A voltage driven conundrum


I'm moving to New York for 6 months or so and then expect to move back to London for a few years and then back again to NY(a very mobile job). I had the idea of putting together a good system that I could then potentially take back to London. I initially thought of buying a Peachtree nova, a Wadia transport and Harbeth speakers but realised that the Peachtree could not do the Harbeth justice. I'm now thus in the market for a good power amp (or an integrated)- the only catch is that it should be dual voltage (or easily converted). I like the sound of Arcam but then I really havent heard that much else. Are there other amplifiers that would meet the dual voltage requirement ? I plan to use a Wadia transport and a benchmark pre with the Harbeth's. I have a medium sized lving room and mostly listen to jazz and classical music at low-medium levels. And oh .. I wanted to spend a total of USD 6-8000 on the entire system. Thanks in advance for your help !
mohit25
Mohit25,

I use MacMini (thru Airport Express) to my Benchmark DAC1 driving directly Rowland 102 (Icepower) amp. Both Benchmark and Rowland operate dual voltage*.

Benchmark should be immune to transport quality since it has strong jitter suppression. Few people reported difference with different sources (I don't hear any) but it was not correlated with price of the transport. This makes me believe that there is something else (bit transparency, ground loops etc.). Try Benchmark before you spend money on expensive transport - might be unnecessary. Same goes for digital cable.

* My Rowland is older revision without power switch and rating 85-265VAC. Newer might have different ratings - check first.
Thanks Kijanki & Edwyun. Any ideas of how an Arcam P38 or a Creek Destiny might fit into a benchmark & Harbeth system ?