Power Amplifier questions & advice (1 Viewer)

[Craig Beierlein]

A friend of mine is looking at the Sherbourn 5/1500a Power amp (5x200w) and asked me if there was any other products out there that would be a big step up in sound quality. He also noted that some much more expensive amps are lower in power than the Sherbourn and others in the $2,000 and under catagory. Notably the Bryston 9B-ST (or the Lexicons of the same heritage)Integra Research RDA-7, and others. Will these amps sound better even though they are rated at a lower wattage ?
Any suggestions as to what would clearly beat the Sherbourn, or would the improvement from this level be negligible ?

 

[Fred DeGrandis]

I own the 5/1500A, and I am quite pleased. IMO, for the money, you cant beat this amp! If your looking for a desl, Drop me an email at : [email protected]
Fred

 

[Yogi]

I agree that for the money the amp cant be beat. Of course the Bryston 9B-ST, Lexicon, Proceed AMP5 and the Theta Intrepid will beat it in terms of sheer sound quality and dynamics even though they are rated lower. That of course at more that twice the price. So if you consider bang for the buck the Sherbourn is still the winner.

 

[Annette F]

In my system, I felt that the Lexicon NT 512 (same as Bryston 9B-ST THX sounded more musical than the Sherbourn. This amp is very similar to the ATI and Outlaw. The noise floor on my Lexicon is so low!! I optimize that with the balanced inputs. I think that the understated power ratings of 120 watts are a little hard to compare. The Bryston/Lexicons have seperate power supplies so they can really take on the peaks and don't interfere with each other. They are quality through and through!! I don't have any problem driving power-hungry KEF Ref 3's. (The preamp is the Bryston SP-1.7.) The "checkout" slip on my amp states it actually has 157/158 watts per channel.

Will you hear a difference in your friend's system? I can't answer that. As everyone would say, listen to as many as you can, but I doubt they would be unhappy with any of those choices. Yes, there are many nice used Lexicon/Brystons available that put it in the same price range. That's the choice I made! Good luck!

Annette