Best power amp for under $250 used?

Crown, model depending on availability and price. IMO, the SQ of the PS-200 and 400 is a tad better than the DC300, but they're all good solid amps. Like any vintage stuff, minor service might be needed for best results.
 
if you can increase your budget to around 300 you increase your bang for the buck pretty significantly

you can get a used bryston 2b for around 300 might be in rough exterior condition, but that would be by far best power amp you can get. reliability is top notch, the amp has great protection circuits and can take abuse and deliver high currentn. sound quality is slightly more refined than the haflers of same power.

friend of mine just bought a bunch of bryston amps from canada on craigslist. US dollar is strong right now you really get a good deal.

other than that i'd recommend the 9xxx haflers which are becoming more rare, and the hafler p4000/3000 which really go under the radar. the p4000 was a reference for many french astereo publications. seriously impressive amp.

also possible are the marantz ma500 monoblocks which are a high current design and have good reception
 
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be surprise what can find local at any prices. but, i personally wouldn't shoot for class a anymore since i see them as pretty much space heaters nowadays but, that's just me.

Check back after this heat wave passes through...maybe wait until January. Class A amps are nice in the winter months.
 
Crown, model depending on availability and price. IMO, the SQ of the PS-200 and 400 is a tad better than the DC300, but they're all good solid amps. Like any vintage stuff, minor service might be needed for best results.
Yeah, I wouldn't suggest the straight DC300 or even the A but—on age alone—I'd start with the DC300A-Series-II or D150A-II. I have plenty of the old ones but I rely on the PS-400 and PS-200 series every day. (I also have Adcom, Soundcraftsmen, Carver, and JBL/Urei amps to compare them to.)
 
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I would also recommend a look at the Kenwood Basic series. I've owned the M2 for about 5 years and have no plans to replace it.

Yamaha pro amps are also a solid choice, along with the JBL UREI series.
 
i always wanted to try a yamaha pro amp but, never find any of the good ones local to me and when one pops up it's time i have no money or grabbed something else lol... as for op...i can't really make an exact suggesting for a power amp but, your kef's are not really an exactly heavy load. yea, they're very insensitive but, 86db at 1 meter is still pretty darn loud i personally think. so, depending on room size and how far you sit away and how loud you like it will determine the amount of horse power you will want or need....




If you heard one, you wouldn't say that. I should know - I have one stereo one and 2 little monoblocks :D

i heard a lot of them. they can be very nice sounding. if going class A though, i rather have tubes instead of solid state personally for preference. but, lot of amps are so well design where the crossover distortion at 1w or lower is pretty much non-existent... i also think i wouldn't like having a amp only outputting rms power of 15wpc and sucking up wall energy of like 800w's or something haha... i'm not energy conscience person at all but, i do what sounds reasonable and makes most sense to me.
 
Wow! Thanks for all the feedback guys- that's really useful. Sorry for the long silence, I was not getting the notification emails and had thought the thread was dead! Will do some more research now and let you know where I end up. Good advice about not necessarily being a good thing to bridge 2 stereo amps... thanks...
 
Any opinions on: Hitachi HMA 7500, Uher Reference MA200, Musical Fidelity Typhoon / P170, Quad 405 (+ clones), HH Mos Fet amps? All come up fairly regularly here within my budget. With vintage are any designs more or less susceptible to need recapping? I am edging towards a compact 90's unit like a Rotel, Kenwood or Yamaha even though there is less "want factor" ;)
 
You will not get class A for under 250 - you can forget that.

You actaually can get class a for about that with a simple DIY kit. Like the Nelson Pass Amp Camp (monoblock) Amps. They sound great too but need efficient speakers so won't work for the OP.
 
Seriously, look into the Kenwood Basic M1

Kenwood's Sigma Drive has been widely acclaimed as an effective means of providing optimum speaker control and an extremely high damping factor right up to the speaker input terminals. In addition to the normal speaker leads, a special "Sigma" connection feeds distortion products caused in the speaker wires and in the speakers themselves back into the amplifier's NFB loop for effective compensation. The result is a total control over the speaker's behavior, with optimum damping of unwanted speaker movement. Sigma Drive is also employed between the pre-amp and power-amp stages where it compensates for any signal loss in the interconnection and permits low impedance drive throughout the frequency range

M1 Specs:

Unprecedented dynamic headroom, vanishing distortion and precision control of speaker cone excursion. These are some of the rewards of the new technology to be found in the Basic M1.

