GATO PWR-222 Monoblock Amplifier, SHAKEN & STIRRED!

[@AudioChicAC]

Thank you for the mention Steve and thank you Rich for sharing your amazing setup featuring our speaker stands in 'American Walnut' for the KEF R3 speakers.

[@kamanda6443]

Great review Steve, thanks! I saw that Gato just released their first phono preamp, it would be awesome if you could review it one day, that thing looks juicy!! Greetings from the Alps, cheers!

[@navybean1560]

Surprised you didn’t audition these with your Maggies.

[@EvenHarmonics]

Enjoy your reviews even when I am not looking for new equipment. Thanks!

[@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac]

Thanks, I think that's true for most people reading or watching reviews. Reviews are mostly for entertainment purposes, not for buyers. In any case I'm glad you enjoy my videos.

[@carlitomelon4610]

Entertainment ? Sure. We still learn from your ever changing perspective and music recommendations, Steve. Thank you! 🎵🎶😉🎶🎵

[@carlespy7470]

Yes, but I bought my Zu DW IIs based largely on Steve's reviews of their products. So, while I am entertained, Steve's reviews help my buying decisions as well. @@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac

[@robk5745]

They make such nice products, gato 150 is what I’m saving for! Thanks Steve

[@trajan350]

It’s a great sounding amp. Only complaints are that the preamp bypass is poorly executed, and the remote is incredibly hard to use (ton of identical buttons - hard to see).

[@robk5745]

@@trajan350 thanks for the fedback!

[@szymonkogut9509]

What do you mean by "preamp bypass is poorly executed"? Could you please provide specific details about the issue at hand?@@trajan350

[@iampryso9548]

Steve, one of the best amps I've owned over decades in this hobby was a pair of Halo JC-1 monos. They were very powerful, something like 400 wpc into 8 ohms and 800 into 4. But the real difference was the switchable bias. The first 10 watts or so were class A, but they were switchable to "hi-bias" which I think was about 25 watts class A. I clearly preferred the hi-bias setting and used that for all my active listening. I did use the standard setting with background music where it didn't matter. So with those, and likely your GATOs, the reserves with so much power was no doubt meaningful. But I think the refinement of higher bias was a big contributor to the great sound as well.

[@iampryso9548]

@Steveguttenbergaudiophiliac1- Steve, I attempted to reply but am unfamiliar with Telegram and could not connect.

[@keplermission]

Halo JC-1s, I should tell bargain demons about the Dayton HTA-100BT. When Steve started out in Audio, we all had crummy tube amplifiers that we used with Oaktron or Utah chassis speakers and the HTA-100 is specially made for a Chinese Car Audio speaker like the Lanzar, it's a cheesy brand name based on the hot holiday island. Use these and ONLY these with the HTA-100, they're special chassis deals.

[@nobodyimportant2294]

10 years! Awesome and the face didn’t mismatch the voice 👍🏻 And keep up the great work 🎉 I’m looking forward for the next decade!

[@brettb5257]

Steve, I owe you a THANK YOU on this one ... the Powerhouse album 'In an Ambient Way' is an EPIC piece of music. I am currently listening and am thoroughly enjoying. So cool that you were present for the session. It is wonderful. Thanks.

[@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac]

That's great, thank you for watching.

[@keplermission]

@@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac Well I just heard a KZbin Tannoy Devon that is the 1970s version of the 1990s Tannoy Little Gold Monitor and they're using an Exposure IV power amplifier that doesn't sound good. One problem with these ... Scottish ... Tannoy was the edge-wound construction of the motor and the 1980s Realistic STA-2290 was made for the later edge-wound, Liquid-Cooled Mach One, that I remember nobody seemed to like (because it was tuning fork tailored to an edge-wound speaker motor). So you know, matching to the right thing matters. The SONY Carbocon speakers were essential for SONY's V-FET sound. Hitachi had their own metal cone speakers back then and 1970s Hitachi were fantastic too.

