2. amps-preamps
  3. 1253831954

I need SS muscle

After thinking long and hard about a speaker change, I've decided to keep my VR4 HSE's and relieve one of my cary V12's
(one powers L & R upper units and another powers the L & R lower units)and power the bass units with a good SS amp.
If i'm going to go through the expense of another amp, I want a decent used one in good condition. Brands that come to mind are Bryston,Classe,Levinson Krell and Mac right off the bat.
Does anyone have any models of these brands or others that would offer good synergy with my current setup and enough watts for the power hungry bass units(maybe 2 ohm load at certain freq's)
russe41
jim_swantko
301 posts
 
I agree with Ajackson, try a Cary SS amp. They just released a new 1.600 mono (600W @ 8 Ohms) which should do quite nicely.
klipschfan
176 posts
 
McIntosh MC602 600 watts @ 2 ohms without burping and enough current to weld while you're listening.
bbro
191 posts
 
In the"great bang for the buck" category, consider the Odyssey Stratos Extreme SE monoblocs, expecially if you can find one of the pairs that Klaus did as an all out assault with components from the German Symphonic line , built similar to the "one offs" he built for himself. He did about 4-5 pairs of theses and they occasionally come up on Audigon. They can be had for about $2K used and nothing in my experience under $5K can touch them.
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
The Cary CAD 500 MB's as stated above, or the Sanders Sound ESL amp(s), Bryston 14b sst (or the 7B sst if you want mono's), for supreme power go to the Bryston 28B sst.
sm2727
112 posts
 
I would pick the bryston that best fits your power needs. At the lower frequencies I think anything else is a waste of money. If you buy it used at a good price that is. I had 7bsst monos and they sounded fantastic. I ended up spending a whole lot more to get 15% better highs and more colorful mids but the bass is better than Krell FPB's in my experience. The big stereo amp (14) is supposed to be rough equivalent. I would talk to them. Maybe you could get away with a 4bst etc. Good luck
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