GATO PWR-222 Monoblock Amplifier, SHAKEN & STIRRED!

AUDIOPHILIAC reviews:


Twitter: @AudiophiliacMan

$GatoAudio #audioreviews #hifi

[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.

[kamanda]

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!

[EvenHarmonics]

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

[nobodyimportant]

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!

[robk]

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

[navybean]

Surprised you didn’t audition these with your Maggies.

[iampryso]

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.

[brettb]

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.

[anthonycody]

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?

[JohnMueller-zokc]

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

[cyrilperin]

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 :)

[itsonlyme]

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.

[adsph]

Another great take Steve. Appreciate it.

[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.

[rickmathis]

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!

[frogmorepipester]

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.

[jeremyaguilar]

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.

[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.

[sean_heisler]

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

[thomashornstein]

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.