Best Integrated, period.

TRL ST-225 is the best I have owned. No remote however. It absolutely opened up my music collection like no other high end piece of gear I have ever heard. An utter and complete step beyond anything I have heard regardless of price.

I cannot imagine a better sounding set-up. If so, I want it yesterday!

Bill

Can somebody tell me how well the Phi Beta might
fare driving a pair of Ohm Walsh 5s? These present a somewhat challenging
load and love to suck amps and power from SS amps normally.
Mapman (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers)

I
once owned a VAC Phi 110/110 stereo amplifier, and I used it with Von
Schweikert VR4 Gen III HSE loudspeakers. The VS loudspeakers do not present
as difficult a load as the Ohm loudspeakers.

I found the sound to be exceptional at times, with a liquid midrange,
especially if using the amp in Ultriode mode (not sure if the Phi Beta
integrated amp has ultriode/ultralinear modes).

However, bass response in the VS speakers improved substantially when I
replaced the VAC Phi 110/110 with a Moscode 401HR hybrid amplifier.

I suspect the VAC Phi Beta would not be an ideal match with the Ohm
loudspeakers, and would result in an unbalanced, tipped-up, bass-shy
sound.

Tvad,

That's my fear as well. I was hoping someone would convince me otherwise.

D___!

I have found Pass Labs XA-x.5 series to offer much of the benefits of tube amplification while driving difficult loads exceptionally well. Perhaps a 150wpc Pass Labs model would be very nice with the Ohm loudspeakers.

Best Integrated Period = If you can find them:

Solid State: Genesis B-200 Stealth 200 Watts per channel Class A monster. The proverbial iron fist in a velvet globe.

Tube: VivA 300P 22 watts perchannel of 300B magic with balls.