Well, when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I have a Berning ZH270 amplifier, and I love it, and it is what I would recommend to you. It meets your price point, and it gives you marvelous tube midrange sound with ss bass, and allows all the musical detail to come through. Plus it only weighs 10lbs, only draws 300 watts (as I recall), is self biasing (no hassle), has a volume control and two inputs (so you can avoid a preamp), and has selectable feedback for speaker impedence matching. Of course, I belong to the camp that thinks tubes sound better than ss, and that eliminating the transformer is an improvement. I have never heard it drive the Eggleston speakers, but I highly recommend you try it. I think it will provide all the things you felt the other amps you tried lacked. The website is www.davidberning.com
Need amp match advice to drive Eggleston Andras
I'm new to this sight and to the world of "high-end" audio gear - so much equipment, so little time, and so few places (that I'm aware of) to audition it.
I would like some experienced thoughts and advice on which amps, or amp characteristics, may or may not work well with a pair of Eggleston Andras (not the Andra II's.) They are currently amp-less. I have only heard them through a Krell FBP 300c and ML 39 CD, which was used when I auditioned them in a fellow audiophiles home.
My thoughts so far are Krell 300c, Pass Labs X-250 or X-350, Classe CAM 350's.
I think the speakers will need juice, and the mids (so I have been told) are unique in the Eggleston somehow, that the amp goes directly to them?? and that they are responsible for a much larger frequency range than most other speakers’ mids. Don't know if that matters? They are 8-ohm speakers.
My amp criteria:
1) 3k to 5k (used/demo)
2) SS (I like the idea of tubes, but think they may be cost prohibitive to get the power I will need to get the low-end frequency presence that I desire from the Andras.)
3) Flexibility to work well with either an SS or a Tube pre-amp.
4) Easily accessible through US dealers and Audiogon - Gryphon’s sound interesting but where? How much?
Gear I have heard thus far:
1) Krell
Krell FBP 300c
ML 39 CD
Eggleston Andras - mine :)
I liked that I could follow Rodby's bass lines in Metheny's Secret Story (SS) and Speaking of Now CD's, however track 3 on SS was missing some ultra-low thing that the Classe/Revel F50's presented (or accentuated, good or bad? Could have been the different rooms?) It did seem bright on a lot of other selections (could be harshness in the source material? Which, if it's on the CD I want the system to present it, good or bad.) I did like the dynamics and presence.
2) McIntosh
Mac MC 352 (plastic knobs on a 4K amp?)
Mac C 2200 tube pre-amp
B&W naut 803's
Mac CD
I liked the warmth and overall tone, but lacked the low frequency, detail, depth, and staging of other things I heard.
3) Classe
Classe CAM 200's
Classe 47.5 pre-amp and a CJ 17ls (2 day old, not broken in)
Meridian CD ($3,500 model?)
Revel F-50's
4) Spectral
DMA 100S amp
DMC 15 pre
Meridian CD
Revel F-50's
Liked the Classe gear a bit more than the Spectral due to bass. I could follow the bass in the Classe better (100 watts p/c difference?), and the presence seemed substantive. However the Spectral seemed to have a wider soundstage, albeit seemed more holographic, not quite as "thick", (I'm reaching for terms here.) Using the CJ pre, (with the CAM 200's) the Bass lost some presence and some details. Tonally it seemed very nice.
Sampling of the music CD's I used:
Pat Metheny - Speaking of Now, Secret Story
Sarah Jane Morris w/ Mark Ribot (Guitar and Vocal)
Aphex Twin - hyper electronic stuff
Rickey Lee Jones - Flying Cowboys and Ghosty Head
John Patitucci - Backwoods Bass solo
Miles Davis - Bags Groove and Kind of Blue
Other rock and Jazz and some classical
I like Bass, but I want the whole package! Detail, warmth, truth, soundstage, off-access response, ability to put speakers next to the wall with no boominess, warm the car up in the morning lol.......
Thanks for any and all responses.
I would like some experienced thoughts and advice on which amps, or amp characteristics, may or may not work well with a pair of Eggleston Andras (not the Andra II's.) They are currently amp-less. I have only heard them through a Krell FBP 300c and ML 39 CD, which was used when I auditioned them in a fellow audiophiles home.
My thoughts so far are Krell 300c, Pass Labs X-250 or X-350, Classe CAM 350's.
I think the speakers will need juice, and the mids (so I have been told) are unique in the Eggleston somehow, that the amp goes directly to them?? and that they are responsible for a much larger frequency range than most other speakers’ mids. Don't know if that matters? They are 8-ohm speakers.
My amp criteria:
1) 3k to 5k (used/demo)
2) SS (I like the idea of tubes, but think they may be cost prohibitive to get the power I will need to get the low-end frequency presence that I desire from the Andras.)
3) Flexibility to work well with either an SS or a Tube pre-amp.
4) Easily accessible through US dealers and Audiogon - Gryphon’s sound interesting but where? How much?
Gear I have heard thus far:
1) Krell
Krell FBP 300c
ML 39 CD
Eggleston Andras - mine :)
I liked that I could follow Rodby's bass lines in Metheny's Secret Story (SS) and Speaking of Now CD's, however track 3 on SS was missing some ultra-low thing that the Classe/Revel F50's presented (or accentuated, good or bad? Could have been the different rooms?) It did seem bright on a lot of other selections (could be harshness in the source material? Which, if it's on the CD I want the system to present it, good or bad.) I did like the dynamics and presence.
2) McIntosh
Mac MC 352 (plastic knobs on a 4K amp?)
Mac C 2200 tube pre-amp
B&W naut 803's
Mac CD
I liked the warmth and overall tone, but lacked the low frequency, detail, depth, and staging of other things I heard.
3) Classe
Classe CAM 200's
Classe 47.5 pre-amp and a CJ 17ls (2 day old, not broken in)
Meridian CD ($3,500 model?)
Revel F-50's
4) Spectral
DMA 100S amp
DMC 15 pre
Meridian CD
Revel F-50's
Liked the Classe gear a bit more than the Spectral due to bass. I could follow the bass in the Classe better (100 watts p/c difference?), and the presence seemed substantive. However the Spectral seemed to have a wider soundstage, albeit seemed more holographic, not quite as "thick", (I'm reaching for terms here.) Using the CJ pre, (with the CAM 200's) the Bass lost some presence and some details. Tonally it seemed very nice.
Sampling of the music CD's I used:
Pat Metheny - Speaking of Now, Secret Story
Sarah Jane Morris w/ Mark Ribot (Guitar and Vocal)
Aphex Twin - hyper electronic stuff
Rickey Lee Jones - Flying Cowboys and Ghosty Head
John Patitucci - Backwoods Bass solo
Miles Davis - Bags Groove and Kind of Blue
Other rock and Jazz and some classical
I like Bass, but I want the whole package! Detail, warmth, truth, soundstage, off-access response, ability to put speakers next to the wall with no boominess, warm the car up in the morning lol.......
Thanks for any and all responses.