I have an old Adcom GFA-545 in another system, so I decided to give it a try in place of the 8-watt MiniMax. It's a 100-watt stereo amplifier. The Adcom isn't in the same league with the MiniMax as far as overall sonics and low-level detail. The MiniMax presents ALL of the music in great detail well below the 9-o'clock position, which is sometimes where I listen if it's late at night and the kids are sleeping. The MiniMax's midrange is also just mind boggling, which I'm sure is a combination of the MiniMax and Omegas. Otmar Liebert & Lune Negra Live (Greatest Hits) just went dead/flat with the Adcom. And, the beautiful vocals of Allison Krauss, Norah Jones, Mindy Smith, and Margo Timmons developed a nasty hiss and lost the liquid smoothness always delivered by the MiniMax.
Alright, enough beating up on my poor Adcom. It served me well during college and it did help to sort out some issues with my Omegas. I don't know if it's the power or solid state thing as suggested by Mike, but the new Diana Krall CD came to life. That is, the string bass and piano came to life. The Adcom picked up where the MiniMax left off up in the 95dB to 100dB range. The music (excuse the layman's terms) just seemed filled out and had weight. I discovered new-found bass, which quite frankly surprised me. I'll even go so far and say that my little Omegas with F120A drivers developed some slam
. The piano and bass seemed more stable in space as well
.
As you've all pointed out to me, 100dB is very loud. And, if the F120A is cabable of 103dB or slightly more, as suggested, than that's more than enough for me.
So, where do I go from here? I want the overall sonic quality, clarity, midrange, smoothness, and low-level detail and presentation of the MiniMax. But, I also want what I heard with the larger solid state amplifier.
Will I have to give up sound quality (i.e., musical detail) with power? And, I really don't want to lose the musical midrange by going to solid state - if that's always the case. Mike, you suggested the Audio Zone Amp-1, which is 45 watts and also capable of 100-watt peaks. I'm sure this is more than enough. I see at Underwood HiFi that they also make an Amp-2, which I think are monoblocks.
Thanks again for all the help. Underwood HiFi is just a few miles away from me, so I'll probably go check out the Amp-1/2. Also, I see at Audio Classics a McIntosh MC-162 (160 watts) for $1,829. Anyone know anything about this amplifier? All that power seems like throwing a sledgehammer at my little Omegas. It can't possibly have the low-level finesse and detail of the MiniMax, can it? Is McIntosh like B&W (no offense intended)
?
Jim