Obscure brands worth considering

Clayton amps are in a very high esteem in some circles. Unfortunately, I have never heard them.
Six dealers is not too bad, Nottingham turntables have just one, I think.

mitch2

You hit the nail on the head with Clayton amplifiers. Wilson built me an S2000 18 months ago and I’ve never been happier with my system.....it simply sounds like music, and I’ve owned many of the most popular brands before this.  I drive it with a VAC Renaissance 5 Preamplifier....such a great combo.  Wilson is such a talented designer of class A solid state and a wonderful and honest person. He related a nice story to me about meeting Nelson Pass at an audio show. Wilson approaches Nelson to make his acquaintance and compliment him on his excellent electronics. Nelson tells Wilson he has read of Wilson’s designs and topology, but he doesn’t care for it, then pauses and says ‘ but damn, your amps sound great’

So what is his secret?

inna

i don’t claim to know most of Wilson’s secrets but his bridged class A topology, extremely robust power supplies, unique driver boards, and matched top notch bipolar transistors give his solid state amplifiers much of the body and essence of tubes with solid state agility and dynamics. Natural is the best way to describe Clayton sound. My VAC Renaissance 5 Preamplifier is also an excellent match for the Clayton. You do have to listen closely to Wilson as he brings a deep Mandarin Chinese accent to his English. He is a talented designer who exudes integrity.....a Taiwanese version of Kevin Hayes from VAC, two of the most talented, reputable, friendly and great men in this industry.

So what is his secret?

I cannot claim to know, but I can say his amps seem to be built very well, to maybe overbuilt, with huge power supplies, and they run in all class  A. The parts are of a high quality and more about service life than being boutique parts to help sell the amplifiers.  The features are also well thought-out including, the top mounted heat sinks to help dissipate heat, WBT binding posts, cleverly located and high quality power and bias switches, and light on the back panel that helps owners remember the amplifier is powered up when they are making cable changes.