The Most Awesome Amp You Ever Heard!

Lazarus Short

Lazarus Short

Veteran and General Yakker
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Independence, MO
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I'm the Red Knight, by grant of the Black
What is the most awesome amp you've ever heard, in terms of SQ, watts, or just sheer size?

For me, it was a pair of monoblocks, each the size of a window air conditioner. They had done previous duty, as I was told, in MRI scanners, and a few mods were needed to make them work in the audio part of the sound spectrum. The tech guessed 700-800 watts, and distortion was measured in ppm, not %. They sounded good, for solid state, and no, I don't even remember the speakers...

What's the tale of your awesome amp?
 
The first 700 I converted to the White Oak mods, it had a hottie for a transformer and put out 520 watts per into 8. First time I felt confident enough to really crank it on the K's it about took my breath away. Could not believe it could get that loud and still be clear.In the sweet spot the bass was just incredible. I have tortured the K's many times during amp testing and every one is an eagerly anticipated event, cause it seems every one teaches me something different.
 
Heard a pair of McIntosh MC 1.2's once.
VERY impressive.
A big set of Martin Logan speakers was the recipient of all that power.
 
I had 1/2 an M-80 (channel out).

I've heard a McIntosh before but the most impressive ones I'VE OWNED are Pioneer SA-8800, SX-D7000, Harman Kardon 930 and JVC 4VR-5456, followed by Sansui 7070, Pioneer SX-939 and 6000, Onkyo TX-2500 Mk II, Sansui 5500, G-5700.
 
A pair of Fourier Panther Amps: 250w p/ch mono blocks. Tube. Simply breathless.

My Crowns are really nice. DC-300 II A for the lows and D 150 II for the highs. Tested 2 D 150 in Mono...1 DC 300 A alone made circles around those both. No doubt about it.

Here're some photos of amps I have owned and still...Tower of Power.jpgAmplificador Cary 2.jpgCrown Combo (3).jpg
 
Not powerful but a stunning sound.

Pioneer A-09

I had the pleasure of listening to a demonstration some time ago. It was brief but memorable.
 
Lazarus Short said:
I had no idea Yamaha ever built anything like that - it's awesome on the outside AND on the inside. I see Yamaha even used good PC boards on that amp.
Click to expand...

heard it many times paired with the CX-10000 pre. its the most neutral sound i've experienced, like having a seemingly unlimited amount of power on hand without any sonic signature.
 
Dazen1 said:
Not powerful but a stunning sound.

Pioneer A-09

I had the pleasure of listening to a demonstration some time ago. It was brief but memorable.
Click to expand...
Daren: A Class A amplifier. And stable down to 2 ohms impedance. For a bulk of my listening pleasure, the sub-200 wpc amp fills the need. I have heard several amplifiers, but one I would most like to hear and own is this Pioneer M-22, also a Class A amplifier:



Nando.
 
Elite-ist said:
I have heard several amplifiers, but one I would most like to hear and own is this Pioneer M-22, also a Class A amplifier.
Click to expand...

That looks nice Nando.

Those Japs certainly made some classy stuff...
 
I can't really narrow it down to one amp as I have heard quite few that I thought were great.

Now if you are asking which one I would like to have as my own it would probably be a pair of Mcintosh MC2KW's :cyclopsani:
 
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A pair of Amber 70s running as monoblocks with a Perreaux SA3 preamp, totally amazing
 
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