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Amptastic Mini-1 for sale again

- I wouldn't be unduly concerned about the delay, I waited a fortnight for mine to arrive. Lovely little thing, as all comments suggest it punches way above it's weight - only down side - the feel of the on/off switch!
 
I've just unplugged the main rig power amp and stuck the tiny Amptastic in its place. This usually lives in my office system.

Its being played and fed by some expensive kit, to some utterly outstanding and not inexpensive speakers. But just wow!! It's clearly not to the same level as my main amp. But my god, it sounds amazing for how much it costs. Truly, stupidly, good!! Impressive indeed.

If I had to part with my system, I could live with this in place of what I've got now.

What an utterly audiophile bargain!! This little thing is a superb, a (very little) big hitter piece of kit.

It's a shame these are no longer made. Superb!!
 
Okay... Main amp back in.

But to take nothing from the little Amptastic... By some margin it was the cheapest thing in my main rig, so a very unfair pairing. And it did not disgrace itself... far from it.

Super-impressive for what it costs. Then add in that it's ridiculously small.

Back to what I said. A true audiophile bargain.
 
As I’m sure I’ve said somewhere upthread it is good enough within its envelope to drastically reconsider system budget priorities, e.g. partner it with say Klipsch LaScalas or Cornwalls and that is not a bad way at all of spending that total system budget; £100 amp, £4-8k speakers! Just don’t ask too much of it, it has about 6 or 8 good Watts, and that is more than enough with high efficiency speakers.
 
That's why I'm holding on to mine. It has a real charm about it... but I just don't have the right speakers to allow it deliver its full potential.
 
As above, I can definitely appreciate what it can do which is amazing for the relatively tiny outlay, but unfortunately it can't get the most out of my current speakers.

I'll probably list mine for sale at some point and let someone else enjoy it.
 
windhoek said:
I guess it leads to the question: which speakers are ideal for the Ampastic? Small or large.
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Efficient, and ideally fairly low impedance. The key is efficient. Forget the claimed “20 Watt” or whatever marketing figure, that is BS, it is 6-8 Watts if you measure at the levels of distortion that have been accepted since the 1940s-50s (e.g. 0.1% THD). I have run it into JR149s, which is about as far from its comfort zone as it is possible to get (inefficient (84db) and 8-16 Ohm impedance) and it sounds very good, but it is clearly slaughtered by say a Quad 303 or 10 Watt valve amp such as a Stereo 20 with a 16 Ohm tap. It just doesn’t have the needed headroom.

If we assume the TA2020 chip can deliver 8 clean Watts into its specified 4 Ohm load, that translates to 4 Watts at 8 Ohms, 2 at 16. This is fine into real high-efficiency stuff like Klipsch, you could play a gig with one through La Scalas, and it is fine with Tannoys too, but it is not going to go far into typical inefficient modern stand-mounts etc. As a rule of thumb if you want to use small inefficient speakers then consider it as a little amp for mini-monitors either side of a computer monitor or whatever. In that context it is fine, but don’t ask it to fill a room with Spendor S3/5s, small ProAcs or whatever. It just hasn’t got the power without distortion. Think of it as say a 300B SET power-wise, but optimised into lower impedance.
 
Tony L said:
As a rule of thumb if you want to use small inefficient speakers then consider it as a little amp for mini-monitors either side of a computer monitor or whatever. In that context it is fine
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That's exactly how I run mine in the office. Connected to a set.of QA Concept 20's and a CCA and it sounds great. Near field and it's not a big room. Just perfect in that scenario, despite the speakers being less than a perfect match.

In the living room it was connected to my ART's which are 90db, but an easy load and great with valves. So again this works well.

But it definitely needs to be paired appropriately, otherwise it would just run out of juice, or distort.
 
