Looking for an affordable AB Amp

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories Speaker Amps
1

So, the SMSL a300 that i have has a screen that doesn’t work, so I’m looking to replace it with a class AB integrated amp. I’m looking for something around 500, but under 1k for sure. I’m willing to buy vintage if y’all have any recommendations.

Preferences (feel free to work around them, i need to compromise.):

  • Toroidal Transformer
  • Pure Analogue
  • sub/pre-outs. (for my sub that doesn’t have speaker terminals.)
  • one or two inputs, don’t want a “stereo receiver.”
  • desktop sized.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
THANKS in advance!!!

2

hey TW, have you looked into whether the screen can be fixed? even if you don’t want to use it, if fixed, you’d be able to sell and either add that to your budget or help subsidize it :slight_smile:

3

A300 purchased in july still alive serving as a 2.1 TV setup. Might have turned the unit off half dozen times, getting abused pretty good so far no problems. Thought i give some imput on the amp to add for reference on this model.

4

parasound Zamp v3 and emotiva basx a2m. if you have a monitor riser, or willing to get one, parasound 275v2 is nice. its full avr size, but very thin. fits under most monitor risers.

theres virtually no desktop sized class ab integrated, and even less with pre-outs to a sub.

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5

i would also suggest looking for power amps and pre-amps. you could get something like a schiit vidar and saga+ solid sate for a 1000$. and i just remembered that dayton audio makes a few desktop sized amps that are class a/b for less then 200$. they have some qc issues though and arent as good as the aforementioned ones, but are still good.

6

Thank you for the suggestion, Just bought a Vidar, and I’m going to run it off the pre-outs on my Element III. I knew about the Vidar but i wasn’t 100% sold on it, and well… I haven’t really thought about the RCA outs on my Element III as pre-outs so…

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7

So the original specs or needs were not that important?
Preferences (feel free to work around them, i need to compromise.):

  • Toroidal Transformer
  • Pure Analogue
  • sub/pre-outs. (for my sub that doesn’t have speaker terminals.)
  • one or two inputs, don’t want a “stereo receiver.”
  • desktop sized.

The “desktop size” would have been the only “compromise” but other ones could have been in single package.

8

I said it in the section you quoted, “feel free to work around them in need to compromise”
my preferences list my ideal amp, the reality is that i didn’t think i would find something that fit most if not all of them. The reason i went with the Vidar was because it fit the most of them. “desktop sized” it only has analogue inputs, “pure analogue” i think would apply, and one or two inputs. it doesn’t have a toroidal, it doesn’t have sub/pre-outs, it doesn’t have volume control but that’s already accounted for. So for what I wanted it fit well enough, even though it wasn’t my ideal amp. it was also a bit more then I wanted to spend but less then my theoretical max. so it’s good enough and fits well enough that it’s not that big of an issue.

The whole reason i asked this question was because i couldn’t find anything that fit my desires. i was introduced to a couple new amps, and greatly appreciate everyone that chipped in. Thank you.

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