[Kevin C Brown]

Got to thinking about what I would move to next from what I have now, whether 6 months from now, or more likely , years from now.

I have an Acurus A200 and A200x5 for 7.1. Love 'em. But like all people in this hobby, just interested in what I would go for next.

Ground rules: solid state, one stereo plus one 5 channel amp, 200W/channel is what I have and a benchmark, but not in stone.

I kind of rank all these makers similarly to Acurus: B&K, Anthem, ATI, Outlaw, Sherbourn, & Rotel.

These, I put a notch above: Cinepro, Proceed, Krell, Bryston, Aragon, & Threshold.

The 1st catagory is in the $400-500/channel new range, $200-250/channel used. The 2nd, I don't know, maybe pushing $750/ch new, and $500/ch used? (Usually, stereo amps are a little more per channel, 5 ch a little less.) Not looking to spend $10g's on an amp!

My rating/ranking is based on (somewhat) my own use, professional mag reviews, audioreview.com, ecoustics.com, and here of course.

There are 4 manufacturers I would definately *not* buy from (poor reliability, poor performance, etc), but that isn't really the point. The real point is, is in your opinion, to get to a definate difference in quality and performance from what I have, at just a slightly higher cost, what would you suggest?

Got to admit, Bryston and their 20 year warranty at this stage of the game, certainly has me intrigued.

[Ricky T]

Kevin,

Great post. I would probably agree with your classifications (even though the quality of the models can vary within some brands and perhaps "crossover" into the next tier), and think that within each group one would buy simply on price attained and personal cosmetics/brand preferance. Also, what are your speakers and their sensitivities? Do you really need 200 watts?

[Yogi]

I'd rate them in the following manner based primarily on my own personal listening experience and secondarily on mag reviews and price.

Level I: Rotel, B&K, Parasound, Anthem, ATI, Sherbourn, Odyssey, Outlaw, Acurus, Cinepro, Cinenova, Aragon.

Level II: Krell KAV series, CAL, Bryston, CJ, Marsh Sound, SIM Audio. Musical Fidelity.

Level III: Theta, Proceed, BAT, Pass, Mark Levinson, Krell FPB series.

You could further divide the amps into sub levels, but this I think is the broadest classification IMHO. I am sure others will divide them up differently.

My 2 cents.

[RichardHOS]

I'd rank them in this order:

Tied for first:

Rotel, B&K, Parasound, Anthem, ATI, Sherbourn, Odyssey, Outlaw, Acurus, Cinepro, Cinenova, Aragon, Krell KAV series, CAL, Bryston, CJ, Marsh Sound, SIM Audio. Musical Fidelity, Theta, Proceed, BAT, Pass, Mark Levinson, Krell FPB series.

[Ron_L]

what about Adcom?

where do they fit in the catagory?

[Russell _T]

Richard HOS,
Buy the man a cigar, you nailed it.

[Mike Fenech]

Kevin,

Why would Bryston be intriguing with its 20-yr warranty if you're continually upgrading over time?

No one has mentioned Sunfire...?

[Chu Gai]

perhaps because the user transferrable warranty increases the resale value?

[RajeeK]

Quote:

Rotel, B&K, Parasound, Anthem, ATI, Sherbourn, Odyssey, Outlaw, Acurus, Cinepro, Cinenova, Aragon, Krell KAV series, CAL, Bryston, CJ, Marsh Sound, SIM Audio. Musical Fidelity, Theta, Proceed, BAT, Pass, Mark Levinson, Krell FPB series.

Although not all may agree with RichardHOS on this. I think any of these amps are very very good and certainly on the high end of any system. Personally I think the best value for the money is within the first 10 or so. Once you start moving beyond that, the law of dimishing returns really starts to kick in. If ya got the cash and ya don't mind parting with it, you can certainly win bragging rights. But for best value/performace look to tier I, IMO.

[Kevin C Brown]

Yeah. :b What RHOS said. Maybe it's just upgradeitis again.

Yogi, interesting that you rank Proceed in catagory III though. (And also interesting that you put Aragon into I. I actually had an 8008x3 in my system for a month last year, and couldn't detect any differences from the Acurus.)

And, what Chu said. Plus the fact, that because Bryston actually does offer a *transferrable* 20 year warranty, they must have a lot of confidence in their design out in the field.

Ricky- For brands like Bryston and Proceed for example, I wouldn't mind dropping the 200W/ch "requirement." (Informally priced the Bryston 3b and 9b over the past few days, as well as the Lex versions. But I haven't actually come across pix of the Lexes yet.)

[NickSP]

I hereby blatantly ditto RichardHOS' post.