Aura 50 amp

[Buckland]

I bought an Aura V50 integrated amp 2nd hand a few years ago. It has worked perfectly well, but does get hot.

I'm now looking to upgrade my system. Have already bought some dynaudio 72 4 ohm l/r speakers (which the Aura drives for audio and l/r in AV system). The Aura worked well with these speakers in the shop.

However, i hear that these dyns need lots of amp to drive them. But i don't even know the wattage on the amp. In fact, I'm completely lacking in any info on the Aura (it was popular in the mid-90s apparently).

Has anybody got any data/opinion on the Aura amp. Is it going to be enough to drive these speakers? What other amp would anybody recommend?

Thanks

[overkill]

The VA-50 runs 50 watts per channel RMS into 8ohms. It is famous for running hot. It has (rare for the time!) an onboard MM phono stage. The reviewers at the time also added the caveat that the 50 & 100 didn't like difficult loads, i.e. 4ohm. We tested one at the shop, and it produced, with MA, Tannoy & Musical Fidelity speakers a smooth, easy on the ear sound, but not as laid back as our ARcams. It preferred classical and jazz to rock. A nice amp.

I would suggest, if you like the amps sound, trading for a pair of 8ohm speakers to avoid damaging the amp long term. However, any seasoned VA50 users feel free to correct me if you've experienced otherwise!

[alexs2]

Certainly nothing wrong with running hot,as it possibly indicates a fair bias into Class A at low powers,which could well be partly responsible for the laid back sound(although I wouldn't describe the Krells I have as laid back).

The Dynaudios do have some well deserved reputation as being a fairly heavy load for an amp,and anything that isn't truly happy with a 4 ohm load is going to be working very hard....on the other hand,you say you've already bought the speakers,and the amp is working well with them,so the only real issue is going to be longer term reliability....as long as they aren't getting excessively hot,you should be allright.