Suggestions besides Sunfire Cinema Grand?

jrlouie

I'm highly considering a Sunfire Cinema Grand 200~5 for my Lsi setup. I'd like to ask suggestions for amps with the following criteria...

near equivalent power (200@8ohms / 400@4ohms)

apparently there is something to be said for an amp that doubles output at 1/2 the impedance and the sufire does that, so something similar there

equivalent (or better) in your opinion in quality

max price $2500 new or $1500 used

suggestions only for 5.1 Lsi setup (other speakers do not apply)

no taller than 8 inches

prefer 5-channel amp, rather than 6 or 7

Thanks!

hoosier21

no taller than 8", hard one there.

If you can do something, the earthquage amps are killer.

sickicw

I was kinda in the same frame of mind when I bought my lsi speakers. An amp that can double the output as the impedance is halved is a very noticeable improvement.

My main concert was that I wanted to cross over my lsi9s at 60hz but when using my outlaw amp, the frequency roll off on the low end started way before 60hz, and their was a very noticeable gap between where my subwoofer started and where my lsi9 left off.

The lsi9 can dip down to 2.4 ohms, so that means I needed an amp that could double the power all the way down to 2 ohms. Now that’s just not going to be possible on that kind of budget without being inventive. So what I did was bought the highest quality car amplifier that I could find, and hooked it up to a 1 Farad capacitor and a used (from ebay) 55 amp power converter. Worked perfectly. The only temporary problem is that it doesn’t look quite as nice as a home audio amp, but that problem will soon be solved when I rewire it and put the power converter in its own case. Depending on what amp you buy, you could probably put it in a case along with the converter and cap that would be under 8 inches. Car audio amp are pretty thin, and the converter is about 5 inches tall.

Also, I did look into the sunfire amp (didn’t listen to it), but decided against it because it is a class D amp and I heard many reviews about loud switch noise, static in speakers, and terrible at high frequencies (which makes since because it is class D).

Frank Z

Only 300 watts though...
http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/755.html

sickicw

Oh and by the way for my other speakers (crossed over at 80hz), i use the onkyo 703 for the rears, and a outlaw 755 for my center only. Haven’t decided if I’m going to add better amplification to the other channels yet. I mainly hooked up the onkyo reciever to my rears just so it doesn't get so hot being used only as a pre amp.

jrlouie

Sounds like the only other recommendation fitting my needs is the Outlaw. I actually was wanting the Outlaw before I investigated the Sunfire. Since then I've learned of the Sunfire's capabilities and kind of became partial to it.
The problem is, it is going to be hard to find a Sunfire to demo in my area. My only hesitation is statements I've read about noise on the amp.
Obviously, the Outlaw is online only, so that'll be hard to demo also. Although, I have two M200s. So if the 755 sounds like the M200s, then I already know what it'll sound like.

unc2701

Big surprise, but I'm gonna say: Bryston! You can probably find a used 9bST for that price and it'll hand the Sunfire it's ****, even though it's only advertised as 125 into 8 Ohm. Mine tested at 155 watts with 0.005%THD, so if you actually drove it to the 0.5% THD that Sunfire advertises, it's gonna be getting close to 200 watts. 5.25" tall or 3 rack spaces.

polkatese

This is an amp that I recently upgraded to:

www.gemstoneaudio.com

They have 5 channels within your price range. But be forewarned that it is massive! double-down to 400watts @ 4ohms. Class A - A/B

Please search for my earlier threads on the subject for a short impression.

Skynut

Sherbourn 5/5210?
I got the 7/2100 and love it.
Both are 200wpc @ 8ohms and 300wpc@ 4ohms min sine wave continuous output.(whatever that means I am reading straight from the owners manual)
Less than .05% thd@ 8ohms and .075%@ 4 ohms.

Skynut

Oh yeah mine can be had for around $1500.00 used.

Edit.
Ok not "MINE" but the Sherbourn in general.

Also be forewarned it weighs 115#.

McLoki

I just want to say - if you can find one - Cinepro rocks. (and is 8" high)

6 channel amp - (you can bridge it to a 3 channel amp if you want to)

Output Power....... .350 WPC/8 OHMS (typ. 450W)
500 WPC/4 OHMS (typ. 670W)
1000 WATTS MONO (1400 @ 4 ohms)

Dynamic headroom... >3.5 dB! (Typ. 850 watts @ 8 ohms, 1100 watts @ 4 ohms)

Peak Current... 120 amps per channel (720 amps total) .1sec pulse, .5 ohms
Damping Factor ...Over 1000 (!) (10Hz-1kHz)

Michael

sickicw

might want to look into a used krell amp as well.