sunfire stereo amp?

warviper

Hi there guys been looking for an amp that is at least 250 watts per at 8ohms and stable down to 4 ohms and this buddy of mine says that I can get this sunfire amp for about 950.00 no box but it will come with the full five year warranty and I was wondering what you guys think about it. I have been looking at krells, bryston, bats, and mf gear at about double the price but with the same watts. I dont wanna get an amp that i will need to upgrade latter. The next one I buy should last me a long time Im hoping. Thanx for the feed back.

Airplay355

sunfire makes nice powerful stuff...i wish i had the cash to spend on sunfire gear

PolkWannabie

To the best of my knowledge Sunfire's warrantee is not transferable.

I have used the Sunfire GC II Sig's for HT ( 425 wpc ) and like them very much. Both these and the stereo amps can usually be found on eBay or Audiogon.

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1085694020

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1085447640

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1083869415

etc ...

Tour2ma

For a couple hundred more the 5 x 200 wpc Cinema grands are available used (~$1100). Instant bi-amp with one channel to spare.

warviper

Thanx for the feed back. This amp is a demo model in store so I would be the original owner. I think my concern is about the sonic clarity that the sunfire has to offer compared with the other names that I mentioned. The reviews on sunfire amps have been mixed and I am cautious in it because of the reviews. Never thought about the whole bi amp in a single amp route. Trying to move towards seperates without breaking the bank. This amp is going to be used on some Sdas that I hope that I will be adding in the not to distant future, so pure stereo is prefered.

dorokusai

I have heard a couple Sunfire amplifiers, and was very pleased with the sound. They are definetly on my cool list.

jmasterj

Warviper,

I have just what you're looking for for less money. If you're interested. Right now I have a newly refurbished Carver TFM 35x
rated at 250x2 into 8 ohms, 350x2 into 4 ohms, brigded 700 watts into 8 ohms all at .5 %THD

It's on it's way from Sunfire's factory in Snohomish, WA as of today. I purchased it on Ebay, and sent it to Sunfire/ Carver to be repaired. I also have a C-2 Preamp that I got from Ebay that I have yet to send. I already have the return authorization number for the preamp. Total cost for the amp has been about $500.00
so far that's including repair and shipping. If you're interested make me an offer.

warviper

Thanx for the offer Jmasterj not sure what you want for the amp you did not mention the condition on the amp so i would not feel right making an offer on it. Maybe you could take pics and give a price Im sure that if its a good deal then if not myself then some one else would be glad to pick it up. Im gonna try to hold out and if the price can drop anymore on the Sunfire. I was just curious how it stands compared to like the Krell ksa250. Even used the krell is twice as much I was hoping some out there has had an opprotunity to compare both side by side and have a strong feeling about it. Thanx again for the feed back.

PolkWannabie

In amps at this level it's more about personal taste than anything else.

It is of course difficult to find anything that's really much better than Krell amps especially the mono's. They are excellent at driving difficult speakers, but they throw off more than their share of heat and weigh a ton, so if you are thinking about going this route then make sure you have a heavy duty rack or amp stand(s) and watch out for the fins.

The worrisome part about the Sunfire's are the traditional specs i.e. Class D with not particularly low THD etc. That being said though if one can for a moment ignore the traditional specs than imho they have no real short comings in listening especially when matched with speakers that are not particularly difficult to drive and they have the added benefit of light weight and running relatively cool.

If money, power requirements, heat and weight are no object than I'd take the Krell over the Sunfire but it's never this simple is it ?

I would suggest that if the dealer that has the Sunfire also has other amps that you are interested in that you do your own side by side test with familiar source material on familiar speakers. You MIGHT even consider trucking the mains you have there for listening if they don't carry anything that your ears are very familiar with.

EDIT: PS ... I should add that I use Sunfire GC II Sig amps in my HT setup and like them very much.

disneyjoe7

I was looking to hear Sunfire. But when I when to that store whose website said they did carry Sunfire they said no longer. They said that Sunfire is not good on the low end weak. I did hear Adcom which I was impressed with but could compare to Sunfire.

This is in the Orlando, FL.

PolkWannabie

I find that dealers comment surprising. They have no trouble rocking a good sized room here on the low end when hooked up to RTi12's without the benefit of a sub and with large openings to adjacent areas.

disneyjoe7

I thought their comments where a little odd to me also. They said they wouldn't carrier Sunfire any longer, this is a high end store. They do many custom jobs around "O" town.

