Shopping for an AMP

Alwishus
Alwishus Posts: 58
edited April 2013 in Vintage Speakers
It's going to take me awhile to get to 100 posts, so if anyone is browsing the classifieds and comes across a good amp...or if you're selling one, drop me an inbox. I have SDA SRSs ...this amp will be used exclusively for them. So really just a 2 channel is all I'm looking for. Have a weekend everyone...off to see that new Oblivion movie with my son. Hope its good!
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  • chris23120
    chris23120 Posts: 95
    edited April 2013
    SDA's are nice.
    Samsung UN55C6500 55" LED
    Onkyo TX-NR3007
    Polk Audio RT5000
    -RT3000 front
    -CS1000 center
    -FX1000 dipole
    Polk Audio PSW1000 5.1 sub
    Polk Audio microPRO 4000 x2 5.2 subs:biggrin:
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  • ken brydson
    ken brydson Posts: 8,761
    edited April 2013
    chris23120 wrote: »
    SDA's are nice.

    Ya think???:rolleyes:
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  • Phasewolf
    Phasewolf Posts: 514
    edited April 2013
    Start to mod them and you will be at 100 posts in no time. What kind of amp are you looking for? There are a lot of nice amps out there are you looking for tubes or what?
    Absolute corruption empowers absolutely.

    Lg 55LW5600 TV
    Onkyo PR-SC 5508
    Legacy Audio Focus SE
    Legacy Audio Silverscreen HD center
    Polk F/X500i Rears
    Parasound HCA-3500
    Sunfire Grand Cinema
    Behringer iNUKE NU6000DSP
    Pair of CraigSUB SS-18.1
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  • Alwishus
    Alwishus Posts: 58
    edited April 2013
    Phasewolf wrote: »
    Start to mod them and you will be at 100 posts in no time. What kind of amp are you looking for? There are a lot of nice amps out there are you looking for tubes or what?

    I've been searching the forum for tips on the amp. The one thing about these SRSs...they need power. I've been taking it all in. There are a lot of opinions on amps...that's for sure. Obviously would like to get a higher end model for a decent price. But I'm thinking I need atleast 500 per. This might spur heated discussions by basing a purchase on amperage, but these babies need some juice.

    And yes, I agree Phase...a complex mod will have me posting big time. However, I've been trolling all of DarqueKnights threads. I'm thinking I'm feeling pretty good with my crossover mods. I'm going to stay with the original boards, but swapping everything else..including inductors. The more I read, the more confident I feel.
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  • Phasewolf
    Phasewolf Posts: 514
    edited April 2013
    Well if you run into issues there is plenty of people here that can help. As for a amp I was really happy with the Luxman M-117 it sounded great and has a lot of balls and should be able to drive your SDA's without a issue.
    Absolute corruption empowers absolutely.

    Lg 55LW5600 TV
    Onkyo PR-SC 5508
    Legacy Audio Focus SE
    Legacy Audio Silverscreen HD center
    Polk F/X500i Rears
    Parasound HCA-3500
    Sunfire Grand Cinema
    Behringer iNUKE NU6000DSP
    Pair of CraigSUB SS-18.1
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  • Alwishus
    Alwishus Posts: 58
    edited April 2013
    Phasewolf wrote: »
    Well if you run into issues there is plenty of people here that can help. As for a amp I was really happy with the Luxman M-117 it sounded great and has a lot of balls and should be able to drive your SDA's without a issue.

    Thanks Phase. Did a search on your amp. Nice amp, but none around! I'll keep looking. Something will come up.
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  • gudnoyez
    gudnoyez Posts: 8,124
    edited April 2013
    chris23120 wrote: »
    SDA's are nice.

