Good point. Vik, do you need phono? If so, I'm thinking a MAC 6300 might do the trick if you can get one at the price point. Not sure about Plinius, but I think it does come with phono. Again, I think the SIM integrateds, in the power range, would have to be right up there with these. I'll say this, if you had a Plinius, MAC, or SIM within the 100-150 watts range, you could do a lot worse:)driving a pair of PSB Golds. |
You might want to try a Yamaha a-s2000. A future classic that we will talk about for a long time! |
Yes, Plinius 9200 does come with a pretty darn good phono. The Mac 6300 is nice but maybe a bit underpowered at 100wpc into 8 ohms and 160wpc into 4 ohms. The Mac 6600 would be a stellar choice but is way out of your price range.. Plinius 9200 is 200wpc into 8 ohms and 280 wpc into 4 ohms.. so lot's of grunt for your PSB's. The Sim amps are also really really nice amps not sure if you'll find one with enough grunt in your price range though. |
i have a cambridge 640 phono preamp. do you think its as good as the phono sections of these amps. or should i sell it and get a amp with a phono built in. |
what do people think of the yamaha s2000? is it in the same class as the integrateds were talking about. im really talking about sound quality. |
I haven't heard the Cambridge phono. I'd say get the new amp and then compare, sell the Cambridge if it's not as good. As for the Yamaha, it maybe a good sounding amp , in fact I'm sure it's a good sounding amp; is it better than a Plinius .. I'd be very very surprised if it is :-) |
Grant Fidelity A-534B juiced up with premium black treasures and Psvane driver tubes all around. Complete with remote for less than your reference price. Superb performance! |
Smooth sounding and warm...check out the Marantz integrateds.
Right in your budget, new or used, all well reviewed. |
I just read through Stereophiles review of your speakers and they appear to like power and do have a nasty looking impedence curve as Pubil57 makes reference to. If yo must have an integrated then I would suggest buying the largest powered and best quality integrated you can afford. A 100wpc ss will do not better (unless it is a high quality integrated) in fact probably worse than the 80 wpc Cary as you will be overdriving the ss amp (Nasty). If you don't have to stay with an Integrated I would suggest seperates such as a conrad johnson ss amp (2500a/250wpc) combined with one of their tubed pre-amps (PV-12) as an example. That combination will provide the muscle to control your speakers along with the midrange and top end smoothness you desire.
I once drove a pair of Thiel 3.6's with a cj premier 11a (70wpc) tubed amp and it did a very nice job very smooth and detailed. Obviously not the last word on Bass but the mid to high end frequencies were beautiful. I then switched to a cj ss amp (2500a) along with one of their tubed pre's as I suggested above and the sound was excellent. Retained the tubed mid/ high frequencies but gained bass control from the high powered ss amp.
With a budget of 2500 you should be able to afford this combination (used of course). And I am sure you will be pleased with the results. The cj equipment will be of a much higher quality than the Yamaha or Marantz products.
Just my thoughts Good Luck.
Chuck |
Chuck's last recommendation sounds like a very good one indeed. If you can pull of a tube pre/ SS amp combo at the price point it should help bring some tube qualities, while having enough current drive for your speakers. Assuming a good impedance match between the pre/amp - not always the case when using this type of tube/ss combo. |
Sim Audio I-5, if you want solid state. Cary SLI-80, if you want tubes. |
Pubul57 agree which is a good reason for staying within the same family of components i.e. cj amp cj pre-amp.
Just for reference I am driving a pair of Focal monitors 1007Be with my SLI-80F1 direct coupled in triode mode (40wpc) and have way more volume available than I need. I listen primarily to Classical large symphonic works (Holst, Mozart, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff) as well as some small chamber orchestras, Classic Rock (Zeppelin & Floyd) and Female Jazz vocals.
Chuck |
i agree that i dont need a lot of wattage but clean power as i have a small listening room. i would like to stick to an integrated for money reasons. i am intrigued by the atoll 200 but im not getting alot of feedback. i dont care about reselling as this would hopefully be my last piece. does anybody know of reliabilty and sound quality of this product. |
Not sure what you think a lot of wattage is, but regardless of the size room you have, you really need something in the 100 watt range with your speaker,s relatively low sensitivity - I don't think that is a lot of SS watts, you may, not sure. I run my speakers with 35 watts and that is plenty of power for them, but they are 89db, you would need a 140 watt amp to sound as loud (all things being equal) as mine does with the much lower power amp than what I am recommending for you. I would think you could easily find a used SS integrated with the power you need to handle your speakers in the price range you mention. |
cj made a lower powered 2250ss power amp that is 125 wpc and would work nicely when combined with one of their tubed pre-amps. I am not necessarily pushing cj here but they are a very reputable high end manufacturer with great customer service should you need it. And this combination will provide the smooth sound in the mid to upper frequencies you desire along with good Bass control. Also will easily fit your budget (used).
