EL34 Integrated

On the EAR, I don't know if it would beat the Ars with the Melrin, which is why I said "unlikely". I've heard the EAR gear and love it. The reason I suspect the Ars is a better match for the Merlins is that it was a collaborative effort between amp designer and speaker designer and voiced for each other. When we speak of synergy between components, one would think the Ars would be at an advantage here; not that the Jadis is not a spectacular piece; but so is my CAT JL2 and in that context the Ars is very competive driving the Merlins (of course the CAT will sound great with a wider choice of speakers). At below $2000 new, I'd have to agree with you on the Stingray, never heard the Cayin gear, but there are certainly good reviews and comments on their gear.

Pubul57, your points are all well taken, and you and 100's of others cant all be be wrong - unfortunately, I am of that
impetuous breed of nuts who cant wait 6 months for an integrated amp, particularly when there are other such good sounding ones on the market at lower prices, and furthermore, in my office setting, I have to have a remote, one of the reasons I had to sell the Jadis. I would love to hear the Ars/Merlin combination and will find one to listen to at some stage - I certainly need to hear for myself what all the superlatives are about. My points were only that (1)a $4K unit with a 6 month wait is not a "bargain" and that (2) there are other amps which are a bargain which sound great, many of which I have heard or have it on the authority of those whose ears I trust implicitly. But I certainly do not dispute the fact that you all must be right, to write so glowingly about the Merlin/Ars synergy. By the way, Jamesw20, listen/look at the Consonance range. The distributor, Joe Trelli, is a gem of an audio resource, and would never take on a line that wasn't special. Sorry for the long post to Pubul57, but I wanted to make it clear that it was only in the context of this thread that I raised the question about the Ars. In absolute terms, it clearly is a match made with much thought and, even more clearly, spectacular results.

You know, I forgot about the Consonance, which I tried while I was waiting for the Ars to arrive (six months is proably right) and liked very much with the Merlins and gave it to my brother who was starting out with a system with Vandersteen 2Ce speakers. It was a 75 Watts KT88 tube integrated and I think I got it used for under a $1000 with heavy transformers (good bass). And ditto on Joe T.

This may be an old thread for me to respond but in efforts for people who may be still asking this thread's original question - here's my two cents.

I've owned the Cayin TA-30 (EL34 integrated) and now own the Sophia Electric 126S (EL34 integrated). Yes they both use the EL34 power tubes but sonically the amplifiers are on different levels. So to answer the original thread question, regardless of name brand but at a bargain level I would still recommend the Sophia Electric 126S at $5k versus the Cayin TA-30 $800. Why? Name brand comes with its own price league.

The TA-30 (by Sparks out of China) later fashioned Prima Luna, was good and sweet but the refinement level is far below the level of refinement done by the 126S. The Cayin didn't give details and handle complex music very well - its transformers were small and not the best quality. The Sophia 126S has big quality transformers rendering very sweet and refined music. It is so good, that I put it on par with Shindo and Leben. It is its own flavor. So for me a bargain is Sophia at $5k as opposed to Leben (CS600, also running EL34) at $6k and Shindo >$6k

There is a newer company brand called 'Line Magnetic' out of China as well. I've heard their EL34 based integrated LM 211A as well. At roughly $1600, it reminded me of the $800 Cayin TA-30 sounded.