Is this a new digital amp or something older I missed?

Rob Babcock · « **on:** 25 Jul 2004, 05:14 pm »

http://www.savinglots.com/lotprod.asp?item=SX9860

Here's one I've never seen before. I'd wonder if it was a spoof if I didn't see it for sale a half dozen places. Weird thing is I can't find it on anywhere on Sharps website (although it could be a foreign product).

If it's even half as decent as it seems it'd be a hell of a deal. 150 wpc digital goodness for $180?

Dmason, what say you? I hate to be the guinea pig, but 3 of these babies might be just the ticket in my system...assuming they're a currently available product.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #1 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 03:51 am »

C'mon! One of you digital guru's must've heard of this amp!

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 04:12 am »

Wow, beats me, never saw it or heard of it before. I've never seen such little information on an item, tho. A search turns up the same few dribbling lines of specs on it.

Come on Robert, you be the guinea this time

I think I saw it for $164.95 online as the lowest.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 04:14 am »

WOW! Inquiring minds need to know! You can get cosmetically damaged ones for a song!

I think sharp was one of the first ones to come out with digital amps for their mini systems. I don't know if I can stomach the risk on my budget though.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #4 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 04:19 am »

Really? Who has the "cosmetically damaged" ones? I see that many of the dealers are all the same place. If I'm gonna be the guinea pig, help me find the cheap ones!

ABEX · « **Reply #5 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 04:43 am »

That unit does not show up on their USA site so imagine it is to new to tell what's up with it.

I did a search using a few engines and it has nothing except who caries it online. It looks big ,but I have not seen the real dimensions.

Would like to know more!

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #6 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 06:54 am »

Well, ooheadsoo, I decided to give it a shot. Thanks for the heads up. Hopefully it's not damaged to the point of not being serviceable. If it's a decent amp I'll buy two more, and if not I'm only out $85.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #7 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 07:54 am »

Very cool. Hopefully, for everyone's sake, this will be a tripath or similar steal.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #8 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 08:10 am »

I could see it go either way. At an MSPR of $299 most people wouldn't expect much, but Panasonic & JVC pack six amp modules into the box for the same price.

What's intriguing too is that given it's shape, you'd expect some empty space in that case, ie plenty of room to mod (better parts/ps/connectors/wire).

God, I hope this thing turns out to be nice!

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #9 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 08:33 am »

For us separates guys though, I see it as an alternative to the teac 30w unit for $99. For a modest increase in price, we could potentially gain a lot of headroom. Some of us may not be ready to let go of their preamps yet

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #10 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 08:47 am »

Oh, I agree. I'm just saying that although it sounds like a really cheap amp, it's actually 3X as expensive as a JVC! At msrp, at least. What I'm trying to do is convince myself that there could be something approaching "build quality" to this amp!

If it's halfway decent, there's probably a lot of room to mod it. And what gear can be taken seriously before it's modded!

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #11 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 08:49 am »

BTW, I emailed the other vendor a request to pricematch the first site. If they go for it, maybe I'll buy 'em both. I'm not really very rich right now, but I'm in the mood to take a chance.

I'm really curious about the power spec. I says 150 wpc, and it later says 8 ohms, but I'm wondering if it's really 150 wpc at 8 ohms. Almost all the digital amps I've seen (except the spendy ones) are rated for 4 or 6 ohms to make them look more powerful. Again, not to get ahead of myself (I mean, they could be junk) they're cheap enough that I could conceivably buy enough to passively biamp the front speakers, with one more to run the rears.

StevenACNJ · « **Reply #12 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 10:19 am »

The amp does look interesting at that price. What are the dimentions?

Dmason · « **Reply #13 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 04:10 pm »

"SX" to me means it is one of their 1-bit digital amps, which sport ultra high frequency rates, and sound awfully good, as the owners of those little SX all in one jobs got on closeout.

150 wpc for that kind of $ means it is a good deal. That thing could provide ALOT of grunt if it is as they say it is....I look forward to hearing it, and to Rob being a Guinea Pig. You write so well!

Andrikos · « **Reply #14 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 04:16 pm »

Wow!
I'm very intrigued. I can't wait for Rob to report back.
After his review, I foresee a flurry of purchases!

Horizons · « **Reply #15 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 04:18 pm »

Thanks Rob for taking the plunge. I will be waiting for your review as I will probably pull the trigger on these too.

These amps could be the digital find of 2004.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #16 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 04:19 pm »

I never thought life could be so frustrating; the deals are flying at me left and right and there're just not enough pennies in the piggy bank! Just as I'm planning to build new speakers, I saw the upgrade to my current speakers being sold on ebay last night for not a whole lot, but more than I can currently spare!

Considering they originally sold for more than 10x that much and still currently sell for over 5x that much, I'm definitely pretty disappointed in my hollow sounding piggy bank at the moment.

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #17 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 04:26 pm »

Go, Rob, go...do it

You know you want to....

nhtran · « **Reply #18 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 05:52 pm »

False alarm guys. Neither savinglots.com nor bsless.com have any of the amps in stock. Damn! Damn! Damn!

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #19 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 06:29 pm »

I see that.

We'll see if I got mine. If so, I may have gotten one of he last; one of the last dealers to have one refused to match price, and by late this afternoon it was gone.

Assuming they filled my order (got a confirmation that they did, for what that's worth), but we'll see. Looks like we may have to look elsewhere.

How soon til we see a 5 x 150 or better MC Digital amp for $1000? It sure would be very feasible.