my shortlist for integrated Harbethsuper hl5 plus xd - please advise


Hi All,

the four amps below are those within my price range,

seeking recommendations please on final purchase

 

-yamaha a-s2200 (concerned not powerull enough)

-rega aethos (same power concern and quality control complaints around transformer hum)

-paradigm str integrated

-exposure 3510

audiocanada

I will buck the trend and recommend a tube amp/integrated. I have had the SHL5+ (non-XD) version for a few years and found that they actually do better with beefy tube amplification. I drove them with Audio Hungary Qualiton a50i when I had them in my main listening room. The combination, to my ears, sounded better than with Luxman 590AXII. I find the SHL5+ super tweeter can sometimes get too hot to handle with SS amps. A nice, but beefy, tube amp provides the right balance. However, you need at least 45-50 watts to make them sing.

Thing about your speakers is that they work with a wide variety of amps and many will sound good. Comes down to personal preferences. If you don’t listen loud, but still want to cover peaks in dynamic music then low power class A works really well in my experience. If you want to future proof all listening habits, then a used Hegel H390 would probably fit the bill. 

I would retire that list in its entirety. For these speakers you need to step up to Pass, Luxman, Hegel, McIntosh.