Power amp advice/opinions needed

[Sonata8068]

I'm looking for some opinions regarding my amplifier problem.
The problem is this. My Densen B310 power amp is back in Denmark to get fixed for the third time since Oct 2007 and with the same recurring fault! So I'm once again thinking of alternatives. The last time this happened (2013) I bought a Musical Fidelity A5 pre and power amp combination with a view to replacing the Densen amps. This didn't happen however as I vastly preferred the sound of the Densen amps so the MF units were sold. I'm now thinking along the lines of buying a British made power amp to compliment the Densen pre amp. Short list is MF Supercharger 550K (yes I know there's a risk here of them sounding the same as the A5), Naim Nap 250-2, Meridian G57 (not readily available secondhand), I had been considering the Meridian 557 but it is not suitable for the 4 ohm load of my loudspeakers (this may raise doubts re the G57 also). I reckon I can stretch to circa £1600. I've currently pressed my old Roksan Caspian integrated into power amp duties while the B310 is away but it's not satisfactory lacking clarity, detail and it is too clumsy or heavy handed in the bass. This makes me nervous about coming away from Densen though I am quite familiar with the Naim sound through a friend and could easily live with that but worried about losing power as I've often thought that I work the Densen power amp too hard. I appreciate that 160 watts and 125 watts into 4 ohms is pretty well no difference but I'd rather be going up the way in power but know watts are no guarantee of satisfaction, the MF power amp had 400+ at 4 ohms but was not for me. So, any suggestions?

[Firebottle]

What speakers are you using Brian? This is going to be more important than anything towards giving advice for a power amp.

[Sonata8068]

Hi Alan, Speakers are Dynaudio Audience 82.

[Firebottle]

OK, the important information is 4 ohm, 87dB sensitivity for anyone giving advice.

[Macca]

Consider this Avondale amp for sale here http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?46400-Avondale-A260-Power-Amp-For-Sale

If I hadn't just bought a Krell I would have snapped this up; at the price asked it is practically giving it away for the quality on offer. Never heard a Densen but I bet it gives very little, if anything, away to them. Chris is a top bloke and won't mess you about.

[struth]

Consider this Avondale amp for sale here http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?46400-Avondale-A260-Power-Amp-For-Sale

If I hadn't just bought a Krell I would have snapped this up; at the price asked it is practically giving it away for the quality on offer. Never heard a Densen but I bet it gives very little, if anything, away to them. Chris is a top bloke and won't mess you about.

yup, if I was using a pre/power I'd be thinking of this too. Great amp

[hifi_dave]

Quad Artera Stereo, it's called. A Current Dumping, 140 wpc power-amp which will drive any load all day long without breaking sweat. Sounds great and I have compared it to many very 'high end' amps.

[lewis]

I have a Parasound A21 i will be advertising shortly, only 6 months old, in black. This was designed by John Curl, who designed some of the Mark Levinson gear. 250w into 8 ohm, 400w into 4 ohm, and knocks out 60 amperes of current. The first 10w are class A, and i'm sure somewhere down the line i will be wishing i'd kept it. I'm looking for £1700. Good review on hifipig.

[Lawrence001]

In terms of the supercharger have you identified if it was the a5 pre or a5 power you didn't like? If just the pre I wouldn't worry. If the power then maybe not a good buy. I understand a lot of people like them as you can plug your power amp into them and boost the output while maintaining the flavour. Slightly dubious claim I suspect or every first watt/single ended valve amp owner would have one.

Sent from my NEM-L51 using Tapatalk

[Arkless Electronics]

I'm looking for some opinions regarding my amplifier problem.
The problem is this. My Densen B310 power amp is back in Denmark to get fixed for the third time since Oct 2007 and with the same recurring fault! So I'm once again thinking of alternatives. The last time this happened (2013) I bought a Musical Fidelity A5 pre and power amp combination with a view to replacing the Densen amps. This didn't happen however as I vastly preferred the sound of the Densen amps so the MF units were sold. I'm now thinking along the lines of buying a British made power amp to compliment the Densen pre amp. Short list is MF Supercharger 550K (yes I know there's a risk here of them sounding the same as the A5), Naim Nap 250-2, Meridian G57 (not readily available secondhand), I had been considering the Meridian 557 but it is not suitable for the 4 ohm load of my loudspeakers (this may raise doubts re the G57 also). I reckon I can stretch to circa £1600. I've currently pressed my old Roksan Caspian integrated into power amp duties while the B310 is away but it's not satisfactory lacking clarity, detail and it is too clumsy or heavy handed in the bass. This makes me nervous about coming away from Densen though I am quite familiar with the Naim sound through a friend and could easily live with that but worried about losing power as I've often thought that I work the Densen power amp too hard. I appreciate that 160 watts and 125 watts into 4 ohms is pretty well no difference but I'd rather be going up the way in power but know watts are no guarantee of satisfaction, the MF power amp had 400+ at 4 ohms but was not for me. So, any suggestions?

