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Mono Blocks on a Budget, is it possible?

I’m really struggling with the direction to take my system. I have the following:

Legacy Classics speakers
Aurender N100H media player
Schiit Freya tube pre-amp
Schiit Yggdrasil DAC
Schiit Vidar x2 (in mono block mode)

I will be replacing speakers at some point but the rest of the system I love... except the Vidars. Before them, I had NAD 356BEE that was used for the amp. Very clean and I loved it, except it was only 80 Watts. I decided to upgrade to the Vidars. They cost twice as much From a good manufacturer like Schiit so they must be better right? Not really. They are more noisy than the NAD amp and I’m finding myself less in love with them that I though I would be. I was planning the Vidar purchase for about a year and now that I got them I don’t know which direction to take in replacing them. I want to get cleaner mono amps but don’t want to spend more than $3k MAX for both. The Vidars are 400 Watts into 8ohm, are there any options out there for me that are close to the Vidar specs? I’m open to used but mostly I want the amps to sound almost completely clean with practically no distortion. 
xerotrace
chrisoshea
116 posts
 
If your new speakers can sing with 40-50 WPC the Quicksilver Audio Mid-Monos can be purchased for a low price, new or used....
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,645 posts
 
+1 Quicksilver. I can also recommend the Mini-mite monoblocks for $1200 @ ~25 wpc. They sound very good if speakers are > 92dB/1m/1w and don't drop much below 6 ohms across the Hz range.
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
2,678 posts
 
The QS Mini-mite is not produced anymore. You can’t beat the Mid-monos if you are looking for tube amps!
dhawks3001
28 posts
 
PCconnexion has the Burson Timekeeper on sale for $845 each (original MSRP $2600 each). A/AB operation, 240 watts @ 8ohm, unbelievably clean & pure. I am using them with Dynaudio Special 40s and it's like having a personal concert in my listening room every night.
ostensible_constituency's avatar
ostensible_constituency
75 posts
 

You could get the Nord Acoustics Hypex nCore monoblocks for just a little over $2,000, they’ll do 400 watts into 8 ohms.


I see no reason to get "mono-blocks" if you're doing class D as literally the only difference is two power cords vs. one. I suppose that's another opportunity to waste $300-$1000 x 2 on expensive "directional" power cables, but it'd be a total waste. 

So-called dual-mono is the way to go with Class D - probably Class A and Class AB as well providing your power cable is sufficient to convey enough electrons and your power supplies are each capable of running and fitting in the same box with the two discrete L-R amplifiers. 


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