I am definitely a little bit slow at catching on to the latest audio trends. About a month ago I started becoming interested in the Sonic Impact amp. Reading the reviews and forum discussions from the past six months there seemed to be something going on with this product that was truly special in some people's eyes (really ears). Reading TNT Audio and 6 Moons reviews spurred me forward, I wanted one (or maybe two).

What a deal, $29 at Target or Parts Express. As I said above, basically I am cheap and screw myself constantly by buying less then I really want or need. I am working hard to break this habit and $29 is less than a tank of gas for the Explorer. So $29 dollars for a giant killer was just too hard to resist. With my credit card in hand I hit the Internet to buy a Sonic Impact amp. SOLD OUT EVERYWHERE (except the manufacturer who wanted $39, NO WAY)! But as I am searching, my cheap side is starting to total the add ons required to really make this thing work in my system. Add a AC/DC plug-in or some form of battery power, add some adaptors to make my speaker cables fit the amp's cheap binding posts, add a RCA to mini head phone jack converter to connect my preamp, and the cost was rising to a still very affordable $60 to $70. But they were SOLD OUT EVERYWHERE!

It looked like the Sonic Impact amp was going to be a challenge. At the same time I started reading about the Teac A-L700P three channel amp for $99. It has binding posts, RCA connection, and plugs into the wall. It would drop right into my system in place of my aging Adcom 200 watt amp. So I took the plunge and bought one from Amazon.

The Teac amp arrived a couple of weeks ago and I pulled the Adcom out of my cabinet and onto the floor and set the Teac on top (this thing is less than half the size of the Adcom). A couple of quick connections and I was listening to music. One interesting side note, looking though the cooling holes I could see two small PC type boards and not much else. The case is really fairly decent with average mid-fi type connection hardware, no complaints about the construction for the $99 delivered cost. I have been listening on and off for a couple of weeks and been fairly happy, my only suspicion was that the bass output was weaker then the Adcom. On the plus side, the midrange and high end appeared to be brighter, crisper, and more detailed/revealing.

Yesterday, Audrey (the wife) and the two girls went out shopping leaving Jeffrey (13 year old son) and I home with a bunch of chores to get done. By the time her car hit the bottom of the driveway the chores were forgotten and we were headed for the amps. Time for some serious comparison listening to my Lowther ML TL speakers at volume levels not normally achieved in the evening without complaints. We listened to a bunch of different recordings including jazz, classical, male and female vocals, and even some of his stuff (junk! really bad!) with both the Adcom and the Teac. Switching cables and firing back up took about a minute so we would listen to the same music selection with both amps very quickly.

Bottom line, Jeffrey said he did not hear much of a difference. I thought that the Adcom had a bit better low bass response and in general sounded a little darker. The Teac had a very revealing brighter midrange and high end. The differences were small. I know that the Adcom/Lowther set-up produces very decent sound from the comments made by several recent visitors. I know they would have been honest in pointing out significant flaws in my system and I don't believe they were just being polite. I also recognize that my Adcom amp/preamp are the weak links, the reason I am looking for an upgrade. Neither the Adcom nor the Teac are perfect and I am still going to buy a more expensive high end SS amp and preamp, but no longer two expensive amps as I had planned so I have saved myself some very decent bucks. The $99 the Teac is really amazing. I have ordered a second Teac from Amazon, this time at $95 (even cheaper!) and will use the two Teac amps to experiment with bi-amping in the near future. The Teac amp is so small and light that I can think of many uses for the pair as I continue to build and experiment with more speaker systems.

If you are looking to try a Sonic Impact type of set-up, I can easily recommend the Teac A-L700P three channel amp as a slightly more expensive yet more conventional amp that will drop right into an established system. The only reservation might be that the Teac amp will probably work best with high efficiency speakers that have an impedance curve with a minimum value greater than 6 ohms.

My two cents,

Martin

• Quarter Wavelength Loudspeaker Design

The Sonic Impact or Teac are just shadows of what can be achieved. Add the Sharp SD-EX111 available on overstock.com for $85 (20 wpc, remote, and a CD player).

But these are all cheap examples of the digital technology. Folks get ed in with the low price and the DIY juices start to flow. Wayne at Boulder Cables mods the Teac or SI. Vinnie at Red Wine Audio mods the SI and Sharp. These guys improve connectors, power supplies, etc. to take these amps to another level. OTOH just pulling the center channel board out of the Teac is supposed to help it sound better.

For $500 you can get into seriously nice stuff. Too many folks spend $50 or so thinking that they'll try digital, but that's hardly a fair shake. (Who would write off all tube amps after an experience with a $100 tube amp, even if such a thing were available.)

With a battery powered DAC now I'm seriously looking into Vinnie's 6 wpc battery powered Clari-T.

I've fallen into the trap of associating digital amps with only inexpensive units, so seeing something this expensive was a shock.

• MXD-1

IMO a $500 Clari-T compares very well with $2000 + SETs, but you'll trade 4 hour battery runs for the romanace of tubes. Even 100 wpc + solid state amps don't provide the same bass control of a small digital for some speakers.

In an age of instant gratification people just aren't willing to wait for technology to mature or hunt for synergistic pairings, especially when it comes to electronics.