Originally posted by PolkWannabie
I find that dealers comment surprising. They have no trouble rocking a good sized room here on the low end when hooked up to RTi12's without the benefit of a sub and with large openings to adjacent areas.

PolkWannabie

Maybe not enough profit margin ?

As should be witnessed by how much new Sunfire gear shows up for sale on the net it would seem that they are not as picky about how those sales get made as a lot of other higher end manufacturers. As a result I would think that this would affect markups and such for dealers i.e. why should I pay $4000 for a new amp from an authorized dealer when some dealer is selling the same amp NIB though someone on the internet for $2500.

So, just a thought but what some dealer may say about Sunfire may be different than their motivations.

Tour2ma

I can also attest to the Sunfires' low end capabilities... They've got it in the Voltage output mode. In the Current output mode, the lows do soften some, but that's by desugn, mimicing a tube amp.

The solution is to bi-wire/ amp (with the 5 ch amps you can do either) with the current feeding the tweeters and voltage driving the mid-woofs. This really works well.

This can also be done bi-wiring the 2 ch.

As for the spec concerns... normally you are operating at such a low percentage of the amps capabilities that THD is not an issue.

warviper,
What model is it that you are being offered?

warviper

Its called the Sunfire Stereo amplifier. Ill get the link at aaudiogon.Here it is

oops it a link to audioreview.com.

madmax

That amp is often called the Sunfire 300. I have one here. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of equipment I own. I can't imagine you wouldn't be thrilled with it. It is a real powerhouse and drives the SDA's with ease. I'm into tubes now but I still keep it around for future subwoofer duty. I don't think you could go wrong with it. That is a pretty average price but if the warranty is worth it to you I would say to go for it! I think the best price you might find is maybe $850-$900 but that would not have a warranty and you would have to take a chance on the seller.
madmax

Tour2ma

Nice... 300 wpc with ~140 amperes peak to peak, and linear to 4 ohm with ability to drive 1 ohm for limited times...

$900 is a good price. I've only seen one go on ebay for less than that, and it was $760. Most go between $1000 and 1400.

madmax

$1400 !!! I would throw mine out of the window today for $1400

warviper

Thanx guys Ill get it this sunday. But my main question is that is there a sound greatly improved sound difference compared with lets say a pure class A of the same watts per channel.

madmax

A Class A power amp is superior to a class ab amp in that there is no crossover distortion. Imagine the heat from a class A amp of that power rating though!

If you are looking for the "BEST" amp I would suggest tubes...

madmax

PolkWannabie

WV,

As I think I said a number of post back, at this level it's all about personal preference. Personal preference comes from what you hear and how you hear it. If X sounds better than Y to you, IT IS better.

If that doesn't do it for you then you can't go wrong with this nice used pair of mono's and they're only about 600 pounds a piece.

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1084083005

Tour2ma

FAAAAAK... Fed Ex freight on those puppies was $2000.

disneyjoe7

Well that look a bit OVER KILL for my RTi150's :eek:

Tour2ma

I dunno... you know how hungry those 150's are...

warviper

Madmax is that sunfire a class A/b or is it a class d. If it were a tube to get about the same power rating it would need to be about 15 watts a channel right. I would test more equipment but my current lifestlye does not allow that. Lol if I had 60k to blow on music I would buy alot more than just an amp. Nice to dream though.

F1nut

Forget those Krell's, these are the new "King of the Hill"

http://www.musicalfidelity.com/kwframeset.html

"The kW stretches the boundaries of technical performance but, as ever, this is only half the story. The good news is that the subjective performance matched facts and figures.

The first aspect of the kW to impress was the scale of the presentation. The amplifier seems to move the art of three-dimensional imaging on to a completely new plane. As well as superb spatial definition, each ‘node’ of the soundstage appeared to be totally rhythmically, tonally and dynamically independent... The illusion that the music was being created live in front of me was so far ahead of anything I’ve experienced before, it was really quite sobering..."

PolkWannabie

Originally posted by F1nut
The illusion that the music was being created live in front of me was so far ahead of anything I’ve experienced before, it was really quite sobering..."

And so is the price tag, lol ... not to mention ... "Musical Fidelity is planning to build only 75 examples of these."

Get 'em while they're hot.