Tony L said:
Efficient, and ideally fairly low impedance. The key is efficient. Forget the claimed “20 Watt” or whatever marketing figure, that is BS, it is 6-8 Watts if you measure at the levels of distortion that have been accepted since the 1940s-50s (e.g. 0.1% THD). I have run it into JR149s, which is about as far from its comfort zone as it is possible to get (inefficient (84db) and 8-16 Ohm impedance) and it sounds very good, but it is clearly slaughtered by say a Quad 303 or 10 Watt valve amp such as a Stereo 20 with a 16 Ohm tap. It just doesn’t have the needed headroom.

If we assume the TA2020 chip can deliver 8 clean Watts into its specified 4 Ohm load, that translates to 4 Watts at 8 Ohms, 2 at 16. This is fine into real high-efficiency stuff like Klipsch, you could play a gig with one through La Scalas, and it is fine with Tannoys too, but it is not going to go far into typical inefficient modern stand-mounts etc. As a rule of thumb if you want to use small inefficient speakers then consider it as a little amp for mini-monitors either side of a computer monitor or whatever. In that context it is fine, but don’t ask it to fill a room with Spendor S3/5s, small ProAcs or whatever. It just hasn’t got the power without distortion. Think of it as say a 300B SET power-wise, but optimised into lower impedance.
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Thanks. It sounds like it's gonna have to be a (very) near-field setup with a small pair of bookshelf speakers or, in the context of listening that's beyond near-field, used with a pair of super-efficient speakers. If only Klipsch speakers didn't cost an arm and a leg, I'd buy a pair of Cornwall or Heresey speakers to try them out. I would like to hear a pair of really high efficient speakers but it's a lot of money just to get my Amptastic up and running.

Fwiw, the wee amp does make my Tannoy Eaton Legacy speakers sound good, but I use my Tannoys for film and TV as well as music and I defo want some power on tap when I'm watching films. Sadly, the Amptastic just doesn't cut it in this context, hence why it's still on the drawing board, so to speak.
 
Tony L said:
but it is clearly slaughtered by say a Quad 303 or 10 Watt valve amp such as a Stereo 20 with a 16 Ohm tap. It just doesn’t have the needed headroom.
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Actually at 2.5m and sensible volume it's surprisingly close (with 101dB easy load widebanders) but that is with the Mini-1 as a power amp with big PSU.
 
Alex S said:
Actually at 2.5m and sensible volume it's surprisingly close (with 101dB easy load widebanders) but that is with the Mini-1 as a power amp with big PSU.
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I was specifically referring to the likes of JR149s, LS3/5As etc. I agree with efficient speakers the gap closes, though even when I had LaScalas I preferred the 303. It is just a really nice sounding amp within its envelope, but a nice restored one will cost you three Amptastics, so I’m certainly not knocking it at all. I have mine boxed up as a spare.
 
Alex S said:
Actually at 2.5m and sensible volume it's surprisingly close (with 101dB easy load widebanders) but that is with the Mini-1 as a power amp with big PSU.
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If your splendid PSU conjures up bass and removes the digital glare ( some call it detail lol ) then that's very good...
 
I’m interested to read that folks aren’t ‘getting much bass’ from their Amptastic Mini. The Mini has taken the place of many more far expensive amps here and they have all done lovely deep bass, The Mini being no exception. However, we do use 93dB Audio Note J’s which go down to 25Hz.
 
I should have said controlled bass really, easy enough to get a sub or two to do the heavy lifting. It's been a while since I tried the Amptastic in the main system, should give it another go.
 
marktr said:
I’m interested to read that folks aren’t ‘getting much bass’ from their Amptastic Mini. The Mini has taken the place of many more far expensive amps here and they have all done lovely deep bass, The Mini being no exception. However, we do use 93dB Audio Note J’s which go down to 25Hz.
Click to expand...
I would say from my own limited experience..when I changed over from amptastic to Rekkr I immediately noticed more bass and a different warmer presentation.. completely different amps though! If all I ever heard was t amps or class d mini amps then I would be happy enough..
 
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