Best Integrated Amp? Help...

I have had great sucess with Musical Fidelity and B&W 800 series. I have an A308CR preamp and Bryston 7b ST monoblocks. The MF A308 has a "tubelike" top end that works very well with nautilus tweeters. I have heard many say that Nautilus tweeters and Bryston amps are harsh. I have never had this problem with N801's nor with S800's.

You can go the same route with a Musical Fidelity pre like an A308, A3.5 or A3.2 pre(I also have a CD Pre 24 in my office - awesome unit, Preamp, CD and DAC/ADC in one box) and a Bryston 4Bst amp if you don't mind going separate.

If you can find a MF A308CR integrated, it should be below your budget. The A308 is teh last to be made in England and supposed to be extremely reliable.

Accuphase matches very well wth the BWs.

Look for used E408, 407--should do the trick.

Hbarrel,

Are you running B&W's with your NSCS?

Nowone has mentioned the LSA tube/SS hybrid. It is certainly within reach 2nd hand and appears a bit of a steal at it's price point. It has 3 price points of course, same basic design with improved components. The midle Signature version seems the best value. Having heard it on several occasions, it is on my shortlist when my current integrated needs changing

I used a Mark Levinson #383 with no problem with the 804's. I even used it with 803's. It worked well with my 802's but the Musical Fidelity kW500 was better suited for the 802's. Now I have a Primare I30 driving Kharma Ceramique Referance 3.1's and it sounds FANTASTIC! I loved the sound so much I bought the matching Primare CD player and I'm enjoying music more than ever and also put money back into my audio fund to play with cables. I sold my SimAudio I7 and never looked back. Peace and Good Listening.