[@anthonycody4095]

Hey Steve, you might like to compare another high-power Monoblock that is a low price but outputs 300W into 8ohms - Emotiva HC-1 Monoblocks. It would be interesting to see how a low-cost compares with a high-cost Monoblocks?

[@cyrilperin8464]

Hi Steve, thanks for all your videos man! are you planning the Part 2 of the Decware SARAH 300B soon? really looking forward to this :)

[@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac]

Yes, there will be a part two in a month and a half or so. I'm waiting for a speaker that will be a great match, I hope.

[@cyrilperin8464]

@@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac thanks so much for taking the time to reply! you rock man!

[@rickmathis8590]

That's indeed a load of power to play with. Makes me wonder how they would sound on some big Maggies. Might be a great match, I think. Thanks, Steve!

[@keplermission]

Gato has the Danish sound of B&o that is so New York but you know, DALI speakers give the authentic Danish sound. Maggies are discussed in another video, they have ideal Audiophiliac amplifier.

[@JohnMueller-zo5kc]

Beautiful equipment in the Viewer System of The Day. Good to see Yamaha getting some love.

[@adsph]

Another great take Steve. Appreciate it.

[@bruce8429]

How do they compare with Schiit Tyr?

[@itsonlyme9938]

When transistors heat up the spec on them changes what looks good on a test jig does not correspond how they behave when they have been in use over a period of time.

[@GentielioGaming]

Jay iyagi had these gato's with an Audio Note preamp on the Dynaudio Heritage Specials. It made the Dynaudio sound so much better then the previous attempts with amp matching. I don't know what you used of an amp when you rewiewed the Dynaudios but i guess you don't even can imagine how they can sound with this amp. Sadly you don't have these anymore to share your thoughts on this combo.

[@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac]

Thank you, I really enjoyed the heritage speakers. But sure, there are endless combinations, that's part of the fun. I can't keep every speaker I review around for endless comparisons, or every amplifier. All I can do, or any reviewer can do is report on what they have at hand at the time of the review. That's it. And that's fine with me.

[@keplermission]

@@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac Yeah, and just to help struggling readers, speakers might look totally different and yet sound almost as good, one to the other, when using different ideal amplifiers. My GLL Imagio IC120 fed with a Realistic STA-2000 does sound slightly better than a Hitachi SR-603 with the Realistic Optimus X-100, that back in the day was designed to outperform a Tannoy Little Gold Monitor ... opinion being that the Realistic did sound better, but many post 1973 Tannoy (Scottish origin) speakers are still very hard to partner with any known amplifiers.

[@Hiluxtaco]

Wonderful video, Steve! 🙋‍♂️👋👋

[@frogmorepipester7490]

I like my Kanto YU-Sixes, with the Sub 8. I am listening on a JBL-extreme 2. I love your show! You are awesome.

[@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac]

Thanks!!

[@sean_heisler]

You should give the self titled Elton John a whirl on Tidal, the Master version, sounds phenomenal. Seriously!

[@jeremyaguilar3805]

The amps look really cool but so do your audio racks! Where did you get them? I'm probably always going to have 2 listening areas, I'm going to check out the Gatos.

[@myk1200s]

Great video steve...... Hey are you Ever going to review the OUTLAW RR2160 ❓

[@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac]

I reviewed the original 2160 for CNET.com No plans to review the current model

[@thomashornstein4253]

To me Steve kind of confirms, that “nothing can compensate for power” even when using on high sensitivity speakers. It is able to create better dynamics. But then I’m asking myself, why spending close to 10k on amps and not directly on active speakers. My experience is that they are usually and easily beating passive speakers in terms of dynamics.

[@chrislj2890]

Very nice system of the day!

[@jeromejax8675]

Hi Steve, TY for the video. I so happen to be in the market for 2 monoblocks to power my Focal Kanta 2's. The sensitivity for the speakers is 92 db. My question is, will the Gato 222 be overkill for the speakers and make everything sound too bright? Btw, I recently upgraded from my Prima Luna HP Dialogue Int. Amp w/KT-150 powertubes to the Cary Audio slp-05 preamp. Hence why I am in the market for monoblocks.😊

[@SuperMcgenius]

Love that king Sunny lp.👍

[@darrellross8609]

S, "Yellow Brick Road" has been my favorit LP for 49 yrs. Best, D.

