nice product to buy heating repair santee

dont have any

Clear, transparent, detailed soundstage, discernibly moreso than the NAD T-753 that I'd swapped in while the 3050a was being serviced, and more "punch" in the bass than might be expected from an amp at this pricepoint. A bit more "forward" than the NAD (and the Harmon-Kardon I auditioned with the 3050a), but also more interesting. I also found the NAD fatiguing after a while, and never with the 3050a. Somehow the remote is not as "directional" as many, so I can actually control the 3050a by aiming the remote at the ceiling. The controls on the amp that are actuated by the remote actually have little motors behind them... a little fussy for the selector (it gives the impression of resisting change) and one might assume that to be another part to wear out, but I've had this amp for 20 years with no sign of that as a weak point.

The remote is handy, but not all of the front-panel functions are duplicated on the remote. It has selector & volume. Would have liked to see balance on it.

Bought it new many years ago, still delivers the good. Meanwhile over the years I have changed and constructed more than a dozen amps but this is still my favorite one especially for midnight listening. Gave it a recap 5 years ago. Amc send me both manuals for free also they have a full parts stock!

nothing at this price.

Sweet and natural sound, strong bass, quiest background, great for head phones, looks cool, easy to live with.

Takes a while to run in and sound its best, left right signal becomes unbalanced at very low volumes.

About two years ago, I bought a used AMC 3050a along with an AMC T7a tuner to replace my old Kenwood KA-3500 integrated amp that had provided years of faithful service. The Kenwood has a pretty good phono section, but it is a little bright for CDs played on my old Yamaha CDC-715 through the AUX channels. Since I don't currently own a working TT, my focus was on getting a system that does a good job with CD and broadcast sources, but has the ability to handle phono inputs in the future. The 3050a seemed like a good candidate, and the price was lower than the similarly-powered new rigs available in my local hifi shops. The 3050a looks good and appears to be very well built. After auditioning several used amps including an NAD, I took home the AMC on a strong recommendation by the shops salesperson. At first I was disappointed. The 3050a was plenty loud, but the sound was somewhat closed, and I would say that instead of sounding natural as some have stated, it sounded dull and slow to me. I was playing it through new speakers (homemade boxes with Morel drivers and decent crossovers), and thought that maybe the drivers needed to loosen up. I switched to some older Wharfdale Diamond 8.1s from my HT system and it didn't make much difference. The 24 year old Kenwood sounded a little better. After a while (6 mos. or so), everything started to change. The sound opened up, and the staging and dynamics improved considerably. This was the case when played through both the "new" speakers and the older Wharfdales. Now the AMC sounds considerably better than the Kenwood in every respect. The unit looked brand new when I picked it up, and I think it had never been used more than a few hours before ending up on the used rack. Running in seems to have made a big difference in the performance of this amp, and it just continues to get better all the time. I am now a big fan of this little amp. The last chapter in this story is that I was poking around magazine reviews of other AMC products and I found a reference to replacing the factory pre to power amp jumpers on the back of an AMC 3020. I had the guys at Speakerlab here in Seattle build me some braided silver jumpers to replace the std metal bars and it made a huge difference in sound - not necessarily better. At first the sound was very bright and harsh, and the bass moved way back. Over time the bass came up and was actually quite clean and well-defined, but female vocals and cymbols were still too harsh, almost raspy. I switched over to some Audioquest standard preamp jumpers with high quality solid copper conductors ($25/pr. U.S.) and the highs backed off, becoming much smoother and the bass is back with a vengence. I definitely prefer the sound of both aftermarket jumpers to the little metal bars that came stock with the system, a worthy and relatively cheap upgrade. If you wanted the best sound, solid silver conductors would probably be the ticket if you could find them. kn

Similar Products Used:

NAD, Kenwood

lovely sound, classy looks, ease of use, nice phono stage

pathetic excuse for a remote

I got the AMC 3050a to replace my clapped out 20 year old Sansui au999 integrated and boy was i surprised. I'd been looking for quite a while and i can say that i have gone through a lot of brands for something that appealed to me, looking around the $1000 mark i got a real jump start when the guy at Tomas told me that it was $400 less than the bloody Yamaha. What a sucker i could have been.(BTW if you didnt already know, AMC was founded by the same group of engineers as NAD so expect quality as well as plain and simple design.) so down to business.... This AMC is quite honestly the most amazing amplifier in its price range. The bass is strong but clear and smooth The mids are transparent as any ive heard in its price bracket. (not a scratch on tube quality but hey, what do you expect?) The highs are crisp and clear, not sharp like the yamaha. Using records, i am quite happy with the phono preamp, though if your realy picky you'd reckon the mm mode is a little quiet. but im not too finnicky. I run my Sound dynamics RTS7s off it, and i must say, it sounds a little more powerful than 50wpc. the high current output must be the ticket. Overall the AMC is a beautiful amplifier with great sound and user friendliness. if your looking for a new amp around this price range you cant go past it. I must have a gripe though. What the hell do you do with the remote. I reckon the functions are easier to manipulare manually without the bloody thing. I wouldnt be complaining if they could have added a muting function on it, then i wouldnt be geting up and sitting down so often when someone enters my study (im being very picky here). I'm just going to shut up now and let you get out and hear this amp for yourself. you wont be dissappointed.

Similar Products Used:

yamaha AX596, Denon pma655R, NAD c300bee c340 c350, harman kardon, cambridge audio, marantz, sony, sansui au999

Accuracy, neutrality, warmth(via phono playback). Acceptable power for loud playback. Good Options and auxiliary inputs and pre-outs etc. Remote. Value!

