What your (and mine) EVO 200.2 needs is 4 ohm speakers. I'm not really technically minded (so I don't pretend to know why) but when I heard the difference between an 8 ohm and a 4 ohm, well, lets just say it was obvious.
I use a Tice Solo A/V and it works just fine, althought I'm thinking about upgrading to the Audio Magic Stealth. I was told by a dealer that I trust that PS Audio wouldn't help very much because Bel Canto uses a choke system (again, I don't know what that means) but I was saved the 2400 bucks I was about to plunk down.
When I first bought the EVO I just assumed that a tubed preamp was a necessity. At the time I was using a Meridian 502 preamp and the sound was so etched it bordered on painful. So I listened to Kora, Antique Sound, Jadis, just about anything under 5 grand. I was ready to go with a CJ, when I read a review in Soundstage about mating the EVO 200.2 with Bel Canto's own Pre-1 with the DAC 1.1 installed. No way it could sound better than tubes! But the reviewer (a dedicated tube freak) was right. The sound had all the liquidity, the tight bass, and the soundstage that I was looking for.
As far as powercords go, I've had success with the new one from Dedicated Audio, which you can get here on Audiogon for about 200 dollars a pop. Very nice cord that I'm still breaking in, better out of the box than my entry level BMIs.
So to recap: My experience was that the following order was most important:
1)Pre-amp/DAC
2)4 ohm speaker
3)powercord
4)power conditioner
I use a Tice Solo A/V and it works just fine, althought I'm thinking about upgrading to the Audio Magic Stealth. I was told by a dealer that I trust that PS Audio wouldn't help very much because Bel Canto uses a choke system (again, I don't know what that means) but I was saved the 2400 bucks I was about to plunk down.
When I first bought the EVO I just assumed that a tubed preamp was a necessity. At the time I was using a Meridian 502 preamp and the sound was so etched it bordered on painful. So I listened to Kora, Antique Sound, Jadis, just about anything under 5 grand. I was ready to go with a CJ, when I read a review in Soundstage about mating the EVO 200.2 with Bel Canto's own Pre-1 with the DAC 1.1 installed. No way it could sound better than tubes! But the reviewer (a dedicated tube freak) was right. The sound had all the liquidity, the tight bass, and the soundstage that I was looking for.
As far as powercords go, I've had success with the new one from Dedicated Audio, which you can get here on Audiogon for about 200 dollars a pop. Very nice cord that I'm still breaking in, better out of the box than my entry level BMIs.
So to recap: My experience was that the following order was most important:
1)Pre-amp/DAC
2)4 ohm speaker
3)powercord
4)power conditioner