i second the moon i-5 recommendation. i picked up a used one a couple of months ago right here for about $1500 and it's been amazing. beautiful warm, detailed sound with amazing imaging and plenty of punch. it retails at $2600 so you may have to have a little patience, but you won't be sorry.
Help me spend my $1500, interated or separate?
Setting up a system for my sister. The only thing that is for sure is the speaker, Dynaudio Contour 3.3. They will be in a rather large room, 15x17 opening to another similar size room.
Given Dyn loves power, solid state is a must. But she is not an audiophile and has no intention of getting complicated separate components that will require a PhD to operate, so integrated came to mind. But few integrated fall in that price range and still have decent drive even though she listens mostly to classical music and does not listen loud, so she might have to step up to separates to have enough power.
She will only run one source for the time being, so the other option is CDP with volume control or passive volume control directly to amp.
With this limited budget for amplification, what will you recommend?
Thanks.
Given Dyn loves power, solid state is a must. But she is not an audiophile and has no intention of getting complicated separate components that will require a PhD to operate, so integrated came to mind. But few integrated fall in that price range and still have decent drive even though she listens mostly to classical music and does not listen loud, so she might have to step up to separates to have enough power.
She will only run one source for the time being, so the other option is CDP with volume control or passive volume control directly to amp.
With this limited budget for amplification, what will you recommend?
Thanks.