The Best Amp for the Price of Dirt

Crem1,
I am very curious to hear from you on that combo?
Peter

Pedrillo : Thanks, I will be posting later in the summer.

Hi All,
I have no experience with the amps mentioned in this thread,except for the original NoRh Le Amp mono's.
I think I paid ~$300-$350 for a mint but used pair.
IMO,the best amp for 'the price of dirt'
would have to be one of Tim Rawson's clone amps.
At one time I had a $2500 retail,all time classic,and possibly on a short list of one of the best SS amps ever built,A Pass Labs Aleph-3.
I can still kick myself for selling it.The only reason I sold it was I bought some super hard to drive Thiels.
I should have kept the Aleph-3 and bought speakers that mated well with the Aleph-3, but thats now water under the bridge.
I recently bought a 15 wpc, full class A bias (super hot running) Aleph Mini J(fets) Tim had built and sold to me for $235 shipped.
The Aleph Mini has all the air,detail,huge sounstage etc, I remember my old Aleph-3 having.
What surpised me the most is the incredible bass the Aleph Mini puts out.
Hands down a winner in that area over the 30 wpc Aleph-3. The bass of the Aleph-3 has always been its weakness anyway.
If you feel you need more power,Tim offers a 30wpc/60wpc @ 4ohm Aleph-3 clone.
I have no need for more power than 15 wpc.and get more than enough power and volume running the Aleph Mini through my 98dB 16ohm Electro-voice 12-TRXB's or my 96-98dB 8ohm Sansui SP-2700 speakers.
One nice thing about buying from Tim is he will build a custom amp for a buyer.
Send him some good qualty wire,upgrade RCA's and speaker posts, and he will wire the amp with the wire and install the RCA's and posts.
I have a friend who sent Tim several upgraded parts,and even with the cost of the parts,his Aleph Mini only cost him $300
Again,I you need more power than 15wpc,and dont want upgraded parts (and a higher labor cost) you can usually score a 30WPC Aleph-3 clone for ~$300.
You might want to look at other amps Tim builds also. The Gain Clone reportedly sounds very good, and is quite cheap to buy.
I see Tim has built and listed a couple more amps. Search 'aleph' or 'clone'
Tims amps sell quickly so you have to be on your toes to snatch one.

dave

These really intrigues me. I've been looking to move on from my current setup of two vertically bi-amped Adcom GFA-545 amplifiers, I should be able to sell these for the A500's price.

Would this be a worthwhile endeavour? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Speakers are Paradigm Studio 100 v1.

"One nice thing about buying from Tim is he will build a custom amp for a buyer."
I wish. he wouldn't respond to my posts here OR his e-mail.