How much horse power do you need to drive your speakers well?

Most of our customers read nonsense online that leads them to think they need X number of watts. Getting dynamic and exciting performance from your speakers boils down to control, not the wattage rating. Think of strong water pressure from a fire hose vs weaker water pressure from your garden hose.

When you visit Audio Emporium we’re going to recommend amplifiers built like a brick outhouse. Amps made by Atoll, Bryston & McIntosh run Class AB, have conspicuously large transformers, filter capacitors and discrete MATCHED output transistors.

One of these integrated amps or power amps rated at 100×2 will have a smoother, meatier and more dynamic sound than a chip laden Chinese amp rated at 200×2 or more.

Even with hungry speakers like Magnepans, you’ll find modest wattage ratings from Atoll, Bryston or Mac will drive Maggies prolifically. You don’t need zillions of watts.

Transformers

It all starts with the transformers. The best amps run toroidal transformers. You can run a single or a pair. Transformer size and shielding is important. All three of our companies use great transformers.

Filter Capacitors

Your amp should have a stiff quotient of low loss, fast ESR filter caps. All three of our companies pay special attention to the type of cap they’re running and use a robust power supply.

Matched Output Transistors

Discrete output transistors need to have the same electronic fingerprints or they’ll sound grainy. All three of our manufacturers pay attention to the transistors they use and are careful to run in matched configurations.

Please Note…

None of the three important factors I’ve described above has anything to do with watts per channel. You can get a 50×2 amp, like the Atoll IN50, that sounds warm and strong, because it has paid attention to the above criterion. It will sound smoother and more dynamic than a flimsy amp with double or triple the wattage- that has NOT valued these component choices.

I can promise that if you look at a photo of the inside of an amplifier and are not impressed by the size of the transformer(s) and filter caps, you’re looking at a loser- undoubtedly made in a job house in China.

Integrated Amps, $1200

Check out the Atoll IN50, built in France with a 3 year warranty. It’s easy to see the large transformer and filter caps. The MATCHED discrete output transistors are mounted on their own heat sinks to dissipate heat. The PCB is a work of art with no spaghetti or wires running all over to promulgate RFI and induce noise.

Compare that with the Parasound New Classic 200 which is built in China with a 2 year warranty. Can you even find the transformer in this photo?! This Chinese built amp has no less than half a dozen boards, made at stations, that have to be linked together with wires running to and fro. All this spaghetti invites hum and hiss.

The Atoll wins in this comparison, both in sound and reliability. And… let’s support N American or Europe instead of Chinese manufacturing.

Integrated Amps, $4000

Check out the Atoll IN300 which is a bigger brother to IN50 described above. It’s built in Atoll’s own factory in France with a 3 year warranty. The Atoll has two monster transformers, each 440w. Filter caps are over 86,000uF. IN300 runs a dozen MATCHED MOSFET output transistors.

Contrast it with the Parasound Hint 6, made in China with a 2 year warranty. It runs a single smaller transformer, lesser filter caps and unmatched output transistors. See all that spaghetti they need to run to connect everything up? All that wire acts as an antenna and there are hundreds of solder points to muff in mass production.

The Atoll IN300 wins by any critical assessment- most notably in musical performance and reliability. And again, let’s support manufacturing done in N America or Europe- instead of China.