One Amp To ‘Rule’ Them All....

The best amplifier if you dont have a roof for the limits amount of money invested,i dont know, and nobody knows,even the guy who can afford anything...


The best amplifier at the lowest cost,I know ..My Sansui AU 7700 is one of the possible choices, 100 bucks paid, 100 other bucks to clean it and upgrade some components... Few amplifier can drive headphones or speakers,or turntables etc with so more ease and quality, it is an amp so flexible with the utmost qualities of sound of his era that to beat it on ALL counts,flexibility and sound quality, it is nearly impossible... Then absolutely not the best amplifier there is for sure, but on all count  with his used price,yes the best there is for me ...I am not even looking back...  

atmasphere,

     Thank you for an articulate summary of amps that explains some of the issues involved with amp design and, really, amp selection.
     My impression is still that brettmcee, despite his contentions otherwise,  is looking for some quick answers to a question that can only be properly answered through knowledge and the personal experience of auditioning multiple amps of various types in one's system.  Most audio enthusiasts have learned this the hard way and already know well that there's no ideal amp for every system and that choosing an amp for one's system is more complex since there are many factors that must be considered.  
     Factors such as budget, other existing system components especially speakers, room characteristics, types of music typically listened to along with typical volume levels and personal preferences in overall system sound characteristics.  
     Despite this not even being a complete list, brettmcee has only provided one of these factors to base our suggestions on.  We are told he owns multiple versions of Infinity Kappa speakers which only further complicates the issue because they're audiophile type speakers that are notoriously hard to drive and, imho, will likely perform best with bi-amplification.  
     So, brettmcee is requesting we tell him the answer to his question, "One Amp that Rules Them All?", with limited info while the likely better question, given his speakers, is 'which 2 amps are best?'  Ironic.
     But oddly I somehow still wish to help, so I'd suggest he put in some effort and search for a powerful class D amp for his bass drivers and a tube amp to drive the midrange and treble drivers that he likes the sound of.  Unfortunately, this will require him to get his rump out of his house and gain some personal knowledge and experience.
    Well, nobody said getting great system performance was going to be easy, right?

Tim 

Note that assembling an audio system by trying to get audio geeks to agree on some sort of amplification "standard" isn't a particularly good idea, as this crowd is going to display all the technical blather and subjective opining they can muster, which will likely just fog up your brain. It's what we do here. Get a high current power amp someplace and plug it in. I bet there's an audio equipment dealer someplace that sells such things, and, if you're lucky, recommend something. You can talk to the people at Audio Advisor or Music Direct to get some suggestions.

@noble100 

Tim,

I am in amplifier heaven!!! Here is the list of amplifiers I have at home right now:
Spectron Musician III mk2 (calls D designed by John Ulrich the same guy who designed my Kappas)
David Berning zh270
Balanced Audio Technology Vk-200 and VK-500 with BAT PAK
Conrad Johnson MF-2275
Electron Kinetics Eagle 2
Carver Signature Sunfire
Yamaha p2050
Yamaha p2150 
Crown XLS 1500 (x2)
Crown 1502 (x2)

This isn't some secret hunt for better amps for my Kappas. No I really am trying to ask us all to collectively come up with some amps that we can use as benchmarks for discussing in more detail the qualities elucidated by signal amplification. That's it.

There must be amplifiers in the world that work well with almost any speaker and are consistent competent performers that are also reasonably affordable. Defining some excellent examples and quite possibly some poor examples would help us all communicate better in terms of degrees about the qualities of any given amplifier in comparison to our benchmark amplifiers.  

Once we all have common frame of reference we can begin to talk in more detail about the qualities of signal amplification. We can easily say things like, "This amplifier creates a stereo image 2x as wide as our benchmark amplifier." Or "This amplifier has great damping, I'd say its about 10-20 better than our benchmark amplifier."  

Of the amplifiers I have and/or have heard, (that are reasonably affordable) I'd say these amps should be in contention for places as 'benchmark amplifiers': 

1) Carver Signature Sunfire (the inglorious everyman audiophile champ)
2) Adcom GFA 555 II (best midbass and just easy to listen to)
3) Yamaha p2150 (clean quick honest controlled)
4) Crown XLS 1500 (really a great option for beginning audiophiles!)

...the Carver might not be 'affordable' but it might already be 'the' unofficial benchmark amplifier out there in the world (again 'benchmark' meaning it elucidates all the qualities of quality amplification, is reasonably affordable, can play nice with any/all speakers, is competent and consistent). The Carver has tone, pace, quickness, some swing and some live feel, handles frequency extremes and any/all volume demands, has somewhat above average spatial qualities, it can relax and/or jump. It can feel a little thick or sluggish in the bass sometimes, but other than that, not much bad you can say about it. 

So Tim, am I making myself more clear? I want us all to try really hard to begin to compare apples to apples, although I know we all have trouble sometimes seeing the forest for the trees. 

brett mcee:
" There must be amplifiers in the world that work well with almost any speaker and are consistent competent performers that are also reasonably affordable. Defining some excellent examples and quite possibly some poor examples would help us all communicate better in terms of degrees about the qualities of any given amplifier in comparison to our benchmark amplifiers."

Hello brettmcee,

     Have you ever considered that an amp that works well with almost any speaker, is a consistent competent performer and is affordable may not even exist? 
     Even if one did exist, do you think the motley crew of knowledgeable and experienced audio junkies assembled here on Audiogon, burdened with their own firmly held audio dogmas like a gaggle of Taliban on an audio jihad, could possibly generally concur on exactly which amp that would be?
     Of course not.  Just as preposterous is expecting this unruly group of independent sonic beauty seekers to agree on benchmarks and a standard patois when discussing audio matters.  We're too busy tilting at windmills.
     I suggest your expressed goal of creating some kind of order and black and white certainty out of a chaotic shades of gray audio enthusiast diaspora will not end well and only result in frustration for all involved, myself included.

Best wishes,
   Tim