Consider the Yamaha A-S1100. I much prefer it to the original Halo Integrated and many others in that price class. It produces a slightly lush, 3-dimensional sound, not unlike like a decent tube amp, but has all the strengths associated with good SS - low noise floor, great channel separation, deep bass, flat response. Like most Yamaha integrateds, it exceeds the claimed power spec, even measured at full bandwidth. It has a real linear power supply (unlike another mentioned in this thread), with 72,000 microfarads capacitance - 80% more than typically found in integrateds under $4K. The heatsinks are way oversized so it never gets hot. Its built in phono stage is the quietest I've encountered anywhere - even more so than my Parasound JC3 Jr. I've owned C7s and I think this amp is higher caliber than you'd ever need with them, so you'd be good for future upgrades as well.
Thoughts about Jadis and Harbeth
I recently acquired some beautiful Harbeth Compact 7 through a good dealer. Currently I am using a Pioneer AVR, VSX-53 as my amp and using Nvidia Shield to play Tidal etc. While it sounds pretty good, obviously I can get way better.
My dealer like Jadis and I heard them briefly and they do sound great paired with the Harbeth. It has been suggested I go with a jadis orchestra reference. Anyone have experiences with it and thoughts about the match up. I listen to everything really, and my budget at least where I'd like to keep it is 4k.
That doesn't leave a lot of room as I need to update my source. I have no problem paying that for that amp as it is very high quality. I also considered the Rouge II/III as an option as well. I also considered Luxman and a few integrated class d options. Like the NAD m10 as it basically checks off mostly everything for me, and is way cheaper then the less powerful Naim Unity line. If you cant tell I like the display options of these two devices, NAD seems like it would be a good option and use pre outs to Jadis. The only problem it has no HT bypass and that a bit annoying, as I'd like to continue to use AVR for tv. Not sure if using the preout would allow the sub to still work.
Sorry for the long read, just looking for a little help to get me pointed in the right direction. I wouldn't say im new to the hobby, but in a good place to start buying better equipment and moving away from the HT mode I've been in for years.
My dealer like Jadis and I heard them briefly and they do sound great paired with the Harbeth. It has been suggested I go with a jadis orchestra reference. Anyone have experiences with it and thoughts about the match up. I listen to everything really, and my budget at least where I'd like to keep it is 4k.
That doesn't leave a lot of room as I need to update my source. I have no problem paying that for that amp as it is very high quality. I also considered the Rouge II/III as an option as well. I also considered Luxman and a few integrated class d options. Like the NAD m10 as it basically checks off mostly everything for me, and is way cheaper then the less powerful Naim Unity line. If you cant tell I like the display options of these two devices, NAD seems like it would be a good option and use pre outs to Jadis. The only problem it has no HT bypass and that a bit annoying, as I'd like to continue to use AVR for tv. Not sure if using the preout would allow the sub to still work.
Sorry for the long read, just looking for a little help to get me pointed in the right direction. I wouldn't say im new to the hobby, but in a good place to start buying better equipment and moving away from the HT mode I've been in for years.