The Mesa/Boogie Strategy 400 tube amps are different from most of the "professional" amps that are available. They were designed (1970 era) to be used for either stage or home use. You can install all twelve 6L6GC's for home use or you can change the last row to EL34's for the stage/guitar work. There are different versions of the Strategy 400 amp. I try and find the models that don't have anything other then the volume control, on/off, and standby switchs. I really don't need the "presence" switches and other features for home use.

They sound very good and have plenty of power for my hungry ESS AMT3 speakers. The 15amp breaker in the Panamax will blow before these amps ever get to discernable clipping.

I like the sound of the amps and I like the power, but I like the control they have best. They really shine when you need an amp to do so. They will take just about any type of signal without a problem.

There are some things though that most people will not want to put up with. One is the warm up time. These aren’t instant on amps; they take a little time to warm up, but worth the wait. There is some fan noise that some may object to. Now, I have all my equipment in a closed component rack with a glass front door and ventilate the cabinet with filtered QFan's (quiet fans < 30db) from Middle Atlantic, this is rack mount stuff, it may not work with your decor. They are big, heavy, and run hot, like most great amps. There is no 12VDC trigger to turn them on, you will have to actually get out of you recliner, pity. I have the Panamax turn them on sequentially, but in standby mode. So when I turn the whole system on everything starts up and when the Mesa/Boogie's have warmed up I turn them off of standby. Some would have to learn what a 1/4 plug is and adapt to it.

Right now, I have it setup to listen to the TV through the center channel via the Outlaw 950/M200. The amps and other equipment only startup when I want to listen to a movie or something.

For the average Home Theater fan, I would probably recommend getting a transistor type amp. They sound pretty good too and are a lot easier to use. But if you're a nut like me, you will love these amps.

Thinking of updating the tubes.
http://www.eurotubes.com/euro-e.htm

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[This message has been edited by MeanGene (edited May 23, 2004).]