It's highly suitable for 4R loads! 2R even!

[struth]

300 watt into 4 ohm .. 4 to 15 ohm in stereo mode... 6ohm up in bridged

[ianlenco]

Although Dynaudios are 4 ohm speakers by all account they don't dip below this so are a fairly easy load. I've read on other forums that they need plenty of power. My brother had a pair of Dynaudio Contour 1.8 Mk2 speakers which he ran with a Krell KAV 300i integrated rated at 300w into 4 ohms. I bought a pair sometime later and ran them with a Sugden a21SE - 40 watts into 4 ohms :) When my brother's Krell went pop he replaced it with a...... Sugden so impressed was he with this combination and still uses it today. We also tried them with a 15w Ming Da which also worked well. I suppose what I am trying to say is watts aren't everything with this speaker.

[monkey.nut]

The Meridian 557 can deliver 950 watts into 4 Ohms in bridged mode. However with your budget you could get a 559 and that can deliver a burst of 150A into 1 Ohm. The 559 is a better amp and uses technology from the DSP8000 speaker. My own speakers are nominally 6 Ohm but spend most of their time around 2 Ohms. The 559 can deliver 500Wpc into 4 Ohms and 1600W in bridged mode. I use two both bridged. Fantastic value for money but at 42Kg each!

Enjoy,

MN

[Arkless Electronics]

"Current delivery of over 30A into difficult loads below 2 ohms" According to Meridian brochure...

[ianlenco]

Impedance of Dynaudio Audience 82

Impedance, Nominal: 4 ohms
Impedance, (20-200 Hz): 3.9 - 20 ohms
Impedance, (200-20 kHz): 4.1 - 8.0 ohms

[Arkless Electronics]

The Meridian 557 can deliver 950 watts into 4 Ohms in bridged mode. However with your budget you could get a 559 and that can deliver a burst of 150A into 1 Ohm. The 559 is a better amp and uses technology from the DSP8000 speaker. My own speakers are nominally 6 Ohm but spend most of their time around 2 Ohms. The 559 can deliver 500Wpc into 4 Ohms and 1600W in bridged mode. I use two both bridged. Fantastic value for money but at 42Kg each!

Enjoy,

MN

"Darth Vader" I presume?

[walpurgis]

15 watts of EL34 valve monoblocks drove my Dynaudio Contour 1.3 Mk.II speakers perfectly well. I even got decently loud sounds from my 82db sensitivity Celestion SL600Si speakers.

[Sonata8068]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. The Avondale amp, am I correct in thinking this is based on the Naim Nap 250 olive series, it is an interesting amp but I was told the olive series Naims should not be matched with a wide bandwidth pre-amp, would the Avondale also have this restriction? Quad Artera, I must confess I'd never heard of this amp, I will investigate further. Parasound A21, this was on my shortlist but I discounted it due to it's non British origins (who would fix it if it broke), It's a bit dear and it's quite large and heavy to put it mildly. In answer to the A5 question, no, I stupidly never tried mixing the MFs and Densens, seems obvious now but for some reason I never did it. I'm a bit confused regarding the Meridian 557, there are plenty of pictures on the internet of the rear panel which shows "Min 8 ohms" between the normal speaker terminals and "Min 16 ohms" across the bridged mode terminals, likewise there are plenty of pictures of back panels not stating this! So which is it I wonder, are there two different versions out there?
Anyway, Densen have come back to me saying they hope to get the amp back off to me by the end of next week, perhaps I'll wait until I have it back and see how I feel. (That Avondale is tempting at that price though, even just to try out)
Thanks again.

[walpurgis]

My personal inclination would be to opt for a suitably powerful Quad amp. They always sound decent and seem a safe choice soundwise with most speakers.

[Macca]

I'd be inclined to err on the side of caution with power and current delivery. Better to have it and not need it, and so forth.

[hifi_dave]

My personal inclination would be to opt for a suitably powerful Quad amp. They always sound decent and seem a safe choice soundwise with most speakers.

Can't go wrong with a Quad.

[lewis]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. The Avondale amp, am I correct in thinking this is based on the Naim Nap 250 olive series, it is an interesting amp but I was told the olive series Naims should not be matched with a wide bandwidth pre-amp, would the Avondale also have this restriction? Quad Artera, I must confess I'd never heard of this amp, I will investigate further. Parasound A21, this was on my shortlist but I discounted it due to it's non British origins (who would fix it if it broke), It's a bit dear and it's quite large and heavy to put it mildly. In answer to the A5 question, no, I stupidly never tried mixing the MFs and Densens, seems obvious now but for some reason I never did it. I'm a bit confused regarding the Meridian 557, there are plenty of pictures on the internet of the rear panel which shows "Min 8 ohms" between the normal speaker terminals and "Min 16 ohms" across the bridged mode terminals, likewise there are plenty of pictures of back panels not stating this! So which is it I wonder, are there two different versions out there?
Anyway, Densen have come back to me saying they hope to get the amp back off to me by the end of next week, perhaps I'll wait until I have it back and see how I feel. (That Avondale is tempting at that price though, even just to try out)
Thanks again.

