Creek Destiny Integrated vs. Current Aragon System

Thank you for your help! My Sonus Faber Electa's state in the liturature a suggested power rating of 55 - 150W. I have read about the virtues of tubes, but I am concerned about maintenance and too little power to produce good low level slam and articulation. However, maybe these concerns are bogus. I am brand-new to this site, and am very grateful to hear from people for their experience and suggestions. I think I am still biased towards a more musical solid state solution to the Aragon for 2K.

My interest in the Creek is a result of a "Class A" review of the product and the price. Another integrated, the Ayre AX-7e received a similar rating and I can find a used one for about the same price as a new Creek. I still am unable to audition either of these products and would be interested in opinions. Lastly, the bottom line, would I be significantly upgrading the musicality of my Aragon system with either of these, or is any improvement realized, not worth the investment?

Dear Jhold,

I, as you suggested followed-up on the Naim Nait 5i integrated. Everywhere I looked, this little number was receiving fantastic reviews. Has anyone else heard this amplifier? Opinions compared to the Creek or Ayre?

My quest continues. Thank you all for the help!

Buy a used Nait 5i for a good price on Audiogon (they have been going for ca. $850 - 950 depending on condition). Treat it well. If you don't like it, you can sell it at minimal loss. These amps hold their value, for good reason.

You might also go to the Naim forum. You will need to register to search but it's easy to do. Not all posters to the forum are proselytizers for Naim -- you can usually get opinions from a variety of perspectives. Here's the URL (substitute period for [dot]):

http://forums [dot] naim-audio.com/eve

I had a Naim 5i for several months. Wish now that I would never have sold it in my jumping around testing different amps. It has a very immediate yet natural sound for a solid state piece. It was connected to Talon Peregrine X Mark II speakers and made great sound just short of the better tube units I have had. The Talons are simply fantastic speakers that allow you to get super fast and down to 20 hz bass with 95 db efficiency and a coherency throughout the frequency spectrum that makes other Dynamic Speakers (I still admire the Advantgard Duos and Trios) sound broke. Prior to the Talons I had B&w 801 series 3 for 8 years. They needed oceans of power to gain control over them. Never again will I buy speakers that hold you hostage to power hog amps that do NOT have the immediate, delicate, fast and detailed sound a smaller amp with simpler circuit can buy you.