good amp for $500

am trying to find good amp to drive martin logan sequel IIs, what is a good one, used around $500 that I should be looking at, am new to audio so all feedback appreciated.

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Originally Posted by skykomish

am trying to find good amp to drive martin logan sequel IIs, what is a good one, used around $500 that I should be looking at, am new to audio so all feedback appreciated.

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Sansui AU-D11 II integrated amps are going for dirt cheap on ebay. 130W per channel, super low distortion. Sansui's top-of-the-line back in the early '80's when they used to make really good stuff. Last one that sold one ebay went for around $175. Keep looking for them, you should be able to find a mint one for a BIN price a little over $300. I have an AU-D11 series I that I thought of selling on ebay but the final auction prices on the supposedly superior series II are so bad I think I'll just keep it.

Are you looking for integrated or power amp. If integrated that may be a tall order unless you buy used. New I'd look at maybe the Marantz PM-7200. I haven't heard one but it's supposed to be switchable class A to A/B, 25 wpc in A and 95 wpc in A/B. Creek also had a nice little integrated in that price range that could probably drive your speakers and sound good. I'm not sure the price of the Naim Nate but I'm sure it will drive your speakers. If you can find a used Arcam I've seen them drive many of ML's.

In power amps I'm not sure what would fit the bill new. You can find used Adcom at $500.00 or less all day used. You might check www.spearitsound.com under the "used, demos & specials" link.

I've got a Sansui AU-9500 and was amazed at the performance. They are a good deal if you can find one. I find the sound agressive or somewhat in your face with everything flat. But the unit offers turnover frequency controls for highs, mids & bass, as well as hi/lo filters so you can pretty much tailor the sound to your liking. It even has a midrange control the same as bass & treble. The only problem with these old school units is the speaker connectors. You have to use pins or some pretty light weight wire. On the other hand my unit drove a pair of Dynaudio A60's with no problem and is currently in a system driving some Dyn A40's, so it has the potential of driving your ML's alright. I'd recommend checking the Bluebook before buying to make sure you are getting one of their upscale units. My brother had some Sansui and it wasn't even close to the performance of my AU-9500.

From what I know of ML, you need a high current and wattage amp to get the best from them, preferably over 80wpc - much like me with Dynaudio speaks. For under a grand, the Jolida JD-1501RC is possibly the best high power integrated. Retails for $750, you can get it at underwoodhifi.com for $600 or audiogon for ~ $450 usually. It will drive nearly any speaker well. It has a tube preamp and a 100wpc mosfet amp section and a wopping huge transformer, weighs over 30lbs and the build quaility is impressive - more like Classe or Musical Fidelity than NAD or Rotel. The tubes are replaceable so you can tune the sound some too. There are some very good reviews on the web and this site. I am very pleased with it's musicality, power and it adds a bit of tube sweetness. So the Jolida may be your best bet under $1K new. For example it crushes the NAD C370 120wpc hands down (did an in-home demo), like I said you have to look at the pricier stuff to find an equal or better. But if there is a better (high-power) amp than the Jolida for < $500 used I do not know of it. I bought it without a listen on the notion that I'll just sell it if I don't like it. I won't sell it.

You could also consider the Audio Refinement Complete (50wpc, I have this also), but you may need a bit more power, not sure of your speaker specs. This usually goes for just under $500 also, super amp but does not like a really tough load or playing very loud.

I just received a newsletter from www.amusicdirect.com, they are having some close outs and demos on PS Audio. I haven't had a chance to look at it but it may be worth your taking a look.

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Originally Posted by skykomish

am trying to find good amp to drive martin logan sequel IIs, what is a good one, used around $500 that I should be looking at, am new to audio so all feedback appreciated.

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Adcom at Audio Advisor (new):
http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/pr...er%20Amplifier

Parasound at Audio Advisor (new):
http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/pr...el%20Amplifier

Quad 606 (demo):
http://jmsound.com/Display/InvGen?su...&category_id=4

Krell KSA-50 at Audiogon (used):
http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/auc....63197&auc&3&4&

Bob Carver at Audiogon (used):
http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/auc....07911&auc&3&4&

OCM 500 at Audiogon (used):
http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/auc....34732&auc&3&4&

There are also many options on eBay, but that tends to be a little more risky than Audiogon.

thanks everyone for your advice. I've been researching all those amps, and was very interested in the jolida, but a seller on audiogon hasn't replied to me, maybe sold. In any case, found a parasound a 23 halo demo unit from the Good Guys for $500, so I thought I'd try it out, but as an example of how new I am to all of this, didn't know how to hook up the receiver to the amp to use it as a preamp. Can someone offer a quick tip? What goes to the unbalanced inputs on the amp from the receiver? Thanks again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by skykomish

thanks everyone for your advice. I've been researching all those amps, and was very interested in the jolida, but a seller on audiogon hasn't replied to me, maybe sold. In any case, found a parasound a 23 halo demo unit from the Good Guys for $500, so I thought I'd try it out, but as an example of how new I am to all of this, didn't know how to hook up the receiver to the amp to use it as a preamp. Can someone offer a quick tip? What goes to the unbalanced inputs on the amp from the receiver? Thanks again.

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...make sure your receiver has pre-amp outputs. And also make sure the amp you're considering has the same type of inputs. For example, you wouldn't want to have only XLR inputs on the amp and RCA outputs on the receiver.

In my opinion nothing we mentioned will beat that Krell ksa-50.

You want to look on the back of your receiver for your preamp out. It will most likely have some type of jumper connecting the output to the input of your receiver. You want to pull that jumper out and connect an RCA from that output to your input of the power amp.

Remember your overall sound will be limited by the ability of the receivers preamp. Once you have your power amp if you really want to upgrade sound get a good preamp.