One Amp To ‘Rule’ Them All...

Is there one amplifier that everyone can agree on as a contemporary standard? An amplifier that can be considered a standard in both the studio and in a home stereo setup?

What one amplifier does everything very well and can be found in homes and in professional audio engineering environments?

What amp covers all the bases and gives you a glimpse into all qualities of fine musical reproduction?

...something Yamaha? ...something McIntosh?

 

Wouldn't it be nice!

No one ever seems to universally agree on such matters.

 

Pass totl is one place to start.

But honestly any expensive totl amp from a well-known maker will probably sound terrific. I think it more comes down to the individual buyers taste and priorities.

 

No. Simple as that I'm afraid!

 

For me would be the Devailet 220:
Combines Class A with Class D technology,has an outstanding phono stage,dac, and streamer on board.Can even tailor it to the speakers it’s powering for improved sound.Is extremely quiet,powerful,with outstanding smoothness and soundstaging and best of of all takes up a small space.

 

I believe you are referring to solid-state amps only.

 

Pro audio and home stereos are two separate animals that rarely meet.

Sure, the Grateful Dead in the 1970s used McIntosh power amps on stage. At Winterland, there was always one on the bottom of the stack that was turned off at the beginning of a show. Toward the end of the concert it was not unusual to see that one now on and one in the middle turned off. They blew up another one, I'd point out to my friends. That's the problem with home gear in a pro environment. It just isn't durable enough and in a pro situation, where reliability is goal #1, along with #2, #3, #4 and all other numbers through #10, the amp's got to work, no matter what.

It's worse in the other direction. Most pro amps don't sound good enough to use in an audiophile setting. Details like three dimensional stereo imaging and incredibly low noise floors aren't important for pro amps and they are in a high end system. Sometimes the way to get those qualities is for an amp builder to push its design to the limit, which gets us back to the reliability issue.

Let's put it another way: Ever seen anyone drive a M1 Abrams tank home from work?