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which amps do you guys recommend to power a pair of NS-10s? hopefully there are a few that aren't too expensive.

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audiowkstation Tue, 02/11/2003 - 14:57

Sure!

Rotel 1050, 1070, 1090

For Old School used

Crown DC300A
Crown DC150A
Crown D75

Yamaha CA810II
Yamaha CA610
Yamaha CA1010
Yamaha B2
Yamaha 2500

Adcom GFA 535, 545,555,5100

Alesis RA300 is getting rave reviews.

Any 50 watt or better Sansui Receiver set Flat if a 771, 881, 991, 7070, 8080, 9090, G series, R series or Z series. (these have poweramp inputs to separate the pre and poweramps)

Dynaco ST70 for tubes

If using upward of 100 watts/channel, put an inline fuse on the +lead of 2.0 Amp quick acting to save the speakers (tweeters) in the event of feedback.

Other amps if you get lucky.

McIntosh 2105, 2125.
Sansui AU717, AU919, AU10000, AU20000
Dynaco Stereo 400
Nikko Alpha 1
Pioneer Spec 1
Marantz 7B pair (just kidding, they got ultra expensive)

Any of the RAMSA amplifiers.

Hope this helps. I recommend all of them...unfortunantly of all of them, the Alesis is the only new one I recommend based on other users comments.

If you get hard up, give me an email or call and leave a message. I may have something you would be pleased with for a C and a half.

audiowkstation Tue, 02/11/2003 - 17:45

..ja, I broke that aerosmith album long ago...

I have been a reviewer of consumer and professional equipment (mainly amplifiers) for 26 years now.

The ones listed are ones that are memorable.

Fats is right about Davids' equipment (Hafler)

I built several DH220's in stereo and Mono form as well as (8) DH500's.

They are very nice amps.

If he can find hafler amps that are stock, go for it. Most of the used hafler has been modded and deemed (by me) not worthy.

If you improve on Davids designs, you are a dog chasing its tail. All the mods in the world may do something here or there but the entire balance of the design is now skewed and this means if you put it back to bone stock, you have reached the final improvement.

It is too bad that almost all the used Hafler gear (especially the ones in Kit form) are either modifyed or out of calibration. This is one reason I did not mention them. Luck of the draw is to either get an assembled Kit by a pro or to buy a new one.

Fats, In my experience, the newer Hafler gear has some cheaper stuff in there to cut corners. Perhaps I need to request another review piece and see if the new stuff can be deemed "the good stuff" as well.

cjenrick , what are you looking for? Perhaps I can help. I have some spares that have passed my test of worth.

I got some stuff laying around. Tell me what you seek. I could use more room.

KurtFoster Tue, 02/11/2003 - 17:58

I have 3 Hafler P3000's and they have all work just fine. They sound decent and have been reliable. I have used them in Stereo and in Bridged Mono and as I said they are fine. Not super high end but good for project studio and small commercial studio work. Fats
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tannoy, Dynaudio, Blue Sky, JBL, Earthworks, Westlake, NS 10's :D , Genelec, Hafler, KRK, and PMC
Those are good. …………………….. Pick one.
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audiowkstation Tue, 02/11/2003 - 18:41

Tech? LOL...Sorry..did not mean to laugh. If I had a dollar for every pound of solder I have melted, we both me and you, along with Fats could do all you can eat Lobster at the Breakers were it is not cheap! I had to put two basket cases together of a DC300 (with no Sche) to get this one!

Actually, I have a few amps, all working fine, bias current fine (hehe) that are just hanging.

One question since I got you here...I really am sure you are a better tech than me, reason why? you say you are a tech. I am just a solder slinger. It is like this. What is the difference from a bassist and a cat that plays bass? A bassist gigs. Well I don't gig in the tech world...but when I get in the mood, watch out!

The DC300A when running close to IOC (blinking at times...maybe 1% of the time on good material, with a nominal 6 ohm load, at about 5 hrs, you cannot hardly touch the son of a bitch. I know it has sophisticated circuitry (I got a sev man PDF) for thermal overload, it is well ventalated and never shut down thermally...but dam. With my photoinfrarometor, it is around 65C at the sincs.

Can I tune the idle current or something to keep this beast from getting this fucking hot? WOW, it is up there. I have practally fire proof hands and at 4 seconds on the sincs, I still cannot get equal transfer of heat to dissapation ratio to the hand...it keeps coming on!!

My therory has always been if your hand can find the point of equal dissapation thermodynamically within 4 seconds, transistors are not deteriorating.

Have you priced 16 finals for the DC300A?

Ouch!!!

So, without me resorting to ice bags on the amp or turning it down, what is your prognosis Doctor???

Ok.

I got many questions.

Go for it.

No roaches in the chamber either.

cjenrick Tue, 02/11/2003 - 19:24

The rule we use around here is that if you can touch it for a few seconds, then it's not getting too hot. You are obviously getting good heat transfer so I would rule out regreasing (or new heat pads) the power transistors. How hot is the power tranny getting? If your speakers are dragging a lot of bass current, this could be getting things hot. You might want to look at the ripple on the power supply with a scope when your really cranking it. If it's bad, some new lytics might be in order. They work pretty hard in an amp like that. Transistors don't last forever,and you might have poartially damaged them, causing excessive leakage current. How old is the thing? You might want to scopre the output to look for crossover distortion. There should be an adjustment for this. Crap, this should be over at tech talk, oh well, life's short. Hope this helps. Those things are hard to kill, but your speakers may not be!

Gary Gidak Wed, 02/12/2003 - 05:32

Hi folks,

I bought an Alesis Ra-300 (I mistakenly thought it was an Rs-300 at first - but there is no such model number) last week, and I really like it. I did have some low end problems initially until Bill advised me to crank it up to max, and that solved my thin bass sound. I really like the amp. Nice clean sound, no fan, and RCA, TRS, and XLR inputs. I got it at GC for $279 (US).

Bowisc Wed, 02/12/2003 - 06:18

I have an old Kenwood KA-8100. I believe that's the model number.

Does anyone know if I could put this to good use to power a secondary set of monitors?

This was given to me back in 1990 from a good friend. I don't know how long his dad had this integrated amp for, but it seems to work fine in my home-stereo set-up.

Bowisc

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