I've browsed some forums on other sites for feedback, but I thought I'd bring-it-home to the Axiom group to see what kind of advice I can stir up here.
At my wife's request, I am trying to set up a 2.1 channel system in our master bedroom. The sources will be either XM Radio or iPod, and so I see no need for a dedicated AV receiver. My wife is incredibly accepting of home audio, but she wouldn't be too thrilled with an AV receivier sitting on a shelf in the bedrooom. From that, I think a small, discrete amp hooked up to an iPod dock sitting on the nightstand next to the bed will be best. The speakers for the moment will be a pair of Energy Take 5's and a Kenwood powered sub (which will handle the crossover duties). Remnants of our old main system. I would very likely soon replace the Take 5's with either a pair of M3's or maybe some Onix X-Series speakers. Not quite sure which...
Anyway, I am being drawn towards the small, relatively inexpensive digital amps such as the original
T-Amp at
$40, the bigger
T-Amp + at like $139, or the
Trends Audio TA-10 at ~ $129. Based on my satisfaction of the Emotiva LPA-1, I'm also thinking about their small (non-digital) amp, the
BPA-1 at like $190.
I fully understand that the digital amps don't put out that much power. I don't need large amounts of power because this is going to be in the bedroom and used for background music while reading, lounging, etc. That said, I do still want it to sound
good when needed, and that puts a bit more weight in favor of the BPA-1, with it's more serious wattage.
I've read some pretty good reviews of the Trends amp, and so that seems to jump out. Anyone have any experience with these, or any other of the small, dedicated amps?
Or is this a dumb idea and instead I should just get a refurb AV receiver from eCost for <$150?
