A friend of mine told me about his Modwright setup that is the KWA-150+LS36.5 and is so impressed, I had to get the KWI-200 since as I understand it, it exceeds the KWA-100SE and that alone w/options for a dac and all in one solution was good enough for me.
I listen to a lot of everything, from jazz to guitar to metal to classical, etc. etc. etc. I have heard a lot of amplifiers, and currently have some amplifiers that have been put up against the 50K? Lamm 3's, and they did not exactly do bad by comparison. To the contrary, they were equally competitive. Given what my friend told me about the Modwright and knowing the tons of amps/equipment he has heard, I had to take the chance and purchase this integrated.
All in all, this one keeps up with my reference amp and then some. Its primary strength is how it is capable of effortlessly producing the resolution regardless of power output. This puts it, in my book, up there with the better amps on the market. This one is at a level where you really start to become subjective about what amp is better or worse because all the resolution is there and it's hard to fault any areas of tonal issues or any areas of issues whatsoever.
I find the $5K price to be a real bargain to say the least. If the amp was $20-$100K, put into some fancier case (it's already got beautiful looks as is), and had whatever brand put onto it, I would put down everything I have that a reviewer would never know it was actually "only" a 5K amp.
I'm so happy with this level of sound at such a low price, I am going to go with the KWA-150 when I can collect enough funds.
Not sure if this helps anyone, but hopefully those looking for a cheaper amplifier that truly does put them into the world of the big boys will consider this one. It really does hit it out of the park as the one reviewer stated.
Cheers!
