All the better if that friend happens to be an electrician -- have them install 15A, 250V service to the living room so you can make use of that other power cord and test out the 3, 000-Watt amplifier spec.

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He rummaged around in his bundle and pulled out a small, battery-operated Craig amplifier, then plugged a lead into an acoustic guitar that was broken in front and had pieces of wood rattling around inside it.

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That amplifier puts out some very clean sound when paired with non-powered speakers, but this is the kind of setup intended for audiophiles looking for a simple secondary system -- exactly the kind of listener who cringes at the thought of lossy, compressed streaming audio.

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