elrhee

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Secondhand

Summary:
I've only had the amp for a few days now, but I can't believe the difference it has made in my system. The first thing I noticed was the localization of sounds in the soundstage that before had always been very general. It was an odd feeling as I sat there. As the amp warmed up, the vocals began to have a presence that was awe-inspiring. The IAR-80 review put it best. Liquid sounds are smooth, but bright highs are naturally bright. This amp is so right, words are hard to find to describe it. After trying amps from Krell, Aragon, Classe, Audio Refinement (a YBA division), ATI, and Bryston, and finally Clayton, my search has ended. I'm driving the 4 ohm load of my tweeter and midrange ribbons on my Apogee FullRanges with the 50W of pure Class A Clayton and I'm in sonic heaven. I feel like I'm listening to all of my CDs for the first time. I'm using a Nordost powercord as I've heard it requires an upgraded power cord. Wilson Shen is a genius!

Strengths:
Everything

Weaknesses:
I won't be satisfied until I have all 5 channels amplified with Clayton... They are hard to find on the secondhand market.

Similar Products Used:
Krell, Aragon, Bryston, Classe, Audio Refinement, ATI

Price Paid:  $3400.00 from Northwest NW

Summary:
Not matter what the reviews say about a product there is always a certain expectation that sometimes falls short after you make the purchase. The Clayton S-40 stereo amp is one of the few purchases that I have made that exceeded all my expectations. Indeed, the amp is so good that I had to get rid of my receiver and go to seperates. I also re-wired my speakers and it was especially easier to hear the changes made in other areas of my system and the credit belongs to the amp. I would have never told anyone that an amplifier can make such a difference but it has. I was curious about how it would compare to a more expensive monoblock amp so I visited a friend who has the Rowland 6's with Rowland Consummate preamp and Avalon Acoustics. He was very surprised at how well the amp drove the Avalon Eclipse which are 87db inefficient and very difficult. The surprise came however when he adjusted the gain on the preamp to match the Clayton S-40 47k ohm input. The amp became monsterously engaging, showing exquisite balance and expanded the soundstage. Needless to say my friend was in shock! After all, the Rowlands cost $12,000 new!

Strengths:
The balance of highs and lows are just right. It creates a beautiful soundstage and I believe this is entirely dependent on speaker and source electronics. So the limitation is not from the amp. For those who wonder about its apparent modest power of 50 watts have no fear. Its all class A high current output. The designer has utilizes special bipolar power transistors (Motorola type) output devices to great success and you can tell since this amp does not suffer from noise coming thru my ac line. You will enjoy this amp. If its on the used market, I would strongly recommend you buy it. Its a tremendous steal used and equal bargain new.

Weaknesses:
Not available in balanced configuration but for me it was not important. Before I heard the amp with the Rowland preamp, I thought the bass was not as extended. I was wrong!

Similar Products Used:
Denon 3300 reciever...Pioneer 49txi..