[bzaggie]

I just recently placed my order for a pair of ht2's and i need to find an amp for them. I am going to be using a Denon 988 as the preamplifier for now, and i have heard that the ht2's are fairly efficient but i do want to get the most out of them. Im willing to spend up to 2-2.2k but i would love to find one in the 1-1.5 range. I have heard the anthem mca50 with some paradigms and also rotels and mac's with b&w speakers, and to me they all sounded good. I have also been researching Emotiva, AVA, and Parasound amps. Also if someone knows if there is a difference between the parasound Halo a21 and a23 besides the obvious increase in power. I am also going to be integrating the ht2's into a HT system eventually as well if that makes any difference.

[Toka]

Salk speakers and Van Alstine electronics go very well together, and the Insight amps are right in your price range. I stopped looking once I came across Frank's stuff.

[MichiganMike]

With regard to the difference between Parasound A21 and A23, I have read that the two have some similarities in the circuit design, but John Curl was involved directly with the A21 design. 

See following post by John Curl at diyaudio forum:
"Serious listeners should get the A21 or the JC-1 monoblocks. That is where I put my best effort.
The A23 uses my design, but not my direct input. 2 means 2 ch, 3 means cheaper."

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:xTYV5H9WDcQJ:www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php%3Fthreadid%3D116329+curl+A21+A23+diy.com&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us

The A21 is also reported to have a higher Class A output (8 watts). 
http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/amplifiers/parasound-halo-a-21/halo-a-21-amplifier-build-quality-continued 

[zybar]

Pete (BigRedMachine) seems very, very happy with the Wyred For Sound amps.  Since Pete has tried quite a few amps on various Salk models, that seems like a pretty strong recommendation.

I think the Wyred amps would also be good a choice for a dual purpose system.

George

[Big Red Machine]

As some like to kid me, I do, in fact, actually open the boxes of the components I buy and actually use them, albeit for as little as an hour sometimes.  I've tried many maps on Salk speakers including: PS Audio, Moscode, Rowland, Belles, Sunfire, Pass Labs, TAD, Emotiva, Parasound, Van Alstine, etc. and am extremely happy with the Wyred amps.  I am not the expert on amps, but the Wyreds have given me the full frequency spectrum with no emphasis on any one band, troublefree reliability, flexibility to use SE or XLR connections, option to have mono, stereo, or multi-channel configurations, and the knowledge that they really care about and know what the heck they are doing out in California when building these.

I have 2 monos in the 2 channel room and 5 more of their amps in the HT.  The flexibility of monos is great but their multichannel versions are not slouches.  I went around the horn to realize that "major brand labels" do not have the corner on good amplification.

Disclaimer: I reserve the right to try other brands!  But for now I am not considering it.

[bzaggie]

so for the wyred amplifiers which particular model do you recommend for the ht2's?

[Big Red Machine]

either the 250 or 500 wpc versions.  125 watts is for children!

I'd have 9 SX1000's if I could swing it.

[Big Red Machine]

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1237910881&/Wyred-4-Sound-SX-500-Monoblock

The price difference from 250 to 500 watts is pretty small.  Here is a used pair of 250 watters.

[fluke242]

Wyred For Sound & Audio Van Alstine are a couple I plan to check out over the next couple years.  I currently run my HT2's with an Aragon 8002, and am far from sad... Great value and available used sometimes.

The HT2's average 4ohms, so just keep that in mind when amp shopping.  I prefer 1 ohm stable amps...  Reminds me of silly car audio days.  Cars running 1/4 ohm loads with thousands of watts, from a 20 watt amp. lol....

Congrats on your HT2s!!! Can't wait to see pics and hear more about your amp hunt.

John

[bzaggie]

Thanks for all of the feedback, I'm actually going to pick up the wyred 4 sound amps today. The audiogon link that big red posted ended up being within an hour of where I live so i couldn't pass it up. Only bad thing is I will not have my HT2's for at least another month...

[Big Red Machine]

Thanks for all of the feedback, I'm actually going to pick up the wyred 4 sound amps today. The audiogon link that big red posted ended up being within an hour of where I live so i couldn't pass it up. Only bad thing is I will not have my HT2's for at least another month...

Put 300 hours on them with whatever speakers you have if they are as new as the seller says they are.  24 hours per day x 13 days is still before you get your speakers.  ALso, if you don't like the binding posts, I changed mine to some from Parts Express.  if you can solder, then it takes longer to remove the case screws than make the solder joints.

[greenhouseman]

Consider an Emotiva XPA-2, check website for new sale price + reviews and awards garnered this year. Have HT2's and this amp works wonderfully with them at a more than reasonable price.

[rydenfan]

I am personally not a fan of Emotiva at all. I find their amps to sound bright and harsh and I had a horrid experience with their supposed customer service and 30 day trial. Of course YMMV

[bzaggie]

I got the wyred amplifers and just hooked them up to my existing boston acoustics towers and they have already made a significant difference. I cant wait to see how these are going to perform when the ht2's come

[Rocket]

Hi,

I have salk sound ht2's that I've had since mid last year.  Great speaker!

I currently use 2 x N.E.W. 20.1's in monoblock form that provides 88 watts into 8 ohms.  I also have son of ampzilla (120 watts) and ps audio hca 2 (150).  The N.E.W. provides plenty of power for the speakers.

Wyred 4 sound gets very good reviews.

Regards

Rod