I've been looking at some solid state amplifiers. I know, take me out back and shoot me to put me out of my misery.
I've never really had anything with big "horsepower" and was thinking about dipping my toes in the waters for the heck of it
I first thought about First Watt, but they really aren't any more powerful than my Torii.
I've been a fan of Wyred 4 sound and they have some pretty good prices on several of their amps, both mono blocks and integrated.
The PS Audio Stellar line looks good for the money.
My wife told me to buy myself something so that she didn't have to listen to my moaning and grumping about working all of the time so she can sit on her butt at home all day.
Anyway, I digress, anyone got any ideas?

Donnie,

I have a fully assembled ZKIT60 in stock.  

Steve

Ok...I’m not gonna lie....with a title like this one, I just couldn’t help myself but to smirk and reply back.  A happy clown 🤡 walking down a hallway and holding a balloon comes to mind!!  

Anyway...with the Schiit line of products being well respected here...maybe take a look at their lineup.  Maybe something like their fully loaded Ragnarok would be a consideration.  John Darko speaks highly of the Hegel amps as well, so I’m sure that would be contender.  Just a thought.

Dom

I have a pair of the PS Audio M700s. I think they are great amps. That said. I replaced them with a $290 Chinese tube amp Oldchen kt-88 k-1. My brother and I both agree. The m700s do everything better but they are worse. The m700s didn't have any magic and didn't draw me into the music like the Oldchen amp.

As I wait on my Torii MKIV I need to decide which amp to listen to, the Oldchen which is charming as it tries it's best or the M700s which are on the clinical side.

Check out a Crown XLS drivecore2. Very versatile. It can monoblock, biamp and has a built in active crossover. The lowest powered one has more wattage than I would know what to do with. At $300 I might get one for my Imperials. See if I can crack some plaster.

I'm leaning heavily towards the ZKIT 60 right now.
That way I stay in the family and can still hold my head high.
The ZKIT 60 fits my needs pretty darn good. Plus I've heard it before and it sounded real good.

If you just want to play around with decent SS… and not spend a boat load of $$$.
Second on the Crown XLS… unbelievable power, SQ and flexibility for the money.  I have also owned some of the Wyred amps... B&O ICE based with Wyred's input buffer and power supply.  IMO, the Wyred's sound a lot like the Crown XLS - they just cost a lot more than a Crown XLS and don't have any of the Crown's functionality.

I’d be the last person to tell you that “any” amp is the end-all, be-all for every speaker, system, etc.
There is no such amp, or other audio component for that matter, that is “the best period”.
That said, I have owned a lot of SS amps over the years.  All good to very good in some regard mated with a synergistic speaker.
To name a few; Levinson #27, Krell KSA-250, Threshold S300, Audio Research D400(ss) and VT-100, Aragon 4004 and 8008BB, Classe’ DR-25, a few of the Emotiva’s, a BAT and several more – but I digress.

The only definitive statement that I personally could make about an amp/speaker synergy, would be the ClassDAudio SDS-470C is the best amp I’ve ever heard driving Maggie’s.  And this is a pretty inexpensive amp.  They inject “life” into lazy Maggie’s like no other amp I’ve ever heard.

Anyway, back to the Crown XLS'.  I’ve owned the XLS-2500 and I currently have two XLS-2502’s.  The 02 versions don’t sound any different, nor have any more power than the 00, but the 02’s have more x-over functionality, slightly different cosmetics and you can “Completely” turn off ALL the lights on the front, including the retina scorching blue power LED. Though Crown isn’t quite as bad as some company’s (one company in particular comes to mind) in the prolific cluttering up of their components front panels with blue LED’s.

I originally purchased the Crown 2500 to drive 15” Augie’s, yes plural, as in four Augie’s, two per side, in OB’s.  One channel of one Crown driving two Augie’s and the other channel of the Crown driving the other two Augie’s.  In this configuration, I’m pretty sure I could lift my house off its foundation and the Crown 2502 is barely off idle.  At normal listening levels, the “signal present” light on the Crown is on solid and the -20db light flickers occasionally.  If you get the -20db light on solid and the -10db light flickering – you’ve already entered the hearing damage zone of SPL levels.

Out of curiosity, I have hooked my Crown’s to numerous speakers.  Including Betsy Baffles, Audio Nirvana SCF 15” ferrites, Audio Nirvana SCF 12” Alnico’s, Decware DM945’s, Martin Logan Vista’s, Maggie 1.6’s and several others.  The Crown is a very good SS amp IMO.  It’s not the perfect synergy for every speaker – no amp is.  And everyone hears different and will have their own preferences.  But I can’t think of another SS amp, at anywhere near the $$ that sounds better.  Different maybe – but better?  And any that does, will not have the functionality of the XLS Crown’s.
I "expected" to hear a cold, harsh, clinical sound from the Crown, especially on full-rangers.  I truly assumed I would have an OMG turn it down, turn it off reaction.  But I didn't!  The Crown is a little drier, less liquid and fluid through the mids, not quite as holographic in all regards as my main reference tube setup.  But it was not objectionable at all.  I would even go so far as to say, with the speakers I've tried it with, it is a little on the warm/laid back side for SS.  In fact the Crown with my Martin Logan stats is a pretty darn good synergy.  One of my audio buddies actually prefers the Crown/Martin Logan setup to my full-rangers and tubes setup.  But, like everything else - to each his own.  I would say the Crown lacks a bit of low volume "liveliness" and micro dynamics to some degree, even with high-efficiency, full-rangers.  But this is pretty common for most SS amps I've ever heard, especially those of the Class A/B variety.

I have heard, that the circuitry in the lowest powered Crown XLS, the 1002, is not exactly the same as the higher powered ones, and is not as good.  I have not verified this with my own ears or by any other objective means.  I've only owned the 1500 and 2500 versions at the same time.  And I could not reliably tell a difference in the sound between the two.  The Crowns are so inexpensive, if you're going to be a bear, you just as well be a grizzly bear IMO.

I watched for “deals” when I got the 2502’s and paid a little over $300 each - from Sweetwater I believe if memory serves.  A buddy now has my first 2500 and another buddy has a 1502 that I got from RandyInCainTuck.

I only wanted the 2502 because of its additional x-over functionality and the fact that you can turn off all its front panel lights.
It likely won’t be your “end game” amp.  But I’d bet you’ll keep it around, just to drive the 18” Gauss bass bins in your HT -  


All the above said… I also own a Torii and a Cary tube amp.  With the right speaker/s… they still have more magic and keep me engaged better than any SS I’ve ever had in my room.  For that reason, I will probably always have tubes in the chain somewhere at a minimum.  Though I want to try some Nelson Pass creations one of these days, probably the First Watt J2 for my full-rangers.  You just never know…

I'll be very interested in your opinion Donnie. I was recently looking for a new ss integrated with more options than the ZKIT60, so I passed. Best of luck with it.