analogman

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $200.00 from ebay

Summary:
Bought this off ebay a couple years ago, haven't had any problems so far. I am using by HK receiver as a front end and to power remote speakers. The B&K drive the main fronts and surounds. this is the little amp that could! it drives the full range custom built L&R without a hitch. midrange is sweet and clear, bass may not be the final word in tight; it is close. but then again I built the speaker and won't ever blame them for sloppy bass.

This amp keeps up with whatever I throw at it 2 channel analog, five channel movies and in a large (28*19*12) room to beat. have a common midfi reveiver with preouts and not enough juice -- this is a great way to step up: compact, powerful and clean sound.

Made in USA

Strengths:
does exactly what is supposed to do
Small size
plenty of clean power
configurable -- want to use to drive two rooms in stereo and an patio speaking in mono, can be done, want to bridge can be done (see below)

American made audio

Weaknesses:
not the answer to low impedance speaker or difficult loads. can be bridged BUT bkcomp.com recommends against bridging any products.

Price Paid:  $335.00 from eBay

Summary:
I bought this amp because I was disappointed in the sound quality of Sherwood Newcastle R-925, especially the center channel. I am using the B&K for the three front channels and slaving the rears to the receiver. I'm not bridging it, unless you have high impedance speakers (ie: 16) I don't see the point. There is no free lunch, why double your THD spec?

The B&K is a stout little thing. It has gain controls for all five channels, which I think is great. To bridge the unit you have to open the cover and flip a bunch of DIP type switches-a real short comming IMO versus the Rotel. Also, to use this unit as a mono amp(I don't know why you would do this unless you really didn't think out your needs when you bought it) you have to bridge speaker outputs with speaker wire on the back of the unit.

My Take:
Music: (stereo) the first thing I noticed was how tighter the imaging was- hadn't expected that. The second was the dynamics; the third was the midrange. I'm running Paradigm Atoms (with a pair of PDR-10 subs). I bought them because the midrange was so nice (led to them by numerous reviews and audiozine picks), at least in the store. With the Newcastle they always seemed to be a little flat. The B&K allows them to perform to my expectations.

Surround: (DD 5.1) Finally I'm getting the experience I was looking for three and half years ago when I bought the Newcastle. DYNAMICS. There is no way that the Newcastle puts out ANYWHERE near the wattage and current of the B&K. If the Newcastle is 100w x 5 then the B&K must be 200 not 60/wch. The Mosfet design didn't seem to have any problems with demanding passages. I'll never own a bipolar amp again-no comparison in the sound quality IMO.

My midfi set-up, all bought used or highly discounted ("I won't pay a lot for that...." we are damn cheap in WI.

Sony DVP7000
Sherwood Newcastle R-925
B&K 2500 II
Paradigm Atom's x 4
Paradigm 150 center
Paradigm PDR-10 subs x 2
Sony Wega 32"
Homemade DIY "Piano 1" interconnects (see www.TNT-Audio.com for recipe)
Marshall Sound Runner speaker wire

Strengths:
Versitle, If this is 60w a channel then all receiver mfg.'s are big fat liars!

Weaknesses:
Pretty much an 8 ohm speaker amp

Similar Products Used:
Adcom, Rotel