[@Ylojaketz]

Steve! Are you becoming a high power fan? Or maybe just a 222 power fan!? I am a high power fan but not for any reason related to the actual number of watts but to those features of the sound that you described coming from the 222. Please consider another high power amp set up to test that theory.

[@WeeWeeJumbo]

I’m happy with my amplification but curious about biggedy big boy wattage

[@saint6563]

General Question: Can people hear an A/B amp that's Class A for the first few watts, when it changes from Class A to A/B?

[@richardelliott8352]

perhaps at times, but I would think the volume level differences once it kicked in to A/B would make hearing a different electron path, that travels at the speed of light, kind of tough. Besides, the human brain doesn't care about that stuff. I have never noticed the effect, but low level listening is the true test of good playback. So having better amplification where most of the listening is done makes sense.

[@Hiluxtaco]

Hey, Gato! You have 'The Green Light' to send me one of your amplifiers any time that you want!! 😊😊😊

[@aceofspades6667]

These vs Burson timekeeper 3x gt vs benchmark Ahb2 would be an interesting comp.

[@audiolofil]

As for burson comparison here is some kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2nJgXynnK6Sjrc around 17min

[@audiolofil]

Got them, love them. Now I’m waiting for Gato pre-1 preordered. They’re not that expensive considering they’re giving ultra high end vibes in sound quality

[@trajan350]

You mean the SDA-1? I cancelled my order after getting frustrated with the continuous delays.

[@audiolofil]

@@trajan350 No, pre-1, dual mono preamplifier. But I’m also planning on adding sda-1 as a dac and streamer. Yes I’ve noticed preorder is for a long time now but I’ve started mine just a few days ago. I’ve talked with them on audio video show in november they told me they have some delays because of software in their new products. I wonder If it’s still an issue

[@neilaltschuler6064]

What about Peachtree 300?

[@trajan350]

In comparison they aren’t close at all (have owned them both).

[@neilaltschuler6064]

Peachtree 300 is powerful enough and less expensive. Better value to me

[@trajan350]

@@neilaltschuler6064 so you have a Peachtree?That’s rhetorical. Of course you don’t. I bought one for the same reasons and promptly returned it because it sounds like crap and is poorly made. Then I saw how many other people complained about quality issues and sound quality. I wanted to love it, but isn’t worth 10% of the price.

[@antman5474]

Music sounds good. But yeah it's a bit loud.

[@charleskatz2606]

Hmmm sounds good that it sounds good not sure that it gas the $$$ value of the Orchard Starkrimson's 150 wpc

[@johngutmanis3580]

Steve, I wish you would check out the new McIntosh MI502 class D 2 channel amp. It makes 500 into 8 ohms and 800 into 4 ohms. According to a brief review by excellence in Audio of Canada this new amp has the Mcintosh voicing but retains a lot of the clearness of class D, tight fast bass without the harshness class D has been known for in the past. What has me excited it the amp is under 50 lbs. has meters, balanced and RCA inputs and sound guard for speakers. Most of all it’s $4500 USD. I am selling my mc352 that is a great amp, but weighs 110 lbs. it’s still sitting on the furniture dolly I moved it into my room 6 years ago. Just too darn heavy to get into my rack. None of the 3 high end shops in Minneapolis are planning on carrying it and I just don’t want to spend 4500 on something I have never listen to before or has been reviewed by more than one channel. My main speakers are La Scala’s, and I switch to Maggie LRS once in a while. Even though the La Scala’s are super efficient, they always sound better with more watts in reserve.

[@clasvirhodes4969]

Question for anyone of this community... If a mono block amp is rated at 250 watts X1, what can one expect after running it through my AV preamp into 2.5 channels with 6 ohm speakers and a sub ?

[@delkat123]

It doesn’t work that way.

