Which amp to go with to replace kenwood

[Audioman00]

I currently run a sony ES pre-amp from the late 80's (better stuff then IMO) and a Kenwood 150wpc amplifier from the same era. I wanted some advice on what brand or type of amplifier may be better sounding that the old kenwood, it sounds good mind you, but looking for something a little cleaner and more reknown. My mains are AR 318PS tower speakers with 91db sens 1w/1m. I was looking at a yamaha m-60? any good? thanks for any advice.

[pelly3s]

the yamaha m-60 is a pretty good amp. a crown d-75 or an older d-150 would also be a good option. another way to go is a dynaco. i am also a fan of Proton, although a lot of other people aren't

[Mr Peabody]

If you have a KM, in my opinion it's not much better than a receiver, so the field is wide open. If you have
something out of the Basic line, I don't think anything a mass market brand will offer can top it. To improve on a Kenwood Basic you'll have to go upper midfi to high end. I haven't had my hands on a Basic in quite some time but you'll have to look at brands like maybe Rotel, the largest Adcoms, B&K. If yours is a KM, you can sometimes pick up some old Basic on Ebay. It holds it's price pretty well but you are probably looking at $200. to $300. Trust me when I tell you 150wpc KM is not equal to in any way to a Basic M1 or m11A 100wpc. The M2 was a 220wpc massive fan cooled amp. The Adcom 5500 or 555 would rock. If you want cleaner, i would also suggest a new preamp. Maybe look at a good integrated. What do you have for a budget? You can get an Arcam starting for around $699. it won't be powerful but the sound quality will impress you. Krell's integrateds are always monsterous and they have one now for $2,500.

Hope this helps some.

[Audioman00]

Seems to have some good specs, I think it will sound pretty good and powerful.

I'm Kinda stoked to tell ya the truth!

A or B: 4-16ohms


A + B: 8-16ohms


280w/450w/600w @ 8/4/2 ohms


DPD - Dynamic "Power on Demand"