JC1 upgrade to Lamm M2.2 or dartzeel 108B or Ayre?

Right now Ayre is arguably making the best SS amps you can get and their new Twenty series are the best amps I've heard so far (I've been fortunate to hear their new Ref twenty and am anxiously awaiting my new AX5/20 integrated. I own the AX7e and LOVE it., but their upper amps just blow me away. I've heard Lamms in the past and liked them also. I know three dealers off the top of my head who sell both the JC1 and the Ayre and they all own Ayre...Says a lot to me.

Hi Taoh2

First, can you give a sense of your budget on this upgrade? While I (and I am sure a number of others) have heard several of these components in different systems, I am wondering why you reached the conclusion that an amp upgrade is the way to go. Specifically, your speakers (which I understand are not the 40.1's, but the older 40's), were about $7k in 2001 when they were current, the amp is $9k, the preamp was $15k (when current), and the Directstream DAC is $6k. It seems like a real imbalance to upgrade the amps to something that is $20-30k with a $7k pair of speakers; I really do not think you will get the immediate bang for your buck out of this upgrade path, particularly as the JC-1's punch quite a bit above their weight (unless you think there is some real imbalance with your speaker-amp matching).

If anything, you may be much better off upgrading the speakers (which I understand you have indicated you are not looking to upgrade right now) and digital front end before the JC-1s. I can think of half a dozen models of speakers and DACs in the $20k price range (which seems like your budget) that may represent an improvement.

If you are wedded to upgrading the amps, each of the options you outlined are good choices, and it really comes down to which amp you feel matches best with the Harbeth's that you seem to like. If you could indicate what you think the JC-1's are not providing in terms of a match with the speakers, that would also help folks give some thoughts on the issue. Also, if you could provide more information on room dimensions and typical listening levels, that would help as well.

I agree with Rzado. If you're willing to spend $20k, it seems that a speaker upgrade would be a *much* bigger improvement than an amp upgrade....

-RW-