Only reason I posted is because I have the same speakers as the OP and the McIntosh amp I use works very well. It’s all about synergy. But Lizzie says my amp sucks, so never mind.
What amps should I audition?
I’m thinking ahead (crazy I know)
I want to purchase a high end amplifier next year, maybe an integrated or just a power amp.
I would be looking to spend around 15k max on an integrated, and 8-10k on a power amp separate (funds to acquire a preamp will be got at a later date next year)
What brands and what model from each brand should I try to get a home audition for?
I should note I would probably be buying new as I can’t imagine I will be able to get a home audition with used gear. I’m open to buying used, but I’d have to get an audition in a system like mine, or actually in my system... I don’t really want to buy anything without auditioning first. On a related note, what is the easiest or best way to get a dealer relationship started, one where he would let me home audition? I’m even willing to pay 100% deposit if it means I can return it no questions ask after the audition period, but the dealers I’ve asked to do this with so far have refused. I always see people on this forum saying they manage to do that. I’m a bit at a loss how they manage to pull that off.
Anyway some more ideas: Bryston amps and Nagra Classic pre? This was the only setup I’ve heard on my speakers and it was quite magical. I really like the Nagra, and the Bryston combo. Used, it could be got within my budget. New.. not so much. I could swap out the Brystons with the matching Nagra amp, maybe. Or even just go for the Nagra Classic Integrated. All within my budget (if used) and with my speakers 96db sensitivity I should be good to go with the Nagra 100wpc rating.
other ideas: mcintosh mc462 or mc275 mk vi.
Pass Labs XA30.8 or XA60.8 or XA100.8
Acxuphase e-470
Luxman 509X
Actually that’s all I’ve really come up with so far. I am open to hearing any thoughts, concerns or ideas you may have. I do believe all the above mentioned amps will better my Kinki EX-M1.
Cabling will be upgraded to Audience before any of this by the way.
I want to purchase a high end amplifier next year, maybe an integrated or just a power amp.
I would be looking to spend around 15k max on an integrated, and 8-10k on a power amp separate (funds to acquire a preamp will be got at a later date next year)
What brands and what model from each brand should I try to get a home audition for?
I should note I would probably be buying new as I can’t imagine I will be able to get a home audition with used gear. I’m open to buying used, but I’d have to get an audition in a system like mine, or actually in my system... I don’t really want to buy anything without auditioning first. On a related note, what is the easiest or best way to get a dealer relationship started, one where he would let me home audition? I’m even willing to pay 100% deposit if it means I can return it no questions ask after the audition period, but the dealers I’ve asked to do this with so far have refused. I always see people on this forum saying they manage to do that. I’m a bit at a loss how they manage to pull that off.
Anyway some more ideas: Bryston amps and Nagra Classic pre? This was the only setup I’ve heard on my speakers and it was quite magical. I really like the Nagra, and the Bryston combo. Used, it could be got within my budget. New.. not so much. I could swap out the Brystons with the matching Nagra amp, maybe. Or even just go for the Nagra Classic Integrated. All within my budget (if used) and with my speakers 96db sensitivity I should be good to go with the Nagra 100wpc rating.
other ideas: mcintosh mc462 or mc275 mk vi.
Pass Labs XA30.8 or XA60.8 or XA100.8
Acxuphase e-470
Luxman 509X
Actually that’s all I’ve really come up with so far. I am open to hearing any thoughts, concerns or ideas you may have. I do believe all the above mentioned amps will better my Kinki EX-M1.
Cabling will be upgraded to Audience before any of this by the way.
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- 103 posts total
Sorry I upset you tiong. I am even sorry I was so cruel about MAC gear. I should say I find MAC transistor gear under-performing in a price to benefit way. Older MAC tube gear is not part of my general rant against MAC gear. I get upset when folks say Bryston is sterile sounding. Well yeah, maybe 30 years ago. Not today. But I do not say I am going to 'shoot myself in the foot' over it. Usually just saying, that is a mis -statement, I find blah blah blah to be true, not blah blah blahbla. See, easy. I am only cruel sometimes. Usually I am very nice... in a cruel person's way of being nice... |
I am in a similar process as the OP but unfortunately my budget process is to be literally as cheap as possible. My speakers will be Legacy Aeris which has the bass section powered by Class D amps. I have gathered one integrated Class A SET amp Line Magnetic LM 508ia 2x48 Watts @ 16 to 4 Ohm. I am at this point considering a Hypex NC500 based Class D from Nord / Apollon etc which is rated at 700 Watts @ 4 Ohm and 550 Watts @ 2 Ohm. One Class A/B amp like Coda 5.5/12.5/Ts with high Class A bias up-to 40 watts and very economical or Audio-gd Master 2H mono blocks which are over done for the price and great measurements (and I have used Kingwa's products before so not worried about it). And the final amp but in a class of its own with respect to measurements is Benchmark AHB2. If required 2 Benchmark amps each in bridged mode, but going to start with one. Since it seems to be able to be at lowest distortion from first 0.1 Watt till clipping. So Class A vs Class A/B (high/low bias) vs Class D (Hypex NC500) vs Class Benchmark. I would like to know how the OP would like to audition?. I am thinking of input from other folks i.e crowd sourcing the listening impressions. I can get a Binaural l microphone and select various sound clips and present them in a way no one will know (including me) when using the interface to pick X vs Y, i.e which clip sounds good i.e which amp is better. I am hoping to get a large enough diverse sample, which I think will help answer many outstanding questions regarding amps. At this point my bias is that at normal listening levels there should not be any differences heard. Just stating my bias but I am open to what ever the results say. It seems to be most of the listening session will use between 0.1 Watts to 32 Watts. So most amplifiers, for my speakers and listening distance, expect LM 508ia rest of them have a lot of headroom. So I am expecting more distortion from LM 508ia when compared to others. |
- 103 posts total