Looking for a SS integrated Amplifier recommendation going into a new system


While waiting for a new speaker delivery, I have some time to start looking for a SS integrated amplifier, and hoping for some recommendations.

The speaker to pair with is Ascend Acoustics Sierra Tower with RAAL tweeter option that is around 91dB efficient, and the room size is 12x18x8.  I mostly listen to classical, jazz, female vocal, and the listening level normally is around 85dB, occasionally go up to 90dB.

I originally was looking for class-A integrated amplifier, but now would like to open the possibility to class-A/B as well to see what will be a good match for this new system I am putting together.

TIA
elan120

Showing 3 responses by baylinor

@Op,
I had the exact same Sierra towers with raal and ran them first with a marantz pm-15s2 and later on with a parasound halo a23. I thought I loved the sound of both until I got a pair of PBN speakers which opened my ears to the fact that the raal tweeters were just to thin in their presentation even so they gave a great sense of space. Mainly they did not sound strong enough to fill the room with a solid realistic sound. After experiencing the solid live like sound of the PBN Montana XPS, I could not ever go back to the light beautifully airy sound of the Sierra towers. However they were a great step up in my audiophile journey. If I could do it over I would pair them with a leaning dark sounding amp for sure.
Tk21 is right, many of the amp recommendations here are disproportionate to your speakers price wise. I strongly recommend a tube integrated since you probably will eventually want to tone down the brightness of the raals. Look into prima luna and as needed you can switch tubes to some mullard type NOS. If you go SS, whatever brand, you will have zero future control over your raals. Wish someone had told me that back then. However I got pretty lucky with the Marantz  pm-15s2 since it was on the warm side.
BTW, The evo 100 integrated is $2,795. I now run the evo 100 preamp hooked to a parasound halo a21+ amp. Upgraded to NOS tubes and it does wonders in my house of stereo.