[@clasvirhodes4969]

@@delkat123 please explain

[@delkat123]

@@clasvirhodes4969 You have it a bit backward. You don't run the output of an amp into a preamp. The monoblock would power one channel (of your 2.5) based on an input coming from you AV preamp. You would need 2 monoblocks, one for each of the 2.5 (left and right speaker) and one for the sub unless the sub has one built in (which most do).

[@clasvirhodes4969]

@@delkat123 thank you

[@homerwinslow9047]

There is no substitution for horsepower

[@PINKFL0YD-s2h]

"free postage"? Come on! You get nothing for nothing. These are heavy amps and no carrier is going to ship them at no cost. You should say that shipping is included in the price and so should the maker. They are nice amps and the viewers system looks great! Thanks for the review. By the way a pinned list of recordings that you use to test for sound stage etc would be great.

[@antman5474]

Help me my system is or was cheap as. But you know what, it sounds OK. Wharfdale amp, Tannoy R1 speakers. I'm made up.

[@welshrarebit9238]

15 watts in Class A is all you really need…then distortion sets in

[@qwrsadffsdfsdf5342]

you kinda look like Richard Sterban

[@tee-jaythestereo-bargainph2120]

Steve -OOO- Is the MAN !!! Chesky records ???? Yeah i just read the producers name shocked me ! ( The Ultimate Demo Disk) Those TAD are badazz spkr ! I know they love powaaa Gato has drive Control Headroom' 'Moshetes' Are hard to get right ! Why you think Mosphetes amps are so exspensive ! If Mosphetes were easy everyone would be doing it !!! I still think The To3a/Vfets are so Tubbie sounding' Thank You 'Steve-O'

[@henriksrensen3220]

First. Great review Steve

[@antman5474]

The're so small but they punch. I was just an innocent passer by. Hey ho!!!

[@they7991]

Gato is geweldig maar ik vraag mij af waarom iedereen ineens praat over Gato.raar

[@steverino5054]

Doesn't sound like a good match for very revealing speakers. MIght come across as bright or sharp.

[@iantyler4045]

For most listening it would be running in Class A. Maybe that's part of it's secret.

[@stevesmith3033]

$4k for an amp that's entirely a pc board with the cheapest smd components assembled by robots and soldered in an oven and then assembled with slip on connectors BUT in a really nice box. Is this what Hifi is all about? Is this what we want to put all that money into? Also with the unreliable smd components, it means when it fails the whole board must be replaced. Gone are the days of being able to have your investment repaired.

[@keithwalker8090]

Steve Smith, How do you know that Gato uses the cheapest smd components in their PWR-222 Monoblocks? Are they using Robots in their factory and why would that be bad? I understand that smd components can be repaired by a skilled technician.

[@stevesmith3033]

@@keithwalker8090 smd capacitors and resistors are the cheapest of those types of components. It's not bad to use robots. They are very fast and precise. They are used to minimize production time and human labor to cut cost. Repair is difficult to diagnose when you don't have the schematics and the parts are so small that they don't have legible values printed on them and then applying heat to solder these tiny components is also risky. These boards are designed to be swapped out and quickly. Using snapping connectors is not audiophile, it's cheap and fast. I estimate the guts of the amp costs the manufacturer no more than $200. So $10,000 for a nice looking pair of boxes is kind of a lot of money don't you think? That's all I'm saying. They'll make nice book ends when the electronics fail.

[@keithwalker8090]

@@stevesmith3033, Do you know for a fact that Gato uses smd capacitors and resistors? It would surprise me if a company with Gato reputation would use anything other than point source.

[@stevesmith3033]

@@keithwalker8090 I don't know what point source capacitors and resistors are. I think you mean leaded components. Yes it is a fact that the parts are smd "surface mount". Steve shows guts shots in this video and plenty of good pics are available online.

[@razakkalik9072]

That's the reason I've dumb my hifi system... It's better to listen to music from my hand phone

[@priqq1]

The general shape and color of these amps remind me of cheap late 90s car amps. Not indicative of the equality of these particular amps, just an observation

[@dougg1075]

Awful lot o money mister

[@Carl-yx1ww]

Ramble ramble