    Nice does not even begin to describe there awesomeness, there awesome totally awesome!
    Home Theater
    Parasound Halo A 31 OnkyoTX-NR838 Sony XBR55X850B 55" 4K RtiA9 Fronts CsiA6 Center RtiA3 Rears FxiA6 Side Surrounds Dual Psw 111's Oppo 105D Signal Ultra Speaker Cables & IC's Signal Magic Power Cable Technics SL Q300 Panamax MR4300 Audioquest Chocolate HDMI Cables Audioquest Forest USB Cable

    2 Channel
    Adcom 555II Vincent SA-T1 Marantz SA 15S2 Denon DR-M11 Clearaudio Bluemotion SDA 2.3tl's (Z) edition MIT Terminator II Speaker Cables & IC's Adcom 545II Adcom Gtp-450 Marantz CD5004 Technics M245X SDA 2B's, SDA CRS+

    Stuff for the Head
    JD LABS C5 Headphone Amplifier, Sennheiser HD 598, Polk Audio Buckle, Polk Audio Hinge, Velodyne vPulse, Bose IE2, Sennheiser CX 200 Street II, Sennheiser MX 365

    Shower & Off the beaten path Rigs
    Polk Audio Boom Swimmer, Polk Audio Urchin B)
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  • thsmith
    thsmith Posts: 6,082
    edited April 2013
    There is a sweet SE-40 that just came up for sell for a nice price.
    Speakers: SDA-1C (most all the goodies)
    Preamp: Joule Electra LA-150 MKII SE
    Amp: Wright WPA 50-50 EAT KT88s
    Analog: Marantz TT-15S1 MBS Glider SL| Wright WPP100C Amperex BB 6er5 and 7316 & WPM-100 SUT
    Digital: Mac mini 2.3GHz dual-core i5 8g RAM 1.5 TB HDD Music Server Amarra (memory play) - USB - W4S DAC 2
    Cables: Mits S3 IC and Spk cables| PS Audio PCs
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  • Alwishus
    Alwishus Posts: 58
    edited April 2013
    thsmith wrote: »
    There is a sweet SE-40 that just came up for sell for a nice price.

    What's the asking price smith ? Inbox me if you get a moment. thanks man
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  • Alwishus
    Alwishus Posts: 58
    edited April 2013
    I'm good smith...inboxed him.
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  • Alwishus
    Alwishus Posts: 58
    edited April 2013
    Smallies wrote: »
    I'm still wishing someone would try the Emotiva XPR-2

    LOL. I saw your thread on that Emo Small. LOTS of heat and opinions around those amps! I thought about that one too...but just too many negative comments. I bet there are other forums out there that have reviewed it. I'd also be interested to see what the feedback on the performance is.
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  • Alwishus
    Alwishus Posts: 58
    edited April 2013
    Alright...pulled the trigger on the amp that blairfrischx had listed on the forum. A Golden Tube Audio SE-40...includes the Sonic Craft upgrade. Very excited.

    A big thank you to thsmith for the heads up!!
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  • StantonZ
    StantonZ Posts: 444
    edited April 2013
    Old (2 channel) Yamaha's go well with Polks. BTW, Oblivion was great (got to see a sneek peak in IMAX)!
    Yamaha RX-A2050 AVR (5.0.2); LG OLED77C2 4K TV
    (4) Polk Monitor 10B's w/SoniCaps, Mills, and RDO-194 tweets (R/L F/R)
    (2) Polk RC80i (Top Middle)
    Polk CS300 center channel
    Analog: B&O TX2 Turntable, Nakamichi Cassette Deck 1
    Digital: Pioneer CLD-99 Elite LD, Panasonic DMP-UB900 UHD Blu-Ray
    Bedroom: Arylic Up2Stream AMPv3 driving Polk Monitor 4's w/peerless tweets
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  • Alwishus
    Alwishus Posts: 58
    edited April 2013
    Lasareath wrote: »
    Here's a nice Amp. It will give you 600 watts per channel

    http://app.audiogon.com/listings/tube-musical-fidelity-trivista-300-integrated-amp-20th-anniversary-limited-edition-2013-03-30-integrateds-93101

    No joke...sick amp
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  • PolkieMan
    PolkieMan Posts: 2,446
    edited April 2013
    Yea I like new stuff unless it's local and cheap.
    Something about new.
    If I was to buy a 2 ch amp today I would buy this, new.

    http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/amplifiers/products/xpa2
    POLK SDA 2.3 TLS BOUGHT NEW IN 1990, Gimpod/Sonic Caps/Mills RDO-198
    POLK CSI-A6 POLK MONITOR 70'S ONKYO TX NR-808 SONY CDP-333ES
    PIONEER PL-510A SONY BDP S5100
    POLK SDA 1C BOUGHT USED 2011,Gimpod/Sonic Caps/Mills RDO-194
    ONKYO HT RC-360 SONY BDP S590 TECHNICS SL BD-1
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  • Alwishus
    Alwishus Posts: 58
    edited April 2013
    PolkieMan wrote: »
    Yea I like new stuff unless it's local and cheap.
    Something about new.
    If I was to buy a 2 ch amp today I would buy this, new.

