I'm considering a solid state integrated amp for my home office/study (1,000 cubic feet, give or take). If my budget is $400 max, what would you recommend? I will need it to drive 4 ohm speakers (JonMarsh's Modula MTMs, to be precise). I will be hooking my Pro-ject turntable to it and probably also playing tunes from the iPhone (analog direct at first, maybe through a DAC at some point). I am considering the NAD 316BEE but want to know if I am missing any other options in this price range? I am also open to considering used gear. For example, I see Rotel's RA-970BX is well within this price range... anyone care to comment on their integrated amp listening experiences with 4 ohm speaker loads? Thanks!
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"MMMMMMM..... Floor Pie..... Marge, where's the silver digging thing?"
-Homer -
http://emotiva.com/a100.shtm Give this a shot, have 30 days if you don't like it. Half your budget though
I bet it's a lot of bang for the money as most of Emotiva's stuff is.
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Doesn't have all the inputs needed, though.Originally posted by Hdale85http://emotiva.com/a100.shtm Give this a shot, have 30 days if you don't like it. Half your budget though I bet it's a lot of bang for the money as most of Emotiva's stuff is.Comment
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Are there many Integrated AMP's that have multiple inputs? I can't same I've had much experience with integrated's.Comment
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Thanks! I didn't realize Emotiva made such a thing. Looks promising. Only one source input, but I suppose I could add a source selector if I ever decide to add another source, like a DAC. If anyone else can chime in on the relative sound differences between this and other amps in my price range (and your preferences) I'm still open to suggestions."MMMMMMM..... Floor Pie..... Marge, where's the silver digging thing?"
-HomerComment
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If you look at the used market you could probably get a USP-1 and maybe a UPA-2 used for your price range. Possibly I guess. Might be a bit over? Worth a shot though haha. Unless you're looking for an integrated due to size constraints or just simplicity.Comment
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Yeah, I wanted something simple as opposed to a receiver or preamp with a lot of extra features. Analog only, just a few inputs, clean power, decent reserve capacitance. One reason I am hesitant on the Emotiva is it appears to be light on the amount of capacitance (is 20K mf enough?) plus it doesn't allow switching to different inputs and has a narrow form factor, so I can't stack anything on top of it (like the turntable). I like the slim/clean look of the NAD 316BEE, the Rotel RA-0X series, Cambridge Audio Azur series, etc."MMMMMMM..... Floor Pie..... Marge, where's the silver digging thing?"
-HomerComment
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I don't know, I've heard a lot of the NAD amps can have a bit of a harsh sound. A friend of mine actually spent a lot of money trying to fix that issue and ended up replacing his NAD amps.
I like the Cambridge stuff a lot, but is there anything in your price range from them? I think 20k uF is likely plenty, capacitance doesn't mean a whole lot it's just extra filtering, in DIY you see crazy amount of filtering but you don't find it as much in commercial stuff.
Just did a quick search and looks like they are in the 450 range, so if you can swing that then not bad. Generally preamps aren't all that feature rich, all analog inputs only, volume, maybe some tone adjustments on the more mainstream ones. I'm not a huge fan of Rotel stuff, but others here are.Comment
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Marantz makes a nice integrated amp that's not too expensive. PM5004.Comment
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I meant the power supply caps, which I understand serve as a power reservoir to handle peak load transients. My Rotel 5-channel amp has about 80K uF (or thereabouts). Was just curious how much is enough for a 2 channel system. I've seen a range of about 7K to 30K uF per channel.Originally posted by Hdale85
Leaning heavily towards pulling the trigger on the Emotiva 2-channel mini-amp, plus a used DAC (maybe the Musical Fidelity X-DAC). I think I will just use my MacBook Pro as a source through the mini-Toslink port."MMMMMMM..... Floor Pie..... Marge, where's the silver digging thing?"
-HomerComment
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Caps don't hold a reserve of power for peak outputs actually, a lot of people think that but it's not the truth. They are there for filtering of the power.Comment
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The Rotel might not be too happy with a 4 ohm load!. Whatever you choose, make sure you are ok with that load amp wise!!.Originally posted by mickster1972Dan Madden :TComment
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Thinking I will build my own amp from Class D Audio (http://classdaudio.com/products/clas...ansformer.html) and use an Emotiva XDA-1 DAC/digital preamp. Anyone have any experience with Class D Audio or the Emotiva DAC?
Over my budget, but, hey, it's Christmas. :^x Cheers!"MMMMMMM..... Floor Pie..... Marge, where's the silver digging thing?"
-HomerComment
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The Class D amps from there get a lot of attention so that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.Comment
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