A startlingly simple design concept translates into a much sought after goal of higher power handling ability combined with low distortion and outstanding tonal quality. A patented Kenwood technology, the DLD power circuit brings together the best features of a top quality medium power amplifier and a high power amplifier, totally sidetracking their disadvantages. Thus, you can get the enormous power needed to amplify the most dynamic music signal peaks.

Simultaneously, you can hear the kind of smooth, evenly balanced tonal quality extending throughout the audible range you would normally expect only from a first rate medium power amplifier. There are no size, weight, heat or thermal instability problems

Dynamic peaks are handled easily and are so clearly perceptible they will satisfy the most hypercritical listener.

Highly reactive speaker loads and crest value music signals that exceed rated output are taken fully in stride by the Basic M1. This amplifier can comfortably handle the highest dynamic peaks, even at rated listening levels, and can operate fully with speaker impedances that fall as low as 2 ohms.

The amplifier is designed for a frequency response accurate to within +-3dB from 1 Hz to 300kHz, ensuring that all signals falling within the audible range are reproduced perfectly.

Specifications
Power output: 105 watts per channel into 8Ω (stereo)

Frequency response: 1Hz to 300kHz

Total harmonic distortion: 0.005%

Damping factor: 1000

Input sensitivity: 1V

Signal to noise ratio: 120dB

Speaker load impedance: 4Ω to 16Ω

Dimensions: 440 x 112 x 324mm

Weight: 9.1kg

Those are very impressive specs for a "budget" amp

Yes it does seem to be quite impressive,I wondered how the Infinity RSII would fare.They seem to mate surprisingly well in my space.
 
Wade "Ace" Stewart built some exceptional amps, first called the SoundStream DA-2, then under his own name, Stewart World 1.2. Only 1U high, 200WPC at 8Ω. 1000 watts @4Ω in mono. I use a pair as mono blocks with ADS L-810 speakers. Balance and unbalance inputs. Incredibly Powerful!
 
Came across this thread and I'm in the exact same situation right now...same exact speakers and same budget! What are the odds?! Scoping out some of these amps already mentioned. Scoping out a Bryston right now but I think it's going to end up out of my budget.

On top of these options, also considering:

- a chip-amp...something like a TPA3250. Low cost ($75 + miscellaneous...so probably actually going to approach $150 before all is done), high power. No resale value though...
- a vintage tube amp. I briefly ran an old Packard Bell 6BQ5 amp with the KEF's and I think it's the best they've ever sounded! Definitely not as much punch or slam but wow, what a sweet, 3D midrange. Only problem is the amp will be used 4-8 hours per day, Monday through Friday...lots of "ON" time...
- Monarchy SM70 - had one of these once, probably just should have kept it...Class A, lower powered though...and would really stretch my budget, closer to $400
- Sony TA-N55ES - currently one on Barter Town - I like the looks of them, power and cost is right...anyone care to comment on these? Looks like they go around $150-200.
- Yamaha MX-2
- Onkyo A-9010

Any further amp candidates or comments on those mentioned above, feel free to throw them out there. I'd like to stay $250 or less but will stretch to $300 for the right amp. Will be fed by a Sainsmart tube preamp from my PC. Integrated amps are fine, but will likely still use the Sainsmart as a tube buffer if nothing else. Really only need a power amp though. Anything else (phono, DAC, etc) is icing on the cake, but I'd like the best power amp I can get for the money right now. Again driving KEF 103.2's, 86 dB efficient. This will be a NEAR-FIELD situation...better not leave out that important detail! Don't need huge volume.
 
I highly recommend NAD 2200, 2400, 2600 amps as well as SoundStream DA-2, no it's not a car amp! Ace Stewart designed the DA-2, later sold them under Stewart Audio. Look in the Pro Audio sections for 1U amps under the Stewart name, but watch out for 70v units.
 
Thanks for the replies and for the previous suggestions as well. Price was right and power was right on the Sony TA-N55ES, so I went with that one. Hoping it sounds great and is reliable in my office set-up!
 
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