    http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/amplifiers/products/xpa2

    Polkie...you realize the whole Emo thing gets people ALL fired up. I haven't seen any reviews on this yet though....
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,557
    edited April 2013
    Alwishus wrote: »
    No joke...sick amp

    Seriously, no joke. That integrated would make your SDA's sing sweet songs all day, every day and twice on Sunday. It puts a whole lot of separates to shame including PolkieMan's suggestion.

    I need to edit this......just noticed you have the SDA SRS's and the Tri-Vista is strickly dual mono, so you would not be able to use it with your speakers.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Alwishus
    Alwishus Posts: 58
    edited April 2013
    F1nut wrote: »
    Seriously, no joke. That integrated would make your SDA's sing sweet songs all day, every day and twice on Sunday. It puts a whole lot of separates to shame including PolkieMan's suggestion.

    I need to edit this......just noticed you have the SDA SRS's and the Tri-Vista is strickly dual mono, so you would not be able to use it with your speakers.

    I'm going to get along with the GTA for awhile. I still have lots to learn from this site. The one thing I have learned is that a good amp makes all the difference in the world...
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,557
    edited April 2013
    Sorry, I missed that you already bought an amp. Let us know what you think.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Alwishus
    Alwishus Posts: 58
    edited April 2013
    F1nut wrote: »
    Sorry, I missed that you already bought an amp. Let us know what you think.

    Definitely will F1. Should arrive on Wednesday. I'm curious to see how it handles varied music. Before the upgrades, they had instability issues, but when working they thrived on vocals. I'll run it through the gambit. Really is a beautiful piece of equipment. My tweets should arrive this week as well. Crossovers the following week.
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  • proffitt
    proffitt Posts: 157
    edited April 2013
    Great news you're doing the mods John. Good move. Excited about hearing how the amp does!
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  • Alwishus
    Alwishus Posts: 58
    edited April 2013
    proffitt wrote: »
    Great news you're doing the mods John. Good move. Excited about hearing how the amp does!

    Scotty Boy! Thanks man. I'm excited. Did you upgrade any of your inductors? I'm still looking for the one that DarqueKnight used, but can't find one with those specs. That's the one missing piece at the moment...
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  • proffitt
    proffitt Posts: 157
    edited April 2013
    No, I stopped short of the inductors. Go for it. Can't be any more difficult and once you're that far into it, it'd be a good time. If I had it to do over I'd do the inductors too.
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  • StantonZ
    StantonZ Posts: 444
    edited April 2013
    The inductors should be "cheap" compared to the caps, right?
    Yamaha RX-A2050 AVR (5.0.2); LG OLED77C2 4K TV
    (4) Polk Monitor 10B's w/SoniCaps, Mills, and RDO-194 tweets (R/L F/R)
    (2) Polk RC80i (Top Middle)
    Polk CS300 center channel
    Analog: B&O TX2 Turntable, Nakamichi Cassette Deck 1
    Digital: Pioneer CLD-99 Elite LD, Panasonic DMP-UB900 UHD Blu-Ray
    Bedroom: Arylic Up2Stream AMPv3 driving Polk Monitor 4's w/peerless tweets
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  • Alwishus
    Alwishus Posts: 58
    edited April 2013
    StantonZ wrote: »
    The inductors should be "cheap" compared to the caps, right?

