Synergistic amp with Contour 1.8MKII ..

I have Contour 1.8mkII, although I have not heard Plinuis with it, many have recommended the brand, most often the SA100 or better yet SA250. I have also heard positive feedback regarding the Plinius Integrateds.

I recently purchased Ayre electronics(K3x pre and V5x amp). The amp is just now breaking in, so I am not allowing myself to be too critical. So far, I am finding that this is a very good match with these speakers with the one caveat that the cables need to be carefully chosen. I had MIT and recently I have been toying with inexpensive Monster cables(just for a point of reference) and I just installed a Coincident CST IC XLR and I have a Cardas Golden Ref on order. I am hoping that the Cardas will add a touch of warmth, but not too much. I am enjoying the current set up so far, but if I had to be critical, I would mention that it leans to the cold side of neutral ever so slightly. If the Golden Ref gets me to dead neutral or better yet just slightly warm I would be ecstatic, because currently, my setup is very musical, airy, transparent, detailed without being harsh, and very well balanced throughout the frequency range. I just hope that the Cardas will not be too warm. There are a few Ayre V3's out there for sale at $1500 or less, If you wanted to try Ayre, this would be a relatively inexpensive way to get introduced. Or, find a dealer and try out a V5x. I think you will be very impressed at how natural sounding this brand sounds with Dynaudio- I was and still am.

Thanks very much for sharing your information, especially on the Ayre V5x. Ayre V5x is one amp that I would love to own, however it is a bit out of my budget range for now. My optimal budget is < $2000 for an amp. The sound of V5x with Dyn Contour 1.8MKII is one very good information that I have always curious to know, it is just slightly out of my set budget for this amp hunt.

When I demoed the Dyn at a local dealer, I really liked the sound that I have heard especially on guitar and vocal. The bass revealed in the movie Matrix was fast and tight, just the way I love it. However I was not very impressed with one live orchestra demo, just thought the detail was lacking (might be the recording). Till yesterday, I had no idea what amp he used in the demo. Finally I found out yesterday that they carry Lexicon, Russound, Integra and Aragon. I guess I was listening to the Lexicon, which is made by Bryston. I think I will get a used Plinius integrated 8200MKII as my first choice follow by the Bryston 4BST (whichever is available first here at Audiogon). I would love to hear any other 1.8MKII owner of their sucessful story of matching this speaker with other amps.

If there is a good deal on the 1.3SE, I would love to use it for home theater. Then I will need another amp for it, yikes! This will break my bank account pretty quickly. However, I am sure I am not the only one here. :)

Thanks again Dmichael for your response, appreciate it.
Kean

Back on 5/16/03, I stated that "the V-5x leans to the cold side of neutral ever so slightly". I take that back because in the last 2 weeks I have been running this amp 24/7 and I estimate that is now has about 450 hours on it. My original criticism came after only 150 hours or so and WOW has it warmed up since then. The V-5x now adds a warmth to my system that I can't imagine any other SS amp being able to do. No, its not quite as warm as most Tubes, but I personally prefer my system to sound warm but not too warm(which is how I percieve some Tube gear to sound like). I will post a full review of the V-5x after more run-in and more time in the sweet spot.