Gene, form, fit and function are all important to me. I would like to know your thoughts on what lies between the Emotiva XPA-2+XPA-5 combo and the Denon POA-A1HDCI, or is the general thinking that because Emo is ID, there are effectively equivalent to a $3K retail option?
I am looking at the Emo pair and the Sherbourn 7100. From your reviews it appears the Emos are better performers but Sherbourn has better aesthetics, smaller etc.
Since my system has come up, I will tell you that I use exclusively Quad current dumping amplifiers.
The Class C feed forward power amplifier was a patent of the late Peter Walker OBE. In this design you get class A performance without the disadvantages. The performance of the amps is determined by a small very good class A amp. The power is provided by the output dumpers. There is a feed forward error correction from the class A amp. Peter demonstrated in a number of papers, that performance of the designs are determined by the class A amplifier.
Peter Walker was a genius, and one of the great pioneers of audio. He was owner and founder of the Acoustical Manufacturing company which sold equipment under the Quad banner. He founded the company prior to the second World War.
Since Peter's death, Quad and his patents have come to be owned by IAG (International Audio Group) out of China, and still manufacturing equipment under the Quad and other famous brand names such as Warfedale.
The only current dumper being produced is Peter's last current dumping design, the Quad 909. The design is built and produced as he left it.
One of the attributes that distinguished Peter's electronics was extreme longevity, and high resistance to loss of performance over time. I have two of his 303s, one from the late sixties. I have never had the cover off. The 303 by the way was the first solid state amp that was any good.
The 909 has triple output stage dumper transistors and produces 250 watts per channel into a four ohm load. There are no internal adjustments, and because of Peter's unique design, component values can wander by 30 to 40% over time without degrading performance. This later was another claim Peter backed up. The amplifier has no internal adjustments, nor does it require any.
The 909 is a powerful, very smooth amplifier without character or temperament. It comes very close, in fact as close as is inconsequential, to fulfilling Peter's goal of a wire with gain.
In its power class, I can recommend the Quad 909 as a best buy over any other, in regards to performance, longevity and lack of fuss. Any purchaser of a Quad 909 has every reason to expect that far more likely than not he will have a half century or more of trouble free performance. That is value for money.
Quad now allow for Internet sales to customers who have no local dealers.
The Quad 909 can be purchased
here.
This
eBay seller who is also an authorized Quad dealer has a demo for sale now.
The owner, Lane, is a very nice guy and easy to deal with. He will be happy to sell you as many 909s as you require, to build your home theater system.
For a system in your price range these amplifiers would be my top recommendation.
You can see my system by clicking on the links in my signature.
