Recommend me the best stereo amp under $1000?

[Deleted member 23424]

I keep hoping I hear a bad word about them to save me the cost, but alas, no luck.

Can't speak for their audio performance but I'd gladly pay any other company double in order to not have to deal with Alan March ever again. A most unpleasant man ergo a horrendous company to deal with. Avoid at all costs is my advice.

 

[tvrgeek]

Curious. I have exchanged a couple of e-mails without that experience.
I do see the larger one is out of stock, but their small one as I was considering is in stock.

 

[dlaloum]

Not weird at all. It is a conventional dynamic speaker competently designed. Not terribly efficient but the suggestions one needs a 2 Ohm cheap PA amplifier is a bit off the mark. That gentleman has a unique drive problem the OP does not. As much as a PA amp is not exactly hi-fi, it probably beats a Quad 303 by a mile!

Too bad the "purists" drove features like tone controls off our systems. Fortunately, JDS and Schiit make outboard quite reasonably.
I moved to host based and do my small tweaks with EQ APO which allows that narrow Q testing. Shame as I have listened to several newer speakers that may be very nice, if one just had a good old tone control. But the boutique stores are too worried about using a level to adjust the speakers on their spikes and fighting the fire hose they use for cables.

I wouldn't be sugesting a Quad 303... a Quad 405 on the other hand....

 

[strummr]

I'm a rehabilitated audiophool... and I've gone through numerous "high-end" class A, A/B amps over the years. The most recent were a pair of Bryston 7B3 monoblocks - as I've always needed bit more juice to power my favorite, but demanding speakers - in a large room, with a personal affinity for rockin' out hard/metal. I jumped into the class D world with a March Audio purifi amp and wow, the years of looking for dynamic power came to an end; the Purifi has gobs of power to drive difficult loads, and seems to have great dynamics as well. If you had B&W 801/2s, I would highly recommend a purifi amp, but may not be necessary - and btw the March Audio amp is of amazing build quality. I think you can get one for $500 over your budget, but compared to monoblock pairs costing $10-20k, it was a revelatory bargain - it became my end game amp for some significant equipment.

 

[mike70]

The only facet I fear for the class D amps is ..
reliability. Badly designed implementations get hot and high temperature is a silent killer.

The standard cure is bigger aluminum boxes and heatsinks. That's expensive.

Supposedly, Purify runs cooler than Hypex and that can be an aspect to consider ... but also Purify is more expensive.

So, trying to help the thread owner and also my own curiosity ... what Hypex implementations are "safe" and near 1k price tag?

I saw an Audiophonics Hypex dual mono with decent heatsinks and space to breath under 1k ...

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/powe...s-d-amplifier-ncore-2x250w-4-ohm-p-13545.html

 

[dlaloum]

Nice heatsinks... but is anything connected to them?

 

[mike70]

"each amplifier module is mounted on a large radiator capable of efficiently dissipating heat. Similarly, carefully distributed ventilation holes will promote air circulation and heat evacuation."

I think a very good option at 800 usd.
I don't see that care in heat management in other implementations ... and I repeat ... heat is the mother of unreliability.

 

[dlaloum]

Sure, but look at the pic... there is nothing connected to the heatsink.

And being dual identical modules, one module would need to be reversed if it was to be bolted to the heatsink on its side...

Something fishy here...

 

[mike70]

Sure, but look at the pic... there is nothing connected to the heatsink.

And being dual identical modules, one module would need to be reversed if it was to be bolted to the heatsink on its side...

Something fishy here...

Good comments, maybe someone with electronics skills can answer ... or at least with knowledge about the modules.

 

[ahofer]

Can't speak for their audio performance but I'd gladly pay any other company double in order to not have to deal with Alan March ever again. A most unpleasant man ergo a horrendous company to deal with. Avoid at all costs is my advice.

Not contradicting you, but my experience was the exact opposite. Prompt, helpful, friendly.

 

[Overseas]

As experts say that sound is very much a preamp issue, what preamp is recommended by March Audio for their products?

 

[ahofer]

As experts say that sound is very much a preamp issue, what preamp is recommended by March Audio for their products?

This is what I call a “Poe’s Law Puzzler”. I can’t tell whether you are trolling facetiously or sincerely, or whether the latter is even possible.

 

[DWPress]

Sell the PS Audio, get a Buckeye 252 or 502, pocket the difference and then save up for better speakers so you can truly get a better listening experience. Nothing against the B&Os, just the fact that there ARE better speakers out there and in the end everything you hear comes down to those transducers in the end.

