Sierra-1 amp recommendations?

[vabch22]

Hey guys,

Proud new owner of the Sierra-1's. :) I'm currently running them off of my Yamaha V3900. My question is, have any of you demo'd various amps and decided on which paired best with the Sierra's? I know it's mainily opinion, but would like some suggestions. I'd like to keep it under $1000 new/used. This is for music listening only. I'm looking for a noticeable difference in sound to warrant the cost.

Considering:
Parasound A23

Thanks

[Jonnyozero3]

I like my Bryston 4B-ST. Long warranty, 250wpc (reviews used to test them to ~300wpc), and not "too" expensive. Usually some used ones floating on audiogon in your price range.

[curtis]

H
Considering:
Parasound A23

Thanks


I like my Bryston 4B-ST. Long warranty, 250wpc (reviews used to test them to ~300wpc), and not "too" expensive. Usually some used ones floating on audiogon in your price range.
Both are highly regarded amps.

[merrymaid520]

Hey guys,


Considering:
Parasound A23

Thanks

I have the A23's bigger brother (A21) running my Ascend Towers and love it! My buddy has a A23 running his Salks and likes it as well.

[Jonnyozero3]

__________________^

This is a highly regarded moderator.


:D

[billy p]

I was heavily leaning towards NAD or Anthem intagrates but settled on the Yammy AS700 because of cost. I already owned the rxv1800 and liked how my Sierra 1's sounded when I first hooked them up...so(I thought), why mess with a good thing. The only change I made with my 1's was I relocated them in a smaller and more intimate room. With Yamaha's reputation for low SN ratios makes them viable option for use as pre/pros and I'm good there....JMO.:)

[vabch22]

I like my Bryston 4B-ST. Long warranty, 250wpc (reviews used to test them to ~300wpc), and not "too" expensive. Usually some used ones floating on audiogon in your price range.

Thanks all for the quick reponses. I will look into the Bryston, but they have always been out of my price range, especially the new stuff.


I was heavily leaning towards NAD or Anthem intagrates but settled on the Yammy AS700 because of cost. I already owned the rxv1800 and liked how my Sierra 1's sounded when I first hooked them up...so(I thought), why mess with a good thing. The only change I made with my 1's was I relocated them in a smaller and more intimate room. With Yamaha's reputation for low SN ratios makes them viable option for use as pre/pros and I'm good there....JMO.:)

Ha, I'm going the opposite way that is why I was considering a more powerful amp. Right now they are in a bedroom, where the Yammy seems fine with them. I wanted to move them into a larger space, so I wanted to be able to drive them w/o distortion at louder volumes. I have an old Adcom GFA 5400 laying around somewhere. Maybe I need to dig it out and see how it sounds first.

I plan on purchasing the towers at a later date, they were just out of my budget right now. I wish I would have found Ascend a couple years back. Would have saved me money on my DefTech BP's and KEF QX's. :)

[curtis]

I am a bit skeptical about the reasons for different amps and power.

I use Sierra-1's up front, and HTM-200SE's for surrounds. In my room...not large, about 14'x16'....9' ceilings. I use a 500wpc IcePower based amp for the left and right channnels. The rest of the channels are powered by an older ATI 1505....150wpc. With the front channels, I hear no discernible difference between the center (150wpc ATI) and the L/R channels (500wpc IcePower) in terms of dynamics and headroom.

I plan on using the unused channels on the ATI in place of the IcePower amp for a while to see if I recognize any difference in sound quality.

I did a sited test before (a while ago) with 340SE's at a friend's house with NuForce Ref 8b amps(100 wpc), an ATI 1502 (basically the same amp I have but only two channels), and a Tapco pro amp(500 wpc). If I remember correctly, the only difference that we could recognize was in the bass. The NuForce was a bit tighter. BTW, my friend's room is much larger than mine. I posted about that experience here:
http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/showpost.php?p=14143&postcount=7

Ascend's demo room, Dave uses and 150wpc ADA amp. I have been in there, at some pretty loud levels, and I don't believe we've heard any amp related problems.

All that said...it is kind of "macho" to know that my mains have 500wpc on tap. :)

[vabch22]

Haha wow curtis, macho indeed. I couldn't even imagine running 500wpc, I applaud you for that. Thank you for your comments and thread link, that helped a lot and saved me some cash. Since you did not notice any difference with such a huge jump in wattage, it's not even worth it to me now.

I'll hold onto my money and either put it to good use on a f15, or some Denon AH-D7000 cans. I hear they are amazing.

Btw, first posts in this forum and everyone exceeded my expectations. I can see Dina and Dave taking my money left and right. I might even be able to con my friends into buying Ascend when they ask for my advice. Thanks!

[curtis]

What I really suggest is trying for yourself, but I realize that can be an expensive proposition....in shipping alone when it comes to amps.

[vabch22]

What I really suggest is trying for yourself, but I realize that can be an expensive proposition....in shipping alone when it comes to amps.

Good idea, I'll try and find a local dealer for Parasound and Bryson and see if I can do in home demo's without suffering too much.