Looking for $500 integrated amp to match B&W685
You could get the creek 50I integrated that is listed right now. (I am not the lister) but I have thought about buying it. I love creek gear it just sounds right! Even their old stuff 4330 especially se versions. Jolida stuff is worth a look. Or maybe get an inexpensive passive pre $200 and an older Adcom 5400 they seem to be going for like 300 or a B&K st 1400 or something along that line, I like B&K also. Good luck! Jeff |
You might want to consider an Audio Refinement Complete integrated amplifier. (Audio Refinement was the budget YBA line.) It is very smooth for a transistor amp and there have been a lot of Audiogon posts on it such as this one. It goes for $500 - $550 used and they pop-up occasionally on Audiogon. The Alpha version is the most current model and they added a preamp-out but not a preamp-in. Search the Audiogon threads for comparisons to other integrated amps. I have one connected to my Vandersteen 1c and it drives it very nicely. I'm not familiar with the B&W 685 but you can find the amp's specs in the Stereophile review. |
Thanks everyone for advices. After looking on some reviews and amp specifications, I decided to go with Classe CAP 80, which was for sale here. The Classe gear including the CAP line are described as having warm and rich sound with good soundstage- that’s exactly what I am looking for. Another thing that I consider important is that many posters here said Classe is a very good match for B&W speakers; in England, the B&W is the distributor for Classe and I don’t think B&W would distribute amps that don’t match their speakers well. The CAP 80 has a remote, something that CREEK 50I and Rega Brio lack. I know that it’s a CREEK 50IR amp with a remote, but I didn't find it on sale now, as well as CREEK 4330 SE and I don’t want to wait long. I do realize that an amplifier is a device designed for sound amplification, not for convenience of use, but the remote is a convenience which I would not like to sacrifice. The Audio Refinement Complete has good reviews but it's rated at 50WPC which is less than Classe’s 100wpc, and since B&W speakers have a relatively low sensitivity of 88 dB, I was afraid the Audio Refinement might not have enough power. It’s difficult to judge things like this without an audition, but it’s better to be on a safe side. Regarding the Vincent sv-129, it’s too few reviews on it and I was surprised that the price for the new one dropped to $400 while originally it was $900. This make me suspicious. Regarding tubes and separate amp/preamp- I think I am not there yet; for a variety of reasons. I hope I will have an opportunity to compare CAP80 with some NAD (and perhaps other) gear next month in a local audio store. In this case, I will post test results here. |