MM setting on phono stage could use a little more juice. -

Overall this is a very solid amp-with like previously stated lots of value. I've used it mainly for stereo only-home theater and especially for phono playback. Giving this amp playing time has really sweetened up the sound. I listed about 1 hour per day. It drives speakers well but if I had the money I'd buy some more wattage for home theater purposes. Still 90% of my listening is on vinyl and I find the phone stage and preamp section to be capable and relatively quiet. At times it even sounds warm and rich-(although I attribute most of this to my stylus Clearaudio Aurum Beta) All functions work great, remote useful and handy, auxiliaries and flexibility of this amp make it a top contender for the price. I have really no complaints, sound is accurate, lively, neutral. Only concern is I have a sub-woofer connected and the phono stage on board seems to pick up a little vibration through the chassis of the amp itself, a problem which was easily rectified by adding weight onto the amp itself-thus reducing any slight acoustic feedback. Amp has high quality inputs and speaker binding posts-has a touch of class. Tone controls are inoffensive and pleasant when employed. Otherwise I really enjoy it-I feel very satisfied with my purchase.

Similar Products Used:

Sony integrated. Sansui Quadrophonic Receiver/Amp. Pioneer sa-6700.

Price, remote control, tone control bypass, phono section

Brand lacks big-time reputation...

Bought this unit because the spouse wanted a remote control on our second system which is primarily used for background listening. This unit replaced a B&K Sonata preamp and ST140 power amp. At first power-on, this thing was a pleasant surprise. Even after a month, I am still enjoying it. The detail and resolution is better than the B&K pair from top to bottom. Midrange is not as sweet as some tube rigs I have used in this system, but what you get for this price, it is great. I am tempted to try this baby in my big system (tubed from begining to end), but I am enjoying it too much right where it is.

Similar Products Used:

NAD, HK.

fabulous phono stage (combined with a Pro-Ject Debut turntable), warm 'clean crisp' sound, basic design, with a remotecontrol, really straight!

can sound a little bit 'careful' sometimes (but 'this staying in control' is also a major strength)

Very much recommended. I use the AMC with Mission 701 speakers (have good depth; combined with the AMC good wide touch> results in a fine musical atmosphere). Before I bought it I spent several listening hours at several dealers (I like smaller ones, not always easy to find) listened Marantz PM4000, 6010OSE, 7000, Denon 755, 1450, NAD 320, 340 (no phono stage; I prefer vinyl), Sony's, Kenwood KAF3030R, Rotel 931 (without remote; what I wanted to adjust volume) and more, but the all couldn't match the AMC on his strenghts mentioned above. My first impression was "what's this, AMC? never heart of? do I like this design?" Now I've listened three months, it has gaint my satisfaction. Give your ears a try. By the way I listen from Art Blakey to Bach or Beastie Boys, from the Velvet Underground to Verdi.

Similar Products Used:

eighties Marantz amp

good sound, price

remote lacks features

I'm updating my review below.

The problems I was having with the audio, was not the amp but the Y-cable I was using. It was a crummy AMX cable which was replaced gratis by my audio shop with a ultralink unit. problem gone.

I also upgraded my speaker to some decent Monitor Audio Silver 4i's - which are spectacular.

Overall I have to give five and five. A great starter unit.
Great sound overall.

Similar Products Used:

none

Value, clean amplification with simple controls

goofy useless remote

The AMC 3050a is a fantastic bargain amp. I upgraded to this amp from a 12 year old Kenwood I purchased back in high school, so of course the differences are remarkable. Having built a pair of nice MTM type speakers using 6.5” Vifa/Speak drivers I needed something better to power them than the old Kenwood. The AMC is much better than I could have hoped for given the $300 price tag. In particular the low-mids are much stronger and warmer and the bass really seems to extend down farther and is stronger than it was the Kenwood. The difference in the clarity and separation of voices is astounding.
Power: The amp has more than enough power for my small (12’x15’) listening room. Despite the meager listing of 45x2 watts into 8 ohms, it seems to have far more useable clean power than its 100-wattx2 predecessor.
Controls, features, and looks: The controls are simple and consist of a well laid out series of plain black knobs, and the overall look of the amp is simple and clean. If you like gauges and flashing lights this amp will not make you happy, but I think the clean modern look is just fine. The remote seems a bit useless for all the energy they put into designing the elegant motor driven volume and source selector knobs. The Remote has six buttons, 4 for source selection and two for volume, there is no power button on the remote (and no standby on the amp). The back is well done and has 4 nice heavy 5 way binding posts for the speaker wire and switches for both TT cartridge type as well as for speaker resistance (4 or 8 ohm). It has a thin profile but is heavy for its size. It also has preamp outs and would probably do very well if used just as a preamp for a larger set of amps. In particular this might be a good way for the TT aficionado to get more power and still take advantage of the superb phonograph preamp included in this unit.
Sound: This is the real test, and I don’t think anything in this price range will come close. With a price comparable to the low-end superstore model Yamaha or Kenwood you get a real piece of “audio-enthusiast” quality equipment (I can’t call it “audiophile” equipment because the low price would make “audiophiles” snigger in disbelief). The sound is warm and accurate, just like it should be. For purists there is a tone defeat knob, but switching back and forth between that and normal with the tone knobs at 12 o’clock made no discernable difference and the tone knobs themselves have a very subtle and natural effect when adjusted. In particular the bass control just kind of creeps in and never gets suddenly “boomy”. In selecting this amp I also auditioned an NAD and a Rotel, both in the $600-$1000 price range. I won’t say the AMC blew them away, but it sounded every bit as good at less than half the cost. The sound of the NAD was nearly exactly the same. I am sure that this amp will not work for some of you who require the sound of pure tube amplification through $1000 cables into your B&W 801s and Martin Logans, but for the rest of us this amp should make us happy and content.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood, Yamaha, NAD, Rotel