UltimateAVmag.com: Buyer's Guide: Amplifiers: Budget Choice

	Ultimate Bang for the Buck. These components establish the Ultimate in price/performance ratio, challenging the performance of the Ultimate and Premier Choice components at a fraction of the price.


	Adcom GFA-7607 $1,500 Channels/Power: Seven channels; 125-Watts per channel into 8 ohms/175-Watts into 4 ohms Inputs: Single-ended The Skinny: Adcom's GFA-7607 is an exercise in simplicity and unadorned functionality. Adcom prefers to spend its money, and therefore yours, on the high performance components on the inside, not the bells and whistles on the outside. A single, massive toroid is the heart of the power supply, and each of the seven channels has its own heatsinks and four high-current output devices. Although the midrange is recessed and the treble bites just a bit, the GFA-7607 has the big bass and dynamics that drive home theater enthusiasts out of their seats. It's not as expressive and refined with music as some of the more expensive entries in the market, but makes the cut here based on its sheer power and dynamic thrills.
	Anthem PVA 7 $1,499 Channels/Power: Seven channels; 105-Watts per channel into 8 ohms (all channels driven)/140-Watts per channel into 4 ohms (all channels driven) Inputs: Single-ended The Skinny: Anthem's PVA 7 is a remarkable value by being a truly audiophile quality amplifier that costs just over $200 per channel. You read that right: 200 bucks per channel. Big, powerful home theater amps that will simply play loud are a dime a dozen in this industry. This amp has harmonic richness and purity with music that's simply stunning. Loads of inner detail, natural musical timbres and precise imaging, this amp has a genuine liquidity with no hint of the mechanical electronic signature that afflicts so many solid-state home theater amps. Although this amp isn't truly lacking in dynamics or output power, there are amps that will play louder and with more dynamic crunch. But you won't find an amp anywhere near this price point that has the expressive soul of the PVA 7.
	Arcam P1000 $2,299 Channels/Power: Seven channels; 135-Watts per channel into 8 ohms (all channels driven)/210-Watts into 4 ohms (all channels driven) Inputs: Single-ended and balanced The Skinny: Arcam's P1000 is another that uses an unusual topology (Class H) to pack a lot of channels and power into a small-ish, cool running box. And that it does- the P100 offers a full seven channels at 135-Watts per. It features an overkill-sized 2.2kVA toroid in the power supply, and the Class H end of it means that it's a more efficient design that uses three voltage rails, switching to the higher voltage rails only when signals demand more output. The P1000 is a little forward in the midrange, but also makes dialog crystal clear and always intelligible. The P1000 occasionally showed hints of strain with loud, aggressive passages, but the rest of the time sounded at ease. This Arcam's greatest strength is imaging, which is big and spacious, but precise, localized and convincing. Overall this amplifier has an excellent balance of strengths and few weaknesses at a very reasonable price for seven channels.
	Outlaw Model 7125 $999 Channels/Power: Seven channels; 125-Watts per channel into 8 ohms (all channels driven)/190-Watts into 4 ohms Single-ended The Skinny: This black box from the self-proclaimed Outlaws of audio won't win any aesthetic design awards, but that doesn't matter when seven channels of amplification of this quality are on tap for just a thousand bucks. That's a measly $142 per channel! The midrange is clear and uncolored and the image has depth front to back and side-to-side. The treble is clean and extended, and the bass had both weight and power at the expense of a little leanness in the upper bass/lower midrange. An excellent amplifier at a bargain basement price, the Model 7125 is an invitation to try out separates without siphoning off your home equity line.
	Rotel RMB-1075 $1,199 Channels/Power: Five channels; 120-Watts per channel into 8 ohms Inputs: Single-ended The Skinny: Rotel is one of the most venerated names in value audio, and amps like the RMB-1075 are the reason why. Five channels of 120-Watt power are onboard, powered by a beefy 1.5kVA toroid. The sound we heard was no-nonsense, accurate and dynamic. The soundstage was big and spacious, with startling solidity. An excellent entry-level multichannel power amp.
	Rotel RMB-1077 $2,499 Channels/Power: Seven channels; 100-Watts per channel into 8 ohms/200-Watts into 4 ohms Inputs: Single-ended The Skinny: The "D" in Class D doesn't necessarily stand for "digital," but in fact means you're looking at an amplifier that does for amps what plasma does for TVs: makes them thin. How else would you explain Rotel's RMB-1077, a seven-channel, 100-Watts per channel amplifier that weighs just 17 lbs. and is less than 3" tall? The RMB-1077's bass is deep and powerful, if just a little loose, and the top end is clean and detailed but a little reticent compared to the very best amps. Some hints of strain were exhibited with the most demanding multichannel tracks, but the sound was always smooth and inviting, and never harsh or grating. The RMB-1077 is an outstanding amp for the money in an amazingly compact, cool running package.