Hi, I'm new here. This place looks cool.
I bought this amp in december and I must say I'm really pleased with it. I got it from ebay at 99$ plus 28$ shipping which was a great deal. I use it with my computer in the computer room to drive an old pair of bookshelf Mission speakers. It drives them easily at quite loud volume if I want to. I'd say they probably have around 87 db sensitivity, so they're pretty average in that aspect.
The sound is clear and punchy with tight bass and everything else in the right place. I wouldn't call it refined or polished but it's lively and engaging, a bit right-in-your-face if you see what mean.
It's built around a LM4766, but here's a link to their website.
http://www.hllyelectronics.com/html/fm_transmitter_1_174.html It's about big as a full size paperback novel and thus very practical in a small or crowded room. The built quality is excellent and the golden finish has a "retro" look that I like. The only thing that bothers me is that the led is too bright. You can't see where the volume is set at when you look at the face plate.
At normal, comfortably loud volumes, it doesn't get hot at all but only slightly warm. The connectors are of excellent quality and accepted 14 AWG wires with no difficulty, but I wouldn't use bigger wires than that. The volume control seems to be a stepped attenuator but it would be too good to be true. Still, it has the "stepped" feel to it, if you see what I mean.
For the use I make of it (nearfield playing, computer playing mostly OGGs and MP3s) , I have to say that I'm extremely happy with my purchase. I'll eventually try it with my main setup, or maybe I'll buy some higher sensitivity speakers to see what they can do with these. Anyway, I thought it would be a perfect report for a "cheap and cheerful" forum.
