Small form-factor amplifier recommendations

[MidnightSensi]

I'm getting a little short on rack space, I need a amp for my rears. They are M&K 750s. 200watt IEC, with a nominal impedence of 4-ohms. The graph shows them dipping down to 3.3-ohms.

They will be used as rears though, so I think a 4-ohm stable amp would be fine. Any recommendations for something with a small package? I don't want to spend big money, and don't want anything noisey. I think conduction cooling is fine for how they will be used.

I was looking at a Crest PA-150 1U at first, but, they are all backordered.

 

[Adam]

I'm not an amp expert, but one of the first that came to mind was the Outlaw Model 2200 Monoblock Power Amplifier. They are on sale for $270 right now.

 

[majorloser]

Not Cheap, But Nice

Might want to look at some of the Seymour Ice Block amps. Very compact design and lots of power. I got a chance to see them a couple years ago. Very nice design.

http://www.seymourav.com/amps.asp


They also sell them at the AH Store
http://store.audioholics.com/section/66225/1/seymour-av-ice-block-amplifiers

 

[highfigh]

I'm getting a little short on rack space, I need a amp for my rears. They are M&K 750s. 200watt IEC, with a nominal impedence of 4-ohms. The graph shows them dipping down to 3.3-ohms.

They will be used as rears though, so I think a 4-ohm stable amp would be fine. Any recommendations for something with a small package? I don't want to spend big money, and don't want anything noisey. I think conduction cooling is fine for how they will be used.

I was looking at a Crest PA-150 1U at first, but, they are all backordered.

Here's another one-
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/American-Audio-VLP300-Power-Amplifier?sku=803183

Sampson makes some, too.

 

[MidnightSensi]

Appreciate the suggestions!

Nothings really catching my eye now though. Maybe I need to reasses my budget or expectations.

Might want to look at some of the Seymour Ice Block amps. Very compact design and lots of power. I got a chance to see them a couple years ago. Very nice design.

http://www.seymourav.com/amps.asp


They also sell them at the AH Store
http://store.audioholics.com/section/66225/1/seymour-av-ice-block-amplifiers

Those look really cool, but too expensive. :/

 

[woofersus]

You'll probably get better recommendations if you make your budgetary expectations clear. There's a lot of space between the $270 outlaw and those ice blocks for $1k each.

On the lower end of that spectrum, the emotiva UPA-2 might be a good fit for $300.

 

[MidnightSensi]

My budget isn't really determined. If I see something I think is a killer deal for 1,000, I'll buy it. If I see something that's a good buy for 200, I'll buy it. I want to see if there is something different I haven't tried before... so that instead of just buying 'another amp' I could pickup something cool, and since its just the rear channels, I thought maybe something with a real small package would be good.

Emotiva looks like a 2U unit, which, I could just buy another 2U Crest amp. I wanted something with a small form factor.... I might just go ahead and buy the 1U Crest and wait the month for it to come.

 

[majorloser]

Audio Source makes some cheap two-channel amps:

http://www.rodinaudio.com/audioSource/amp.php

 

[majorloser]

Marantz used to make these small monoblock amps in various wattage that could be place side-by-side in a rack. They were part of the MA series. I can't find a link, but this:

http://www.marantz.com/pdfs/u_amp_ma500_bck.pdf

http://cgi.ebay.com/Marantz-MA-6100-THX-Ultra-Monoblock-Amplifiers-125W-x-3_W0QQitemZ270469442543QQcmdZViewItemQQssPageNameZRSS:B:SRCH:US:101

I think Rotel made something similar, too. There was a couple companies that made these little THX certified monoblocks.

 

[ski2xblack]

Similar to the Marantz in size...

I saw some amps at RMAF sold by GR Research, the Virtue amps, and they are in the $250-$350 price range. They sounded nice there, but I don't know too much about them. But they're really small, so may be a good fit for your needs.

Found links but they are currently out of stock, sorry.

http://www.gr-research.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=152

 

[Matt34]

I have an emotiva BPA-1 that I will give you for the price of shipping. It does have an issue, in that two of the inputs on the back have snapped off. Probably only take a call to them to get replacements.

 

[Porschetech]

i'd second the outlaw monoblocks too......i have 5 of em

 

[agarwalro]

Might want to look at some of the Seymour Ice Block amps. Very compact design and lots of power. I got a chance to see them a couple years ago. Very nice design.

http://www.seymourav.com/amps.asp

I think the Class D amplifiers from these boutique brands are way overpriced. Seymour AV would be one example, few others being, Bel Canto, Nu Force, PS Audio.

Rotel, D-Sonic, Wyred, etc. seem to be more reasonably priced. But, at this pricepoint, one might as well go with traditional Class A/ AB amps and not have to worry about high frequency switching artifacts creeping into the sound . Also, pro audio amps also become a viable option in the price bracket.

Outlaw is problably one of the few charging the most appropriate price for their monoblock Class D amps.

 

[woofersus]

My budget isn't really determined. If I see something I think is a killer deal for 1,000, I'll buy it. If I see something that's a good buy for 200, I'll buy it. I want to see if there is something different I haven't tried before... so that instead of just buying 'another amp' I could pickup something cool, and since its just the rear channels, I thought maybe something with a real small package would be good.

Emotiva looks like a 2U unit, which, I could just buy another 2U Crest amp. I wanted something with a small form factor.... I might just go ahead and buy the 1U Crest and wait the month for it to come.

I could be wrong, but at 3.46" high without feet, I'm thinking 1.5U. Not really "small form factor" though, I suppose. Those Virtue 2's do sound very nice, but my assumption was that you wanted a bit more power than that.

 

[MidnightSensi]

Well, I spent some time last night looking at my rack. I think the solution is I'm going to get another 2U Crest amp, and move the apple TV to the back rails and use a remote repeater. Maybe even move the U-verse box back there just to clean up the front.

 

[Adam]

Well, I spent some time last night looking at my rack.

Good for you. Best to do that now before gravity takes over.