A most useless (unscientific, and possibly fun) amp shootout

Now that I have three amps at home, the wife, kids and parents in law are away for the weekend, I thought I might do an amp shootout at home just for the sake of it. All three amps are very different from each other, different history if you wish, and different age as well. The contenders are:

Marantz PM5003, 30W per channel, integrated. Bought around 2009 if I recall correctly, when I upgraded from a Harman Kardon receiver. I just love this amp. It plays loud enough for my needs, I've never cranked it up complete, it might blow my speakers or ears away, I don't know, or perhaps not, even though 30W doesn't sound like much. This one is my day to day + serious listening + allround amp, movies, music, digital, vinyl, the works. Has never disappointed.

Former Sony integrated TA2650, heavily modified around half a year ago, 40W. I bought this Sony from an SNA member around April 2014 I think? I'd just arrived to Oz and wanted something vintage, cheap-ish but nice to listen to some tunes. It fit the bill back then. I never did like the volume control though (stepped attenuator) and I never used any of the inputs, so out of sheer curiosity I removed all the pre-amp section, changed the volume pot, re-capped it complete, and it became a power amp with a volume knob. Further to this I added digital power on/off control plus A/B speaker selection. It sits nowadays on my desk, gets little use on speakers that are also recycled, but simple and nice. Why is this a contender? Just few months ago when I moved homes I was left with a PC and no amp. So I took this one out to the living room for a last night listening session on the main speakers. Goodness gracious me! It sounded bloody fantastic! Like, real nice like! I was gobsmacked! Now it shall get the attention and praise it needs. Oh, further to the internal changes it endured cosmetic surgery as well. Not the best, very little to no WAF, really, it doesn't do it justice at all. But let's not judge this book by its looks.

Just finished DIY class D chip amp, 50W. I pasted the rubber feet not one hour ago. I was curious about Class D amps. @mwhouston does a beautiful job building them, and I was keen to try one on my own (to be fair, this is a very far cry from Mark's builds, but credit where credit is due). The amp is based on a TPA3116 50 board that came up for sale on the classifieds around half a year ago, so I took it. I lay there until about two weeks ago when I started building a small lab power supply, and I needed a case. The case, as it turned out, is a toolcase I had lying around, and is good enough for the job. Since there was still enough space inside the case, why not build a test amp inside it? I mean, if I have to kill something, might as well be this el-cheapo DIY thingy. That's why it has two power switches, one for the DC power supply and one for the amp, both independent from each other. For good measure I added RCA inputs, a volume knob and speaker terminals. Power supply is 18V with 30000µF buffer. After you turn it off, it keeps on playing for 5-10 seconds before it shuts down. The ugly duckling of all amps, and it will stay so. One good thing about this one... very very easy to service! On a preliminary test on the recycled speakers it fared better than I expected. I'm curious how it will be on the main rig.

The sources will be:

• Digital. Keep things simple. FLAC collection on the server played through a Klein DAC connected via USB to a client PC. One of my favourite toys from last year, it does everything I need, and it does it right. Spotify will be involved as well... maybe.
• Vinyl. Ahhh, yes, we can't keep analog things out, can we? The Marantz phono pre and its recorder out will have to help out for contestants #2 and #3, seeing how they just have a volume knob and no pre. I don't have a phono pre, because I'm happy how the Marantz does an overall job. TT is a Thorens TD280 MKII with an AT400MLa cart.

Speakers:

• DIY, vintage 2012. I got so lucky, I just built them, using some halfarsed proportions for the volume and the wave guide/transmission line, but they turned out very very good. I've heard some other systems (not many, ok) and I'm not at all disappointed. A (boringly) detailed description here. Nice punchy bass and clear highs. Everytime I think of building new ones I'm reminded that a) I have no money   b) these two do a damn good job!

Music:

• Predominantly British classic rock. Lots of Beatles, some Pink Floyd, some Dire Straits (a must is "Money for Nothing"), some streaming from Spotify. The first try will probably start with "The Commitments" soundtrack on vinyl. The copy I have sounds just amazing. Maybe some prog, a la Transatlantic, lots of drums there. Michael Jackson for the more bass/thump oriented stuff, might give Daft Punk's "RAM" a spin, although, to be honest, I like that album but I'm not familiar with it to make a valid assessment (not that it matters).

So, stay tuned (if you want) for an update tomorrow or Sunday at some point.

Cheers,

Alberto