Best Amp to drive my Apogee Stages?


Greetings all.
I am wondering if I might get some good suggestions from anyone who might be firmiliar with the Apogee Stages. I have owned them for quite awhile, but due to blowing up my Krell (300i)intergrated amplifier more than once now (a $400 bill to fix it each time) I beleive that it is time to buy the right amplifier for the job. I need more power for sure, but my wallet is light these days. This means that I must minimize my purchase to something definitly under $2K and even more like $1200 price range. This seems to limit me quite a bit in my findings, but I am wondering if I might have missed something with my research so far? I have reviewed Krell, Levinson, Pass Labs and Threshold to date. Each have older options in my price range, but I am not certain if any will work better with my speakers?

Any thoughts out there?

Thank you in advance.

-LoveItLoud
loveitloud
Clavil

The TRL GT-400 are 400 watts each?....I'm 100% sure they can drive the little Stage with ease.

(My Onkyo M-504's don't even get past "warm" driving the Stage)

Dave
02-14-10: Gallant_diva
I am driving my Stages with TRL GT-400 and I love it!!!!!!
At $85,000 a pair, I'd hope so!
Clavil:

The GT-400 is a monster amp and will not sweat driving even the Diva. I was talking about smaller Tube amps Like the Audio Valve Challenger, which would generate 100plus wpc and will work fine with teh Stage and yes with loud Brucknor or other Orchestral pieces. Now, the Stage has its own limit that you cannot exceed even with a 1000 WPC SS amp.

But yes, I have driven the Stage with Krells too and they work fine but I prefer older Krells
The ICE modules are NOT continuous rated. The very high limits quoted, like the 250 / 550 watt ASP500 are time limited numbers. There FTC power is much lower. The output Zobel will fry. The ASP500 time limit is 60seconds while the ASP1000 is 30seconds.