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Integrated advice

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all doing well. I am considering moving some of my rig to my office system, so I may have an opening at home for an integrated. I'm happy with my current speakers - Golden Ear Triton 7 - that have an 89db sensitivity and a minimum of 3.7ohms. The front end is digital - Oppo 105 (may move to the Sony HAP Z1es, but nonetheless it will be digital). I've been using a Hegel H80, which I find to be a very nice sounding amp. However, more headroom/power would be a nice thing to have, especially because the Triton 7 has a nicely controlled deep bass.

I'm looking at a budget around $2,000-$3000 and want balanced inputs. I don't need a DAC or phono input. At this price point, I've seen a few possibilities that look interesting:

a. Wyred 4 Sound STI-500 (or the 1000)
b. Krell s300i
c. Musical Fidelity M6i (if I can find it used)

Wondering if you might give me your thoughts on any of the above. There are no dealers around here, so I won't have a chance to listen to it. However, I'll be sure to buy from a site with a return policy.

I appreciate your input and wish you all a good evening,
Scott
smrex13
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
1,621 posts
 

I have a better idea, the Nuprime IDA 16 which is a massive 200 watt integrated with very nigh headroom.

The Ice amps do not have the midrange liquidity of the Nuforce and the Nuprime product is Nuforce's re-emergence back into the high end market.

The older Nuforce Ref series of amps and preamp which cost about $9,000.00 and were very highly rated and the Nuprime integrated brings a lot of the same sound quality and design down to a much lower price point and the amp has a fantastic dac built in which will also do DSD as well as 24/192 sampling all for $2,300.00 so you could radically improve the sound of the Oppo and you could save money over the Sony player and but a nice Mac Mini instead and just direct connect to to the Amp via USB.

I am ordering one and I can let you know after I have it how good it is. The older Nuforce stuff was incredible sounding and to this date I still remember how effortless and dynamic those amplifiers were.
alton454
9 posts
 
Check out the Musical Fidelity M6500i. There are 2 on AUDIOGON forsale. I own one and wouldn't change. Plenty of power,finesse,low heat. Check their website and review their specs. You won't be disappointed.

Alton454
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
5,112 posts
 
The Ayre is a big step up from Wyred for Sound
austinbob
198 posts
 
Well, it's a poor frog that won't praise its own pond, but I'm very happy with my Luxman 505ux integrated. It replaced an Ayre AX-7E and it was a noticeable improvement with my Harbeth SHL5 speakers. It has one set of balanced inputs that I use with my DAC. The onboard phono preamp is surprisingly good although I use an outboard PS Audico GCPH. Wonderful build quality, flexible, great remote. I even like the loudness control for low-volume listening, although you can go "line straight" and bypass all tonal correction features. You can also easily integrate into a A/V system if you decide to go that route. List is $4000, I bought mine for $3400, used you should be able to find well under $3000.
devilboy
818 posts
 
I had both the Wyred STI-500 and the Hegel H70 integrateds on my speakers, which are less efficient than yours. I ditched both of them for a 25 watt Clones 25i integrated and HAVE NEVER been more happy. The Clones makes EVERY other amp I've had sound like HiFi. Neither balanced inputs or hundreds of watts are needed for good sound, IMO.
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