently bought a Bryston 3B St to power my Studio 100 v2. As soon as I powered it up I could tell a big difference from my other receiver. You owe it to yourself to check out a 3B SST or 4B SST. From what I've read the 3B can power most speakers with its 160 watt rating. Warning: they are not cheap, unless you can find one used. For the price of Bryston you can get a multi-channel Rotel, so check them out too.

[topspeed]

Price range? Which Maggies?

[tullymars]

$1200 is my limit
1.6 maggies

[RGA]

I recently bought a Bryston 3B St to power my Studio 100 v2. As soon as I powered it up I could tell a big difference from my other receiver. You owe it to yourself to check out a 3B SST or 4B SST. From what I've read the 3B can power most speakers with its 160 watt rating. Warning: they are not cheap, unless you can find one used. For the price of Bryston you can get a multi-channel Rotel, so check them out too.

This is the amp, well the 3BST that got me into high end. I connected it up over a weekend to the Pioneer Elite VSX-95 the then flagship receiver - and within 1 minute the difference wa sabsolutely startling - all the level matching DBT clap-trap can suck an egg when real worl results indicate otherwise. of course Hi-fi CHoice magazine listens blind level matched and has a panel assessing - wow not everything is the same. The Brits know what they're doing unlike the American Engineers who are too busy conducting psychological experiments they have no clue one-wit about.

And mate my Wharfedale Vangaurds are 95db sensitive 8 ohm - i mean it doesn't get a helluva lot easier to drive than that. The Pioneer - 125Watts per channel RMS continuous .00025%THD. Yeah but it ahhhhhh sounded like a complete piece of crap compared to the LOWER watt Bryston - and also sounded ahhhhhhhh like a complete piece of crap compared to integrated amps with 70 watts and worse THD numbers from Arcam/Sugden.

Let the morons and or the deaf believe in their voodoo tests passing for real science and their spec sheets that don't tell you anything(test environment vs real environment = find validity). (Oh and the Pioneer back then was just as good as the Marantz/Denon/Yammie alternatives). The lack of noise alone in the Bryston would make it a worthwhile buy.

[tullymars]

How about the Bryston 3b?
Or NAD 272?
Remember Im using a reciever 100wx2,wouldnt either of these be better even if the power rating is the same?

[topspeed]

Bryston, Parasound Halo, Audio Refinement, and maybe Rotel would all be in there. If you don't mind buying used (which you'll need to consider for the Bryston anyway), I'd highly recommend you audition the PS Audio HCA2, which is what I use (Bias Alert! Bias Alert!). This is neither ss or tube as it's a Class D digital amp. It's small, very powerful, and most importantly for the Maggies, completely load invariant. It doesn't care whether you throw RGA's very efficient AN's or a pair of Quad ESL's which will drop into the 1 ohm range, the HCA2 will just keep on rollin' and still develop little to no heat. Most importantly of course, is that it sounds fabulous. Very deep and powerful bass combined with a tube-like sweetness to the top end (not rolled off, just sweeeeet). If you're not familiar with switiching amps, use this link to acquaint yourself. I truly believe this is the future of amps. Definitely worth an audition.
http://www.psaudio.com/products/hca.asp

Good luck and buy what moves you.

[pelly3s]

check into a crown k2..... a lot of people over look it as a home audio amp but the thing is amazing. it is the first professional amp to be reviewed and recommended by multiple hi-fi magazines. you could dig one up used for $1200 with no problem. plus it gives you more head room than you will ever need plus its not a power hog..... i run 4 of them at full power off one 20amp circuit.

[tullymars]

Thanx for all the info...and keep it coming,I'll be buying used Im sure so it may take a couple months or so before Im able to find what Im looking for

[kexodusc]

I'll second the Bryston amps, but I would also suggest anything by Arcam, even one of their many integrateds. Heck. for the price of the Bryston (even used) you could buy a great integrated Arcam with plenty of power and a pre-amp section that would embarass your receiver. So you'd be effectively upgrading two of your components.
I've used 30 watt Rotel, NAD and Arcam integrateds with great success. Tons of reserve power, and sweet, sweet sound.
For inexpensive, solid second hand power amps I don't think you can beat Adcom (who deserves an honorable mention here in this thread), but if $1200 is your budget, you've got tons of options available.
Hope your gas tank is full, you'll be burnin' plenty.

[tullymars]

I have found an Adcom gfa-555 for $400,it has gotten my attention...thoughts?

[kexodusc]

Hmmm, for $300 or less you could get 2 gfa-535's. Good amp, maybe not so good price.