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Review 2 of 5
Price Paid:
$700.00
from HiFi-Punkten in Trol Summary:
I have had a Rotel RA-971 MkII amp for over a year and decided it was time to find something better. The three amplifiers it stood between were: Thule IA 60B (balanced), Vincent SV-226 and Thule IA 100 (not balanced).
First of all i listened to the Thule IA 60B wich is a bit more expensive then the other two amps (costs about $1000). I said that I wanted to listen to it with a non-balanced CD-player (because I don't have a balanced CD-player at home). I compared it with the Vincent SV-226 wich costs about $800.
I was very surprised to hear that the Thule IA 60B not even had close to as pure sound that the Vincent had! It also had worse dynamics and not at all the same control of the speakers that the Vincent had.
I then borrowed home the Vincent for 3 days and played it alot to really get a feel at how it would sound. I was very satisfied with it.
When I were at the store to return the borrowed Vincent I remembered that someone had told me that, played unbalanced, the Thule IA 100 would sound better then the IA 60B, due to the IA 100 having more power.
I then asked if I could borrow the IA 100 to try at home, and I could.
The first thing you notice while handling the IA 100 is that the build quality is great! Everything feels very solid and strong. It's also very compact since it, without being a large amp, weighs in at 13 kilos, about 29 pounds. The front is really good-looking since it only has one button and one volume controller (the one button does everything you need, press it once to start the amp from standby, press it once while on and you change the source and if you press and hold it it goes to stanby again). Really cleaver, since there are no unneccecary buttons to disturb the signal.
Then I started playing my "Reference CD" (that I usually start out with when trying something new) Metallicas Black Album. I wa amazed by the great dynamics and control of the speakers! It also played with great detail and clear sound.
I went on and tryed a lot of diffrent kinds of music (and quality of recordings) and it never failed me. It delivered a great sound at any kind of music. And you could also try turning the volume up extremly high and it still sounded totaly clear, no anoying distortion or anything like that.
If your about to buy an amp in this price range you really should try the Thule IA 100! Strengths:
Extremly dynamic, clear sound and very well-built. Weaknesses:
Can't use headphones and you can't change the Bass / Treble. Similar Products Used:
Vincent SV 226, Thule IA 60B, Rotel RA 971 MkII.
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