I love this amp and what it does more than anything else I have heard in my own system or anyone elses....and ..for the dirt cheap prices they can be picked up for used. -- Patio

None so far

Residential House Painting Love it so much!!!

I want this one!!!

I bought new in 1989 and had that one for 5 years. A great amplifier.

For the money when new it could not be beat. For the money used plus having it brought up to factory specification, it still can’t be beat. A bonafide classic.

Had it since new. Respectable "oomf and crystal clear" in stereo mode and has been rock solid since 1992. Ended up here b/c it finally failed (left channel appears to be gone). 27 years of flawless service ain't anything to shake a stick at.

Weighs a ton: made keeping dust-free challenging.

My first high end power amp. I bought it at an estate sale for $75.00. Had in gone through, replaced and put in correct fuses. Sounds fantastic with a BK Components pre amp. So clean going through some old Bose 501s.

No weaknesses that I know of other than running warm.

an incredible amp at any price, I have had a large choice of amps from several thousand dollar per side monoblock tube amps to the solid state pa amps..to the other end of the spectrum 7-8 thousand dollar solid state behemoths....overall...I love this amp and what it does more than anything else I have heard in my own system or anyone elses....and ..for the dirt cheap prices they can be picked up for used...bargain of the century.

small details , speaker binding posts...could be better, it could look ''prettier''....but at the center of an amplifiers purpose...to reproduce music ....so good it's ridiculous.

One of the best power amplifier alike Marantz sm6. Sound power rich and tight. Got this spare amp from my uncle, B&K ST202 power amazing like a Class A hight Watts amp. It runs hot great power that surprised me. I feel the vintage gear ls really good compare to many new technologies audio these days. That kind of thickness heavy sound that can't find these days except from those vintage electronics. B&k st202 truly power lwithout harsh from low to very high volume.

None of weakness excellent built power amp

ST 202 POWER AMPLIFIER , ITS NEUTRAL, SMOOTH , ONE OF MY TREASURE . THE LAST ONE . IT WAS WITHOUT THE TAP OF FUSE BOX & FUSE . I BOUGHT FOR 200 US . COUPLE DAYS CLEANING IT ,LOOKING FOR THE FUSES VALUES . VERY HARD TO FIND MANUALS OR SPCS IN THE NET . IHAVE TO IMAIL B&K . MR JOHN BALOFF, SEND THE ANSWER VERY FAST. THEN ITAKE OUT TH EFUSE TAP OF MY MARANTZ 3800 AND THE HAFLER 230 FITS WELL . PLUG IN SUPERPHON BASIC PREAMP . NO IMPRESSIVE SOUND COMES OUT . NEXT AUDITION AFTER LET BOTH ON IN THE DAY . IT CHANGE COMPLETELY SURPRISE EXCELENT REALLY THE SOUND ITS BETWEEN THE SOLID STATE AND THE TUBES WARN RELAXING SOUND . FANTASTIC AMPLIFIER . ACURUS A250,MC 2200,MC 2125 ,BK PRO 600 , MARANTZ 250 PIONEER SPCS 4 ,COUNTERPOINT SA1000, ACURUS RL10 PSAUDIO 4.5 , DYNACO MARKS II , COUNTRPOINT SA 100 . BW DM7 , POLK SDA II , KLISPCH FORTE II ETC .............

I am writing a review for a B&K 202+ that I purchase on Audiogon 2 weeks ago for $375. I thought I would give a more updated review of the product should any one be in the market in 2009. At first, I was not impressed with the sound relative to my Adcom 555 and 5500. Something just was not right even using a PS Audio Punch power cord. After days and days of fiddling, I found by accident that on of my receptacles on my power supply was compromised. Trying again, I was blown away by the sound. Treble was now sweet and smoother than with my Adcoms. Mids were excellent with great detail and imaging. Bass was also quite good, however, I was bi-amping with my GFA-5500 handling my subs. This is one great amp but you must use a good power cable with it. Using a stock-like cable (the original cable was not supplied) the sound stage was lacking in depth and vocals were more forward and a little bloated. THe Adcoms are very good, as well, but I would have to say in the end the B&K won out. Take a chance if you can find one.

full, open, satisfying sound with good bass, 225w dynamic power, huge caps, sounds the same at all volumes, excellent match to Canadian bookshelf speakers

smallish binding posts, turnoff click and pop (mild), mains and rca jacks on opposite sides as most other gear, stays pretty warm at idle

B&K ST-2020

Been wanting an amp such as this for a long time and did serious shopping and research for 9 months prior to purchase. Note, however, that almost all of this was online and/or archival reviews of vintage products. As well as relying on my auditory memory.

Seriously considered Rotel RB-980BX or similar, Yamaha M-60 or similar, Acurus A150, Sumo Polaris among others. As it turns out this amp is a very good match for my system, in fact, I cannot imagine any of the other amps I was considering (except maybe the Rotel) to sound as good in my system.

It has exactly the sort of interior layout that I wanted: power supply in middle and separate amp boards along each side. And those caps are HUGE; they look like oil filters! When I plugged it into a regular wall outlet for initial testing the lights dimmed when I turned it on. As installed, it is plugged directly into the hospital grade outlet on the audio system's dedicated 20A 10ga circuit using a PS Audio Plasma power cord.

It is quiet, powerful, smooth, satisfying, full, open, and has good soundstaging. The most impressive thing is that it sounds the same at all volume levels: background, normal, cranked--it always sounds the same. Also it is very quiet, there is no hiss or hum even with the volume pegged.

Notice I'm NOT saying it is "warm" or "tube like" or whatever. All I know is it mates very well with my Canadian bookshelf speakers. It has a full sound with plenty of bass authority and never gets shrill.

Of course there are a few cons, but none of these (even all together) are dealbreakers, even if I had known about them ahead of time. It has rather small binding posts that only accept like 16ga wire, which forced me to buy a set of banana plugs in order to hook it up. It gets pretty warm at idle. There is a turnoff click and pop through the speakers, although this is mild. The mains and rca jacks are on opposite sides compared to every other peice of gear I own, requiring cord rerouting around the amp. The power specs for all the older B&K amps are given in DIN instead of FTC RMS, which means that this 150w amp is really more like a 135w. But the 225w dynamic power still stands!

Overall I am extremely happy I bought it.

Associated equipment:
NAD C542 CD player
Rotel RC-970BX preamp
Energy Conissour C-2 speakers on matching sand filled Target stands
Wire: WireWorld Orbit III+, pre to power; XLO/VDO ER-5, CD to pre; Monster Standard 4-16 doubled for 10ga effective total


I checked with B&K and the 2020 has the newer style output devices so if it blows a full retrofit is not required.

Selected Specs:
8 ohm power = 150w DIN
8 ohm power = estimated 135w RMS
dynamic headroom = 1.5 dB
8 ohm dynamic power = estimated 225w (or 200w if being super conservative)
current = 36 amps peak to peak
damping factor = 180
input impedance = 24.3 Kohms
TIM = .09%
THD = .09%
slew rate = 14v/microsec
S/N = 95 dB
w,d,h = 17,5.75,15.5
weight = 30 lbs

Similar Products Used:

Harmon Kardon 70w, Marantz 60w