Chuck |
If you can deal with seperates, for under your budget you can get an NAD pre/power combo. PSB and NAD are owned by the same company. They use each other's gear to voice their own. Synergy goes a long way.
I think integrateds mentioned earlier like the Plinius are better amps than the NAD combo, but I'm not sure about the synergy. Haven't heard them together to say so.
Does the NAD M3 fit the budget? |
I second the recommendation for the Bel Canto C5i as well as the more powerful discontinued S300i which I owned. You can pick up the latter used for around $1200 - $1500. |
i have owned nad in the past and actually using a nad reciever currently. scared about reliability. |
I too second the BEL CANTO C5i, and is absolutely fantastic amp/DAC. It's easy to use, just plug and play. I paired it with Cambridge iD100 docking system, Definitive Tech Bipolar speakers, Siltech speaker cables, Nordost Shiva PC's and Cardas digital RCA. The soundstage is wide specially in the highs and mids with outstanding basss response. Just ordered a pair of REGA RS3's from a Rega dealer in California and can't wait to hook them up with the C5i. Fantastic small piece of ALL IN ONE equipment. |
i think the vincent audio 236 is what i want to go with. a hybrid that should give me the best of both worlds. what do you guys think of this choice. has any body heard of its reliabilty? |
I've heard the Atoll IN200 as well as a combo of one of their seperate preamps and amps, and they both sounded amazing, and completely caught me off guard. I was really surprised because I prefer tube gear, I personally have Audio Valve Baby Baldur monoblocks with their Eclipse preamps, and while the Atoll didn't measure up to these, it was still enjoyable to listen to and very musical while costing a fraction of the price. So for the price I would highly recommend it. Actually as I'm starting to get into analog more I'm considering Atoll's p200 phono preamp to start off with. I'd demo thier integrated amp first if you can you you can make sure it has good synergy with your system (last time I upgraded my speakers I made the mistake of not listening to them in my system and then spent more than twice as much upgrading my preamp and amps to the Audio Valve ones I have not to get the speakers to where I wanted, and actually significantly better than they sounded at the dealers house).
Anyway out of the other recommendations that have been made while I didn't prefer the Audio Research VSi60 in my rig, I know a lot of people who do like it a lot so if you can afford the extra you should consider it. The other integrated amp besides the Atoll that I would recommend is the Cary Audio SLI-80. Like the Audio Research VSi60 the Cary Audio SLI-80 has also received great reviews, it has a bit more power and also retails at a two thirds of the price of the VSi60, so it is much closer to your original budget. I've listened to both of them and definitely prefer the Cary over the Audio Research. I also prefer the Cary over the Atoll.
If you do end up with the Atoll, make sure to invest in a good power cord for it because Atoll responds really well to good power cords. Hope this helped and good luck. |
valve audio predator w/ upgraded tubes! |
I did a side by side with Bel Canto S300I, Musical Fidelity A5 and NAD 375BEE through Dynaudio Focus 220s, and for Hard Rock and Jazz, the NAD was easily the winner. The warmth of the Musical Fidelity sounded best with Classical.
Good luck |
Easy............Yamaha A-S2000 |
I'll 2nd/3rd the Yamaha AS-2000. Very powerful, neutral, spatial & smooth, plus a very nice phono stage. For a bit of tube musicality, the PrimaLuna Prologue series r very well built & emotionally satisfying. They also allow either EL34s or KT88s and an added phono board so you maintain flexibility in speaker/mood matching. I appreciate the versatility each offers
over the long run. |
Without a doubt just chance to better tubes the Coincident Dynamo
SET integratd amp the Japanese transformers are excellent
And 8wpc ,But transformers are built over 40% bigger then they need to be
Superb dynamcs and detail. If tiyr speakers are 90 db or over in a med size room .excellent i have a powered sub ,amd Omega Alnico speakers great combination. EL-34 tubes Psvane mk-2 Mullard 5ar4 rectifier,and Tungsol
1948 smoke glass 6SU7 tubes . Others have compared $4,000 amps against this. This is a Giant killer without ant reservation. P.s
Evrn more potential in modding Khozmo volume ,Jenson 4 pole caps, and Jupiter coupling caps that is the next step to transform this even further
If you are into modding . |
Bel canto c5i is a fabulous piece. Pretty much just plug and play for any source and enjoy. |
Hey Mapman,
How do the DAC and phono stages compare with the ones in your main system? |
In the original price range(from 4 years ago!), The Parasound Integrated should be on the short list. Parasound's house sound is to the warm side and their Halo line is really something special. |
seikosha the sound overall is very comparable to my main system up to moderately loud volume. Have not had opportunity to evaluate the phono section yet in detail but initial impressions was most favorable. I'm running the c5i solely with my smaller ohms so far. |
