Best integrated up to $6000


Mostly listen to jazz tríos, quartets, acoustic music ( piano and guitar) and vocals. Thank you for your advice!
128x128erasto
@ freesole,
I don't find your preference hard to understand. I'd say you have good ears😊.
Charles 
Agree with Silverlakejim, had a Prima luna dialogue premium, and even with KT-150, the LM 518 is in a different place sonically,especially with very efficient speaker like rethm maarga...👌

Silverlakejim,

Not at all surprised by your listening impressions of the two amplifiers. One is a solid/competent class AB push pull design utilizing indirectly heated pentode tubes. The other is pure class A, simple SET circuit utilizing directly heated tubes (DHT) with natural and emotionally involving palpable sound. Two different levels of amplifiers.

Charles

Yes, LM805ia is in a whole other league than the PL amps. As you say, it's so obviously beyond the realm of A/B comparisons. It definitely gets my vote for best integrated under $6000.
I had a Primaluna Dialogue HP with KT150's and Nos Amperex and Tungsgram tubes for a few years. The Line Magnetic 805ia with stock tubes killed it. I didn’t even need to A/B them. The HP is powerful, but the Line Magnetic, at half the rated power, is more powerful. The biggest difference is of course the sound. The Primaluna was detailed and surgically precise, but metallic, cold, and unrefined. The Line Magnetic is warm, full, rounded and the sound just blooms. It’s the difference between florescent lighting of the office and the softer warmer lighting of a home. Mind you I listen to classical and acoustic jazz, the Primaluna might be what you are looking for if into pop or rock music.
Always overlooked and a complete underdog that few know about in this category - particularly if you’re into vinyl:

Anthem STR Integrated $4500;

200w x 2 into 8ohm, 400w x 2 into 4 ohm, and 550w x 2 into 2 ohm. Anthem Room Correction (can be turned on or off), Direct Analog Bypass, MM & MC Phono Stage with adjustable Rumble Filter/RIAA Curves 10Hz - 60Hz with Presets built in for Columbia, Capitol Records, and several others if you have a big pre-1975 album collection of a particular label - Can make "Virtual Inputs" and can assign the RIAA presets to an MM or MC virtual input created (up to 30 total). Do you want Room Correction engaged? Turn it on in an input. Don’t want it, turn it off in another input. Want subs to play with the system or not, assign them in the input. Tons of flexibility no other Integrated has and exceptional sound along with it.

Built-in DAC’s with Asynchronous USB which processes 32 bit 384kHz and 32 bit 192kHz on all other digital and analog connections.

Surround pass through and the ability to run two subs in stereo or mono where you can use Anthem Room Correction on those as well.

New ARC Genesis coming at the end of this month - first of next month - posted on the website. Please check it out at anthemav.com The Anthem requires about 300 hours of break-in on the preamp, and amp section, and per input for best sonic results.

The great thing is, the Integrated doesn’t know, or care, what type of music you’re playing - if the recording’s good, you’ll hear it. If the recording’s bad, you’ll hear that too.

I’ll be happy to set this right next to a Levinson 585 any time to compare and you can tell me how great the Anthem is for $7500 less - If the 585 was really worth $12k, they would sell for $12k and the used market wouldn’t be saturated with them selling so cheap - makes you question where the value is there...? I sold Levinson for a long time, so forgive me, I’m not trying to disparage that brand in any way, they make very fine equipment.

Thank you for reading.
That ML 585 is a superb integrated. There are some new ML 5000 series models that a tiny bit over $6K new.
I recently purchased a used Mark Levinson No 585 for under $5500. You can’t go wrong with ML gear.
Probably my Resolution Audio C50. Something inherently correct about this nimble but slightly light sounding S.S. Gets the fundamentals right, very smooth with no S.S. artifacts. 
A VTL Integrated is sounding good to me these days, driving a pair of Vandersteen Treo CT floor-standers. It replaced a Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum which cost half as much ($2,500 vs $5000
Heard the Hegel 360, McIntosh 5200, Primaluna Dialogue Premium HP and the Line Magnetic 805 and preferred the Line Magnetic 805 by far. That's just my ears though. 
I,too, was not impressed w/ ARC integrated amps. Both Prima Luna and Rogue Audio are better value and better buys.  Happy Listening!
Prima Luna Dialogue HP a truly wonderful sounding and built amp. Power to drive most any speaker 

sbank,

Thank you. I didn't see an option to add a signature automatically... So maybe I'll do it by hand...



Disclaimer: dealer in San Diego, CA (http://almaaudio.com)


@almaaudio Dealers should disclose that they are dealers with a signature in every post, especially when recommending gear. Cheers,
Spencer
Yes, the Exemplar gear is for real.

I have John's eXception DAC.

It's very good and the most musical and engaging DAC I've owned.

He's made me a believer in his tube output stage.


I'd sell these w/ my personal seal of approval, if that's what you're asking.

I'd sign a contract to become a dealer in a heartbeat.

John deserves all the business he can get.  His products are amazing and he's a pleasure to work with.

When I got my system, he drove it down from Washington himself!
fliz, your eXemplar is all over this forum.You must be a little tired, you could give your keyboard a break.
I'll just mention Gryphon as an alternative to Rowland. Very difficult to find. And prepare to ship it to Denmark if something goes wrong. Wouldn't be a problem for me.
Teslamade - I was referring to the original poster initiating 7 threads asking for the best integrated and I was wondering how much information he was seeking to gather. I was certainly not disputing your opinion on integrated amps. Who wouldn't want a Korson?
Dear Chayro!

Like as I said before this is my opinion for the best integrated amp under 6k! And yes this is the best integrated amp under 6k.

Answer your question before i had the Bedini 150 MkII, Bedini 25/25 1 Meg,1 with Bedini 800 preamp, 1 pair of Kora Cosmos with Eclipse preamp and now I have a pair of Odyssey Stratos extreme se glass ceiling amps.These are ss and tube amps not integrated,but they sounds so wonderful. yes I had a couple amps under my questions in my threads!

The Korsun v8 (Mark Levinson type not the late model)with Emanation audio power cable and internal wire the sound is simply better than those amps.It`s just better than anything that I heard before. The problem is the guy who want it to sell on internet he change he`s mind so I keep my amps before sell it:-(

I hope you got my answer..?
Best regards,
T
Rogue Pharoah for half that amount just might be all the amp most people will ever need, especially for those who also need phono. It's very good! I would consider downsizing to it someday.
Post removed 
I don't mean to be rude, but I see you've initiated 7 threads asking what the best integrated amp is. Did you ever buy anything or are you still in the process of gathering data?
In my opinion the Korsun v8i with Emanation Audio power cord Pro 600 and an internal wire with Emanation audio gold the best I have ever heard from a cheap integrated amp! This amp built by Mark Levinson for $2850,but with these cables the sound are simply stunning! 2x250w AB mode more than enough for any speakers in the world.
I haven't heard nearly enough amps to answer the question, however…I feel no need whatsoever to step up from my original Jeff Rowland Concentra. Tremendous piece of equipment.
If you have a chance, take a listen to the PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium or HP. I owned a MA 2275 it was good but I prefer the sound quality of the PL.