AMP or Preamp


What to add next to my system, budget $5000 to $7000?  My current system consist of Wilson Sasha speakers, Yamaha RX-A3050 receiver that I run pure direct, Rotel RB-1590 2x350 amp, Hegel DAC and a Bluesound Vault 2i streamer.  I have been looking at a Mcintosh C2600 to replace the Yamaha receiver to give me the option of adding a turn table at a later date or would adding mono blocks give me the most bang for the bucks or other options?   


nobnewob

Showing 1 response by almarg

With respect to amplification Audio Research (tubes) and Pass (solid state) both seem to be popular pairings with Wilson speakers.

An interesting post in this thread:

Jmwick 12-30-2017
I have the Sasha 2 powered by the ARC Reference 75 SE which is more than adequate. Prior to my purchase I did a fair amount of research, and on two sites it was reported that Wilson used the Ref 75 to voice the Sasha 2 s.
My dealer had the Sashas setup in the  showroom with the Ref 75 SE for demo purposes and he knows his stuff owning the same store since 1977. He did hook them up with the Ayre mono blocks which also sounded quite good ( a lot more money ), but to my ears I preferred the ARC.
My listening room is 21x15.

There are presently three used Audio Research Ref 75 (non-SE) power amplifiers listed for sale here, for less than $5K, and for less than $4K in one of those cases. Note though that the ARC Reference series amps provide only balanced inputs, and will not work properly if provided with single-ended inputs via RCA-to-XLR adapters.

Regarding phono stages, personally I would not let the inclusion of a phono stage be a factor in selection of a preamp or integrated amp. It would most likely be best to add a separate phono stage at a later date, such as the superlative Herron that was mentioned.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al