    It used to be. Copper isnt cheap nowadays!
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  • dcoil
    dcoil Posts: 153
    edited April 2013
    The inductor that DK used was by North Creek which I believe for the SRS is a 16mH inductor. Please check the schematic to make sure that is correct. The guage of wire used to make the inductor will change the direct current resistance (DCR) of the speaker, with larger guage wire resulting in decreased DCR. I do not remember the guage I used but keep the DCR of the speaker close to the original. The (DCR) of the modified SRS's decreased from 4.7 ohms each to 4.4 ohms each with the new 16 mH SDA inductor as reported by DK. Also, be careful how you mount it. It is large enough that you cannot (and should not) mount it on the PCB and will have to mount it in the cabinet. I tried to pick a spot not close to the PR, the XO'r, either the dimensional or stereo driver, or the binding posts which could affect the inductance. Mine is mounted in the horizontally using aluminum washers, nuts and bolts. As he points out, do not use steel washers, nuts, or bolts as this will significantly change the inductance value. And with this mod I did get more more punch and it ais also very clean and quick. I highly recommend this mod!
    SDA SRS modded: X’ovrd, de-polyed, inductorized, interconnectorized, re-posted, dynamited, RDO’d, spiked, gasketed, ringed (Larry's), and grill cloth blinged! Done this on my own? Not a chance. Thanks to Raife and all who forged easy to follow upgrades. At least a 100% improvement in sound and my personal listening pleasure! :cheesygrin:Pass XP-10 preamp, Parasound A21 amp, Pioneer Elite DV-58AV (Ric Shultz modded), Audioquest Sky IC's, No longer need my Sunfire sub after mods...
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  • dcoil
    dcoil Posts: 153
    edited April 2013
    I found that I used 14 AWG, 16mH, 1.3ohm from Notrh Creek. http://www.northcreekmusic.com/COILS.html
    SDA SRS modded: X’ovrd, de-polyed, inductorized, interconnectorized, re-posted, dynamited, RDO’d, spiked, gasketed, ringed (Larry's), and grill cloth blinged! Done this on my own? Not a chance. Thanks to Raife and all who forged easy to follow upgrades. At least a 100% improvement in sound and my personal listening pleasure! :cheesygrin:Pass XP-10 preamp, Parasound A21 amp, Pioneer Elite DV-58AV (Ric Shultz modded), Audioquest Sky IC's, No longer need my Sunfire sub after mods...
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  • Alwishus
    Alwishus Posts: 58
    edited April 2013
    dcoil wrote: »
    I found that I used 14 AWG, 16mH, 1.3ohm from Notrh Creek. http://www.northcreekmusic.com/COILS.html

    Sweet- I see you have the SDA SRSs as well. I'm not seeing the 16mh, 1.3 on the price list dcoil....? Custom ?
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  • dcoil
    dcoil Posts: 153
    edited April 2013
    OK, latest update from DK states that keeping the total DCR is no longer essential. Seems like you can use the logical 'bigger is better'!

    "A high DC resistance SDA 16 mH inductor was used to keep the speaker impedance reasonably high for the typical power amplifiers available in the 1980s. Such caution is not required with today's amplifiers. A large gauge 16 mH inductor with very low DCR significantly improved bass response. (DK)"
    SDA SRS modded: X’ovrd, de-polyed, inductorized, interconnectorized, re-posted, dynamited, RDO’d, spiked, gasketed, ringed (Larry's), and grill cloth blinged! Done this on my own? Not a chance. Thanks to Raife and all who forged easy to follow upgrades. At least a 100% improvement in sound and my personal listening pleasure! :cheesygrin:Pass XP-10 preamp, Parasound A21 amp, Pioneer Elite DV-58AV (Ric Shultz modded), Audioquest Sky IC's, No longer need my Sunfire sub after mods...
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  • PolkieMan
    PolkieMan Posts: 2,446
    edited April 2013
    Yea I know, but I do have Carver stuff too, so it's just I try to keep an open mind on everything. I've got a Carver TFM-25 that I paid a lot new for it 1990 which always worked okay but was not stellar in IMHO.

    Let us know how the new amp is, thanks.:smile:

    http://www.audioreview.com/cat/amplification/amplifiers/emotiva/xpa-2/prd_429865_1583crx.aspx
    Alwishus wrote: »
    Polkie...you realize the whole Emo thing gets people ALL fired up. I haven't seen any reviews on this yet though....
    POLK SDA 2.3 TLS BOUGHT NEW IN 1990, Gimpod/Sonic Caps/Mills RDO-198
    POLK CSI-A6 POLK MONITOR 70'S ONKYO TX NR-808 SONY CDP-333ES
    PIONEER PL-510A SONY BDP S5100
    POLK SDA 1C BOUGHT USED 2011,Gimpod/Sonic Caps/Mills RDO-194
    ONKYO HT RC-360 SONY BDP S590 TECHNICS SL BD-1
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