What other amps have that hitachi mosfet sound?

MAD

So here's the story....

Before I got my hands on the polk sda's I thought I was in my audio happy place.

I was running two bridged hitachi hma 8500 mkII connected to a pair of pioneer hpm 500's with that little ribbon and a couple of polk psw 505 (one for each channel).
I love the details and smoothness of this setup. Those little HPM picked up subtle sounds that I've never heard before.

Fast forward,
Last week I picked up a pair of polk sda srs 2.3 with the donut drivers and I fell in love again. Where imaging took on a new meaning as did bass.
Since my Hitachi's can't be bridged as monoblocks while using the SDA cable (I know there is the dreadnaught option spelling?). Are there any other amps that you have experience with that have the hitachi sound?

I went hitachi crazy when I first discovered them... 2x hma 6500, 1 x hma 7500 (MKI) and 3 x ham 8500 (MKII)

They all have a full soundstage, very detailed/fast/smooth, natural.

Are there any amps you could recommend that are 200wps or more that have these attributes?

Thanks for all of the advice,

Mike

Dawgfish

Vintage B&Ks fit the bill nicely. A B&K ST 202 + specifically is a mosfet design and has a nice warm yet detailed sound with outstanding bass and soundstage/imaging. I ran one on a set of SDA-1Cs I had with a tube pre and it was a match made in heaven. The more recent B&K Reference 2002s and 200.2s also have these same characteristics but are not as warm sounding as the earlier ST 202 +.

MAD

Dawgfish, thanks for the reply. I've seen a few B&K's around but have never heard one.
I would love to get my hands on a larger mosfet amp.

Does the st 202 (non plus version) at 150wpc have that same sound... there's one for sale locally but maybe 150wpc isn't enough for the sda?

The hunt begins.....

Glen B

Dawgfish beat me to the punch regarding B&K. My only concern would be about the lack of availability of schematics, and getting service for the brand, since their assets were bought out by ATI.

Another good brand that is often overlooked is Audio by Van Alstine (AVA). Frank Van Alstine makes affordable MOSFET amps that are likely to fit the bill, and you can get service and support.

http://www.avahifi.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106&Itemid=231

Dawgfish

The standard 202 will push your 2.3s just fine. They do have similar sonics with the + version having better bass and dynamics. They are pretty close though. If it is a good deal on the 202 local (depending on condition 200-350ish), I would jump all over it.

Glenn does have a legitimate point about parts and service. I have a local service tech in North GA who has worked on my 202+ in the past (refreshing caps). I gave that amp to a buddy of mine who had it recently repaired a few months ago when some speaker wires got crossed. The same local tech found parts for it and was able to repair it just fine. I know I'm in GA and that doesn't help you out locally, but my point is you can still find parts for them (at least my tech was).

DSkip is right about tubes, as I run mostly tube amps and tube gear in general. The older B&Ks are some of the most tube-like sounding solid state amps however. Like I said earlier if the one local to you is in good shape and priced right, I would jump all over it! It will give you good, clean power for your 2.3s. If you want to see what the tube fuss is all about, pair it with a decent tube pre. If you find that you like the sound (and I honestly don't think you won't) then you can always add a full tube amp in the future to see what all of the fuss is about.

steveinaz

Soundcraftsmen. but they're getting hard to find.

Polkie2009

Didn't Hafler make some massive high output MOSFET power amps? I was thinking some of the old timers around here have used them before in their system.

zane77

Balanced Audio Technologies make mine sing

Glen B

Polkie2009 wrote: »

Didn't Hafler make some massive high output MOSFET power amps? I was thinking some of the old timers around here have used them before in their system.

You're probably thinking of the Hafler DH-500 and XL-600. I've read that the mosfet outputs for the DH500 are now unobtainum. I don't know if that is also true for the XL600. Audio by Van Alstine does complete DH500 and XL600 rebuilds with new modern MOSFETs. A rebuilt DH500 become an AVA "Insight+500", and XL600 becomes the "Insight+600".

rmaiers

NOS Hafler MOSFETs were available on ebay for a while and I was considering buying some in case I had problems with my Hafler DH-200 and DH-500. After researching I decided against because my understanding is the Hafler MOSFETs rarely fail. I have the DH-500 paired with my SDA-2Bs and the DH-200 with some RTA-12Bs. The Haflers do a great job.

MAD

Thanks for all of the choices... it will probably come down to what comes up in my area...

side note

It turned out my hitachi hma 8500 mk II is a common ground amp... I did the continuity test on the negative
terminals and it sounds very lifelike detailed through the SDAs. Loving the sound

George Grand

steveinaz wrote: »

Soundcraftsmen. but they're getting hard to find.

I know. I had to go all the way over into The Magic Closet to find one. PCM840 200wpc Mosfet job.

Timothy Smith

Thumbs way up on the B&K ST-202+.

I currently have one and prefer it to similar amps I have owned or still do: Adcom 555, Carver TFM35, HK Citation 16, Rotel 1080, and SUMO Andromeda (close).
I also have and like tubes, and it does have that type of sound. The bass is outstanding.