2. amps-preamps
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Working backwards...

After six months of research, auditions, saving, and negotiating with the wife, I have acquired speakers that I’ll be keeping for several years - a pair of Spendor 1/2Es.

Over the next couple years I want to work backwards from these speakers and replace upstream components as funds become available. This is what I’m running right now:

Rotel RCD-1070 CDP
Rotel RA-1070 integrated amp
Proton 420 tuner (don’t laugh, it works just fine)
Spendor 1/2Es w/stands
Tara Labs Phase II speaker cable
Tara Labs RSC Air3 IC
Tara Labs Prism 55i IC
Ernie’s PCK12 power cord

My next acquisition will be to step up to separates. I can spend around $2K on a power amp and I’ve drawn up a list that I am actually looking to pare down to three candidates. I’m especially interested in hearing from anyone here who has run Spendor 1/2Es with any of these SS amps. The candidates are:

Conrad Johnson MF-2250A
Bryston 4BSST
Classe CA200
Krell KSA150
Plinius SA100 MkIII
McCormack DNA225
Mark Levinson 331

While I love the Spendor sound, I do miss some of the bass that I lost trading away my JBLs (maybe there’s a REL in my future), so I probably wouldn’t mind an amp that’s a little aggressive with reasonable slam. I'm assuming that I don't necessarily need a warm sounding amp to go with my Spendors. In addition, I’ll also need a basic (read: inexpensive) preamp to start with and I would appreciate any suggestions (Adcom, Rotel, NAD, or ???).

My living room/listening room is about 18x20’ and carpeted. While I still listen to a lot of classic rock, most of the new CDs I am buying are R&B and jazz.

Sorry for the long post – I would appreciate any educated opinions – Thanks!
ekistler_sj
nortonkp's avatar
nortonkp
3 posts
 
Naim's NAP200 ($2550 retail & includes 1 DIN interconnect) will tighten up the bass on your 1/2Es and it has pace and rhythm to die for. Just add the following:

Naim CDX2 $4950 includes 1 DIN interconnect (HDCD player)
Naim NAC202 w/PSU & HicapII $4775 (Pre-amp with 2 PSU)
Naim NACA5 speaker cable 15' $200

I had system above and believe me it is AWSOME. It will seem as if the band stop by your house. Then you can forget about your equipment and live happily ever after.
blw
147 posts
 
I had some little British box speakers: ProAc Tablettes. I ran them with a Classe CA200, and the pairing was good. The Tablettes didn't need anywhere near that much power. I find each to be slightly on the bright side (the Tablettes more so than the CA-200), and that was the only real issue with the pairing. Bass extension of the Tablettes is impressive for a speaker with a 4.5" woofer, but not extended on an absolute basis (duh!). The CA200 is VERY extended in the bass and delivers tight, controlled bass with ML Odysseys (my current speakers).

I like your idea of using the integrated's pre stage until you can get a better one. Sure it's a compromise, but it's temporary, and you'll end up with a better system this way.
shersta
140 posts
 
Concerning the distance between your speaker and equipment: Now that you're moving to seperates, you have the option of placing your amp near the speakers and running a long interconnect from your preamp to your amp. I believe the accepted wisdom around here is that it's better to have a longer interconnect than speaker cable. Cheaper too!
blw
147 posts
 
Well, a little cheaper. Not much, though.

You may eventually have the option of running the pre->power interconnect in balanced mode, which will help reject some of the noise that comes from having long cable runs. You can't do this with speaker cable.

Of course, this is not an option with your current integrated amp. It may also not be an option for some of those power amps. (I'm pretty sure the Conrad Johnson units don't offer balanced connections, for example.)
ekistler_sj OP
60 posts
 
Yeah, I suppose that long ICs might be preferable if they would cut my speaker cable length in half. One of my concerns there is that I'll have to factor in the cost of a quality amp stand, which would seem like a waste of $$$ as I currently have a decent Billy Bags rack (with a couple of empty shelves).

In any case, I still have to stash a little more coin toward this amp...
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