Home > Consumer Reviews > AudioSource Amp One/A 160-Watt Stereo Power Amplifier with Internal Bridging

I have been an audiophile since I was a teen (over 20 years), having owned some truly high end amplifiers like Bryston, Audio Research, and currently in my main system, a McIntosh MC162. All phenomenal amps. I also happen to own an AudioSource AmpTwo and an AmpOne, both superb amps for the money. The only difference with the AmpTwo, is that it has left and right channel lit VU meters that measure watts output and 'headroom' in db units. Very cool indeed! Other than this, the AmpOne is identical to the AmpTwo. The AmpOne is set up in my home office connected to higher end equipment like Parasound and a Denon HDCD player. My speakers are the very venerable and respected bookshelf horn speakers, the JBL HLS-610, which is very well balanced and revealing of source material and equipment. And lastly, I run fairly expensive 'StraightWire' interconnect cables between my components. That said, I have been blown away by the quality and neutral sound of this amplifier! The amp sounds detailed, accurate, warm, sweet, and powerful - attributes usually found in more expensive high end amplifiers as mentioned above, usually costing thousands of dollars! Quite an amazing feat for this solid little affordable AudioSource that satisfies even high demand audiophile ears like mine. Moreover, I have tested the AmpOne and AmpTwo while driving difficult power hungry loads, such as Magneplanar 4 ohm speakers, and they performed beyond my expectations. Kudos to AudioSource for providing one of the truly 'best bang for the buck' deals in stereo amplification out there! I highly, HIGHLY recommend this product.

I bought 2 AudioSource Amp One/A's and am running them as monoblocks to drive my front L/R speakers. The difference in sound quality over my Marantz SR-5300 (brand new) is quite stunning. The sound stage sounds much wider and deeper, and even the most delicate note can be clearly heard. I'm using the Marantz as a preamp to drive the AudioSource amps, BTW. With the AS's taking the load of the front speakers, the Marantz's dynamics and clarity have also improved dramatically with multi-channel recordings since it's now only handling the center and surround speakers.

I'd recommend buying a pair of these to anyone who has a low-mid priced home theater receiver with preamp outs. The difference is quite extraordinary. I now understand why people spend thousands of $ on monoblock amps.

I also tried running the AS's stereo mode, driving Front L/R, Center and Center Surround speakers. The sound was not as dynamic or clear using them this way, though movie soundtracks sounded dramatically better (the Marantz was now doing even less). I'm more of a 2 channel music buff who happens to love multi-channel movies, so I'm sticking with the 2 monoblock approach. Eventually, I may purchase additional AS Amp ones to drive my other speakers...

OK - I guess it's obvious I'm really happy with this product. Try it for yourself, you won't be disappointed. It's the cheapest way to get a monoblock amp without spending alot more, or dealing with equipment with noisy cooling fans!

I have owned two of these amps for almost a year now and I am very fond of them. I have four bookshelf speakers that were being power by a stereo receiver. This stereo receiver bragged that it produced 100 Watts per channel for four channel. So, supposedly each of my speakers was getting 100 Watts of power. However, power in the audio industry is not well defined. Believe me as I am a physicist, they are pretty wacky in the audio business. To calculate power, one uses the formula Power=V^2/R, where V is the RMS voltage and R is the resistance of the circuit or load. Sorry this is getting a bit technical, but the moral of the story is the audio industry feels free to choose R at will. This means they can claim any power. The sad thing is it is legal to so do. Anyway, back to the review. I bought two of these amps to power my four speaker. That means I am running 80 Watts into each speaker. This should be quieter than my old receiver, but it is not. It is much louder because these amps actually put out a real 160 Watts as opposed to my old stereo receiver which most likely put out 50 Watts per channel.

Also, the signal to noise seems excellent. These are the first amps I have owned where if I run a clean signal in and turn the volume all the way up, I do not hear a hiss coming out of my speakers. In fact, they recommend that one keeps the amps turned all the way up at all times and simply adjust the input signal volume. This is what I do an it works well. I am very satisfied this this product.

very flat sounding. i'm tired of people comparing other amps and thinking they are better for one reason or another.. but thats consumer audio for you... the goal should be to have flat sound that is as true to the origional recording as possible.

at any rate, this amp doesnt stray much in frequency response across the spectrum, has practically no noise (most notably, you can turn it up all the way with no audible hiss at all) and very low harmonic distorion.

the only real downside to this amp (for this price.. or mabye even a much higher price) is that it would have a pretty hard time driving some of the bigger floorstanding speakers.. but if you have a good subwoofer, who cares, right?

The sound quality of this amp is much cleaner than any of the "consumer grade" stuff I own. The amp is a little short on power but an excellent piece of equipment for the price.

Update:
I'm now using a radio shack mixer as a preamp and and no longer find the amp "A little short on power"