Just for the record, the Parasound UK distributor/repairer is Connected Distribution, based in Cheltenham.

[Arkless Electronics]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. The Avondale amp, am I correct in thinking this is based on the Naim Nap 250 olive series, it is an interesting amp but I was told the olive series Naims should not be matched with a wide bandwidth pre-amp, would the Avondale also have this restriction? Quad Artera, I must confess I'd never heard of this amp, I will investigate further. Parasound A21, this was on my shortlist but I discounted it due to it's non British origins (who would fix it if it broke), It's a bit dear and it's quite large and heavy to put it mildly. In answer to the A5 question, no, I stupidly never tried mixing the MFs and Densens, seems obvious now but for some reason I never did it. I'm a bit confused regarding the Meridian 557, there are plenty of pictures on the internet of the rear panel which shows "Min 8 ohms" between the normal speaker terminals and "Min 16 ohms" across the bridged mode terminals, likewise there are plenty of pictures of back panels not stating this! So which is it I wonder, are there two different versions out there?
Anyway, Densen have come back to me saying they hope to get the amp back off to me by the end of next week, perhaps I'll wait until I have it back and see how I feel. (That Avondale is tempting at that price though, even just to try out)
Thanks again.

The Meridian will drive 4R all day long and have no problems with 2.
You do not need to send amps back to their manufacturer to have them repaired!! There are plenty of good engineers here in the UK who can do the job fine, myself included.

[monkey.nut]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. The Avondale amp, am I correct in thinking this is based on the Naim Nap 250 olive series, it is an interesting amp but I was told the olive series Naims should not be matched with a wide bandwidth pre-amp, would the Avondale also have this restriction? Quad Artera, I must confess I'd never heard of this amp, I will investigate further. Parasound A21, this was on my shortlist but I discounted it due to it's non British origins (who would fix it if it broke), It's a bit dear and it's quite large and heavy to put it mildly. In answer to the A5 question, no, I stupidly never tried mixing the MFs and Densens, seems obvious now but for some reason I never did it. I'm a bit confused regarding the Meridian 557, there are plenty of pictures on the internet of the rear panel which shows "Min 8 ohms" between the normal speaker terminals and "Min 16 ohms" across the bridged mode terminals, likewise there are plenty of pictures of back panels not stating this! So which is it I wonder, are there two different versions out there?
Anyway, Densen have come back to me saying they hope to get the amp back off to me by the end of next week, perhaps I'll wait until I have it back and see how I feel. (That Avondale is tempting at that price though, even just to try out)
Thanks again.

I guess you are looking at the wrong amp. Here is the Meridian 557 manual https://www.meridian-audio.com/media/6793/557-stereo-power-amplifier-user-guide.pdf

TTFN,

MN

[Sonata8068]

OK guys! I'm convinced, the 557 is in the mix. I haven't heard the 557 though have had several very pleasing sessions with a G57 albeit not with my system, anyone compared the two? There are so many possibilities I'm going to have to think long and hard about this. Kenneth at Densen has said he will see what he can do to make the amplifier "stand up" have no idea what he means but it might be worthwhile waiting to see before I do anything. Noted that there is a Parasound dealer/repairer in the UK which just adds to my quandary as it puts the A21 back in the mix also. I had considered this amp a while back and had checked with Stands Unique (before they ceased trading) if my rack would take the weight, they said it would but it was at the upper limit (6mm glass) so the Meridian 559 would present me with a problem, so attractive as it is, it has to be an outside bet now (though frustratingly enough, I think the 559 would be my first choice if it wasn't so heavy, and I could find one within my budget). Anyway, thanks everyone for the opinions, suggestions and info.
Cheers, Brian.

[walpurgis]

Just get a beefy Quad, sit back and enjoy the music, it will sound very nice and you can relax in the knowledge that it'll be reliable and there's great customer service in the UK should you need it. Quads suit Dynaudio speakers anyway. Dynaudios show up inadequate amps mercilessly.

By the way, I don't use Quad and my power amp has just packed up tonight! :rolleyes:

[macvisual]

Can't go wrong with a Quad.
Your SO right Dave, my recent Quad 303 power-amp purchase is simply amazing value for the money....!! I'm gobsmacked.

Over the past month I've borrowed a few lovely amps, Tube Technology Unisis (£1250), and an expensive pair of Trigon TRE-50 mono-blocks (£2500 used price) and the Quad 303 (to my ears) is far superior and cost me £150 locally from a lovely chap via Gumtree!

:)