 

[dlaloum]

Sell the PS Audio, get a Buckeye 252 or 502, pocket the difference and then save up for better speakers so you can truly get a better listening experience. Nothing against the B&Os, just the fact that there ARE better speakers out there and in the end everything you hear comes down to those transducers in the end.

Do you speak from personal experience of those speakers?

Lots of people make assumptions about B&O that aren't waranted - yes they are expensive... you do pay for the look / lifestyle etc...

But unless we are talking value in terms of pure performance per $ - (and ignoring the intangibles of bling...) - B&O have always had components that performed very well indeed... including their speakers.

Having said that - I would completely agree that the biggest budget item should be the speakers, as these are the single component that has the biggest impact on the sound... (they are also the most visible component, so if looks / lifestyle and/or WAF comes into the equation... B&O are likely to score well! )

 

[DWPress]

No personal experience with the speakers in question, I'm sure they even sound pretty good.

I would completely agree that the biggest budget item should be the speakers, as these are the single component that has the biggest impact on the sound...

And that was my point. If OP wants to improve sound there are a few ways to go about it rather than spend on a new amp which will do probably very little. Room treatment, positioning experiments, lots of measurements and maybe some DRC/EQ - maybe he's already doing some of that...

 

[Chrise36]

If you dont go for the hypex/purifi route a NAD C320 BEE will be more than enough look at Amirs review.

 

[Overseas]

This is what I call a “Poe’s Law Puzzler”. I can’t tell whether you are trolling facetiously or sincerely, or whether the latter is even possible.

I could reply exactly the same, except who the heck is Poe.
So, what preamp is recommended for March power amps?
And who can clarify what I read about the weight of pre/amp in the quality of the final sound.

Unless it is a topic about one's fantasies with trolls, laws and psychological analysis.

 

[freemansteve]

I have run my Class-D for hours at very high volumes, and it barely goes above room temperature.
Power amp or complete ? These are good module-based power amps.

Nord Acoustics Hypex Purifi Class D Amplifiers

World Class Hypex NCore NC500 NCx500, NC1200, Purifi Audio 1ET400A 1ET7040SA and ICE Power 1200AS2 Class D Amplifiers from Nord Acoustics using discrete op amps and V regulators USA & World Delivery.

www.nordacoustics.co.uk

 

[dlaloum]

And who can clarify what I read about the weight of pre/amp in the quality of the final sound.

Unless it is a topic about one's fantasies with trolls, laws and psychological analysis.

With a "linear" power supply (ie a transformer, and then regulation circuits and capacitors) - the capacity of the power supply is directly proportional to the weight of the transformer.... and as the power supply ultimately defines the limitations of any amp, weight is a good sign for a traditional "old style" amp...

Additionally, traditional amps have lots of transistors that get hot, and require large (heavy) heatsinks to cool them - lighter heatsinks have less thermal mass... they can work too, but usually in conjunction with a fan, which adds the potential for audible noise, as well as fan generated electrical interference.

Then switching power supplies came along - and they broke the whole mass=power paradigm.... the weight of a switching power supply bears no relationship to its power output capacity.

So now you have pro heavy duty power amps with 500W + outputs, that can weight several kg... where a traditional amp of that output would probably weigh 30kg+

Class D amps are also extremely efficient, and require little or no heatsinking to provide substantial output power - so there is little or no need for heavy cases with solid heatsinks ...

In the modern world you can have:

Traditional Class A/ AB or similar (Class G/H, FeedForward/Currentdumping, etc...) - with linear power supply - HEAVY
Traditional Class A/ AB or similar (Class G/H, FeedForward/Currentdumping, etc...) - with switching power supply - Mid weight (big heatsinks)
Class D with Linear Power supply - Mid to Heavy (still has big transformer, but doesn't need big heatsinks)
Class D with Switching Power supply - Light (500W stereo amps at circa 5kg!)

So if you are looking at a traditional design with a traditional power supply, and it is light weight - you should indeed look on it with some suspicion!!

Similarly a ClassD amp with a switching power supply that is heavy, the heavy case is most likely primarily "Bling" - and serves no useful purpose (or if the heatsinks are properly connected/mounted, then it may server a marginal purpose)

And Yes - there are mix/match designs that sit in the middle, just to confuse the unwary

 

[Overseas]

That is great info and summary of many things I encountered.

Sorry but English is not my native language, I meant to ask about the influence of preamp vs power amp in the final sound!!!