# Thoughts on Amp Brands



## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

Definitely not looking to start a flame war, but I thougth I'd see what people thought about the various brands of amps out there.

For example, what do people think about the following "typical" mid-fi brands:


Rotel
Bryston
Anthem
Adcom
Parasound
Outlaw

I haven't much experience with separates, so I thought I'd see if anyone else had some opinions they'd like to share. 

JCD


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Anthem and Bryston? Mid-fi? :scratch: 

Regards,
Wayne


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

I guess I think of anything less than $5k per unit as mid-fi. 
Which is probably a little bit of a stretch, but it's where I decided to draw the line. :dontknow: 

JCD


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## khellandros66 (Jun 7, 2006)

Anthem, Bryston and Rotel are really nice amps. Outlaw will give those a run for the money though IMO.

I'll add ATI-Amps to that list of good amps too.

~Bob


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## jmprader (Apr 19, 2006)

Wayne A. Pflughaupt said:


> Anthem and Bryston? Mid-fi? :scratch:
> 
> Regards,
> Wayne


Ditto that...but I am a fanboy Bryston owner...SP1.7, 4B SST, and 6B SST in the main setup and a couple of "extra" 7B-ST's looking for a project/3rd system. 

I have listened to several other high quality big kilobuck amps and, while they may have sounded "different", none did I consider "better" than the SST's. The 7B-ST's seem to have a trace of grain in the highs, but it takes several long listening sessions with SST's to be able to discern this. Noone else in the house/hood believes there is any discernible difference... 

I used to own some Parasound amps. HCA 2200II and HCA 2203. They were quite competent and, IMHO, **** close to the line I draw for mid-fi products, except as to price, they are a bargain, especially in the used market. I considered them a very good value at typical e-tail in the 90's. I chose them over what Rotel and ADCOM were offering because of their LF performance. Their hf's seemed a bit lacking. The JC1 is a great monoblock amp that is definitely no mid-fi piece of work, either.

Now, I've not been able to listen to some of the big Boulders and Krells in extended sessions, or any of the big, pure Class A amps out there...and tubes are not in my vocabulary, despite good friends who will never own anything else...so take my fanboy appreciation of Bryston (and Anthem) as well as Parasound with the appropriate grain of salt.

My .02... .03 ... .04


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Just from my research over the years, I agree that Bryston and Anthem are a notch above the others. 

Throw in the Earthquake Cinenova Grande... a brute and very neutral. The five channel retails for about $4500 but they can be had for 1/2 price pretty readily... outrageous markup. 

Let's see... now for my qualifications on listening.... hmmmm.... I've owned Adcom Monoblocks, McIntosh MC7300, NAD, Sunfire, Denon, Carver, Earthquake and a few others. I can't tell the difference between any of them so my opinion ain't even worth .01 cent. :huh:


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## Guest (Oct 18, 2006)

I am currently running an Adcom 2535 for HT and a Bryston 3B-ST for 2 ch, which will soon be recovered by Pupton, and I'll go back to my Hafler DH-200. I would have to say that I like the sound of the Adcom, but it doesn't come close to matching the sound of the Bryston. This is my perception of several other Adcoms that I have heard with my NHT's. I have seen a couple of reviews that mention the slight accentuation of highs by the Bryston, and I usually am very sensitive to highs, but I cannot at this time hear a problem. I love the Bryston, and given a choice, I would replace all my amps with Bryston. It matches phenomenally well with my NHT 2.9 speakers.

akitaboy


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## Guest (Nov 1, 2006)

JCD said:


> Definitely not looking to start a flame war, but I thougth I'd see what people thought about the various brands of amps out there.
> 
> For example, what do people think about the following "typical" mid-fi brands:
> 
> ...


I had Rotel (don't ask)
Was looking at Bryston
But fell in love with Anthem
Just my $0.02


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## Nick77 (Oct 19, 2006)

I have read some positive results using pro amps. Anyone with any results or comments?


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## jmprader (Apr 19, 2006)

Nick77 said:


> I have read some positive results using pro amps. Anyone with any results or comments?



I have been very happy with the sound quality of a Behringer EP-2500 and Crown K-2 that I use in a second system to power IB subs and mains. However, this setup is more for background music, not critical listening, so take it with a grain of salt. Both amps have seemingly unlimited power and can be had for a fraction of the price of good home gear (Behringer<300 new, Crown<750 used). 

The Crown sounded quite good when I substituted it in my HT/high-fi system, but it's top end was not as pristine/open as the Bryston SST it temporarily replaced. While the EP-2500 works just fine powering the IB subs, I have not even been tempted to see what it would do in the HT or handling the mid/hi's based on comments I read from other users about SQ in the upper reaches (where I can't recall). Since my second system is being "groomed" to handle multiple speaker sets both inside and outside the house, the pro amps ability to deal with 2ohm loads is a big plus.

...of course if you picture of a bunch of fat and fifty-something drunks trying to perform high db karaoke on the patio, everything about pro amps quickly loses its appeal!


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