Amplifier/power recommendation for vintage SDAs

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  • ddog
    ddog Posts: 230
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    I've have two of those exact 35x that I bought new in 98 and they are both running as strong as they did out of the box. They are very strong amps. The lights are no big deal, you can get the upgrade light kit off Ebay for cheap.

    If they are in good working order... that's a great deal..

    Like @audioluvr said... you only need one.. but I'm sure they will have no problem driving your speakers abridged. I've used them to drive passive subs with no problems...
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  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,555
    edited May 2019
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    Don't bridge that TFM it also raises the noise floor.
    Yes in stereo it is rated at 350 @4 ohm. But that goes out the window when you bridge them into monos.
    They dislike below 8 ohm bridged.
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  • Joshwest90
    Joshwest90 Posts: 109
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    My thoughts were one 35 for the SDA-1A and one for the SDA-2A. I wasn’t sure if you could put the 2A and CRS on the same amp or not so I figured I would gain more from the 2A being powered.
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  • Joshwest90
    Joshwest90 Posts: 109
    edited May 2019
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    Thank you all for the great advice and info!
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  • RobbyKY
    RobbyKY Posts: 117
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    If you want more power, take a deep breath and wait on a nice TFM-55 or M-4.0t to come up for sale. Both will do everything you'll ever need power-wise without going down the bridged-mono path but will need refreshed to get peak performance out of them. Listen to the rumors as bridging TFMs really impacts the sound and not in a good way (least to my ears). I've had most of the more common Carver offerings and still own 1.0t, 1.5t, 4.0t and -55 amps. Most have now been rebuilt or at least recapped. The cubes were the only versions I never really cared for but, full disclosure, didn't use them with SDA speakers.

    Carver & Polk do work well together but they are not the end of the sonic rainbow as I once thought. My current daydreaming path is to treat myself and go down the Parasound yellow brick road this fall. Liking the new A21+ specs but have been drooling over JC-1 monoblocks hooked up to 1.2tl's for years.
    Media Room: Parasound JC-5, Cambridge 851N, Schiit Freya, SDA SRS 1.2tl
    Game Room: Carver M4.0t, Carver C-4000, Oppo BDP-105, SDA SRS 1.2tl
    Bar/Card Room: Carver TFM-55, Carver C-1(BillD), Oppo BDP-93, SDA SRS 3.1
    Son's Room: Carver TFM-55, Carver C-1(BillD), Laptop/AQ Dragonfly, SDA SRS 3.1
    Bedroom: McIntosh MC150, Cambridge CXN, SDA 2Btl
    Outdoor Pool Area: Yamaha R-N803 with four Polk Atrium 6
    HT: Polk RTi A9s, CSi-A6, RT-65, RTi-A3's, Marantz SR5012, XPA3, UDP-203, Epson 5040UB


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