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Opinion on Music Hall A50.2 integrated amp

I am thinking about a Music Hall A50.2 integrated amp. The speakers could be infinity CS3009s, VS VR 2s or Vandersteen 2Ces. How would this amp compare to to the classic amops of the 80s from Denon, HK, Rotel, NAD and so on. I should point out I have tried many under $1200 integrated amps made in the 10 years and find most of them to be very clean but thin/lean, over detailed, and not very musical. This is common complaint one hears. From the standpoint of sounding like music the Exposure 2010s was wonderful but no headphone jack or phono stage built in. The NAD c325/ 326 Bee were impressive even more then there bigger brothers I tried but they feel so...
I know the Music Hall is well built. What does it sound like? thanks
128x128geph0007

Showing 2 responses by samac

samac's avatar
samac
492 posts
 
Geph0007, I feel about the same as you do in regards to integrated amps in the $1200 and under range. I have the NAD c320BEE and c325BEE and they are nice but are what they are (which is a nice budget amp). I'm sorry but I can't tell you how the MH A50.2 sounds but as you said Music Hall products are well built.

I wanted to tell you that you might want to try and hear the Arcam FMJ A19. It has the headphone amp and phono stage you are looking for. I have one and really like it. It is a nice step up in every way over the NADs I've had. The build quality is excellent, functions and features are outstanding and the sound is wonderful.

This is not to dissuade you from from getting the A50.2, I just wanted to give you a heads up about the Arcam which gives you another option to look into and seems to have the features your looking for with great sound too.

Cheers,

Scott
samac's avatar
samac
492 posts
 
Geph0007, I don't know anything about the Yamaha pieces but they look very impressive. Thanks for the 325BEE/2010s comparison. Like you I found the 325 to be an improvement over the 320.

Paraneer has a very good point too about adding a good phono stage and headphone amp to the Exposure but then you would also have the extra cost of quality interconnects and multiple boxes. Good luck in your search. Keep us posted. If you end up getting them I would like to hear what you think of the Yamaha pieces.
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