Integrateds - Revisited Yet Again


Speakers: NHT 2.5i's
Source: Rotel 971 transport, MSB Nelson Link III

Keeping both peices.

What do you guys think about using the Moon I-5 integrated? Good match?

The other day I tried out the Roksan Caspian... Found the bass a bit too heavy (admittedly, it was likely the room). The treble was a bit rolled off , although it was good (forgiving of less than perfect recordings). The midrange was recessed....too recessed compared to the remainder of the frequency range. This is also characteristic of the speakers and so, exacerbated the problem. Further, the sound was a little dry and lacked transparency.

I'm not saying that the Caspian is not a quality peice. It is just not a great match with my existing equipment (Which i don't want to sell right now).

Will the Moon I-5 address these issues? Is it a far more capable integrated? (it SHOULD be, considering it's 1000 bucks more).

By the way, i live in Canada, so the Moon equipment is a (relatively) good bargain.

Any comments regarding this integrated would be highly valued.

thanks

steve
loose

Showing 1 response by rbstehno

i listened to the sim and others a few years ago and purchased the mcintosh ma-6500 integrated amp to go with my nht 2.9's. The nht's need a lot of power and they need a smoother sounding amp to tame the forwardness of the nht line. The mcintosh did not have enough power for the 2.9's (and the ma-6900 was not out yet). I even tried bi-amping the 2.9's with nht's sa-3 subwoofer amp, better, but something was missing. I then purchased a classe preamp and cd player with a pair of odyssey monoblock amps and things got much better. Classe equipment have a nice warm (tube-like) sound to them. Same with the Mcintosh. For integrated amps, i would listen to the Classe 151 and the Mcintosh ma-6500 or the ma-6900. I had all nht for quite a while (audio and home theater use, 2.9's, 1.5's, super zeros, super ones, super center 2, 2-sub two's) and have sold all of them (except the 2 sub two's) and purchased smoother sounding speakers. I think you would open up your options on front end equipment if you would change out your speakers. If you keep your nht's, IMO, you will need to stick to a warmer sounding amp and an amp with a lot of power, a hard combination for an integrated.