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Hall of Fame: BIGGEST BADDEST Monster Amps

There have been a lot of posts on:

"tube amps with balls"
"amps to drive my 1 ohm, inefficient speakers"
"amps for rock and roll"
"Levinson, Krell, Bryston, Pass Labs etc"
"sounds more powerful than its rating suggests"
"despite low rating, puts out huge current" etc.

But I somehow find these threads divergent and confusing and still cant seem to short list a new set of monoblocks to biamp (low end) and COMMAND my Magneplanar Tympanis, fill up a large room with EFFORTLESS dynamics and CONTROL the bass with no debates, questions, reservations or tweaky failures.

So let's please hear your thoughts:

What are the all time, hall of fame, MONSTER power amps, where there should be no doubt whatsover about HUGE amounts, of effortlessly dynamic, clean, smooth, audiophile power.

I have to think that for the low end of biamping, this should be a solid state amp, unless someone can really suggest an unusually robust and low maintenance tube amp.

Mark Levinson 20.6?
Pass X-600's?
Bryston 7 B monoblocks?
Parasound monoblocks?

Thank you.
cwlondon
rleff
1,065 posts
 
I think it would be hard to beat Atmasphere's MA3 monoblocks;power,regulation,and tubes; what could really beat these amps?
theduker's avatar
theduker
50 posts
 
I have VTL Wotans and they do a very nice job, I won't sell them. That having been said, the Icepower 1000ASP (there are MANY amps that use this module, or simply build your own...) is the ticket for controlling bass, high power, high dampening factor, low impedences, etc. VERY taut bass, lots of power, sometimes can sound a little cold and dry, but you won't mind a bit.
audiolabyrinth's avatar
audiolabyrinth
4,483 posts
 
The Legendary Krell FPB 700CX, I have a new modded one, 120 db signal to sound noise ratio stock, 6000 watts at 2ohm of pure class A power total power output!, extremly clear and clean sound with the modds, for stereo amps, this one is the most powerfull and none fatigueing Krell has ever made in my opinion.
ebm
5,165 posts
 
James Brown amp its super bad.
m-db's avatar
m-db
313 posts
 
Gene Cerwinsky (Cerwin-Vega) produced one of the first commercially available high power (then 180-350 watts) in the early seventies. The amplifier an 18" driver and horn cabinet were the bottom behind the film "Earthquake." Theaters premiering the film were required to bolster their sound systems with the Ceriwn-Vega low frequency equipment and theaters never looked back.

The driver found its way into the legendary 200 watt acoustic 360/361 folded horn Bass Amplifier which throws a twenty-five foot low E wavelength.

Cerwin-Vega amplifiers were quickly followed by Ampzilla, Phase Linear, and Crown which were quit different in design from one another. For all those who complain about class D, in those days of early solid state the incredibly edgy presentation was easily overlooked for the high power output. Within months the controversy between tube watts vs solid state began and life as we know it was born.

Personally, I bypassed the volume pots, replaced the capacitors, a few resistors, and most of the hook up wire in a Cerwin-Vega A1800 and the results were quite dramatic and used the amp well into the 80's to power the ever less efficient speakers being offered.
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