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Upscaling Speakers, Downscaling Amp...What to Do?

A few months back, I purchased a pair of Joseph Audio Pulsars. I've enjoyed them so much that I've decided to upgrade to the new Perspectives. However, my better half hath decreed that no more money can go into audio, so I've made the extremely difficult decision to sell my amp (VAC Phi Beta 110i) in the near future. Its replacements will obviously be significantly less expensive, yet they must provide a similar listening experience. The preamp is already fixed - a Modwright LS 100 with phono stage. My question for the board is, what amp? Tube or solid state? Cost (used) needs to be around $3000-3500, and a minimum of 100 wpc. The obvious pairing is either the Modwright KWA 150 or KWA 100SE. I would welcome any another other suggestions, but if you do so, please tell me why. Thanks in advance.
curriemt11
56 responses Add your response
agear
1,362 posts
 
.....the Amarra (and ULN-8) dacs have both x-over and room correction capabilities....
stevecham
3,340 posts
 
Reading this thread and the initial premise for its existence, I am once again shaking my head.

To avoid regret, one should NOT upgrade speakers while potentially degrading the quality of amplification rationalized by lower cost; this makes absolutely no sense to me. Speakers are at the terminal end of the electronic portion of audio chain; any compromise to upstream components will be amplified by higher quality speakers.

When upgrading speakers, first, do NO HARM upstream.

This is from the Ten Commandments of Audio.

And, as you say, good luck.
markalarsen's avatar
markalarsen
630 posts
 
Bel Canto REF500M
sabocat59
98 posts
 
I second the jim nicholls, JWN amp advice.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,835 posts
 
That VAC is a hot number and will be hard to replace.

As owner of Bel Canto ref 1000m monoblocks running off an ARC tube pre-amp, and having heard perhaps the best tube amp sound that I know of coming out of very expensive VAC amps, I'd say Bel Canto ref500m is definitely worth consideration.
soix
8,644 posts
 
Curriemt11, what amp did you end up going with and how does it compare to your old VAC? I'm also contemplating the Pulsars and Perspectives and curious as to what you found the main differences to be other than the obvious difference in bass capabilities. Thanks.
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