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Lively, fast & open sounding integrated under 3k?

My speakers are 89db 2 way monitors with a very warm sound. Minimum impedance 3.5 ohm
large Room, low level listening 

My goals
no.1
excellent immediacy, speed & timing (dont recommend naim, very unnatural forced sound)

no2
forward soundstage (begins at the listening position and extends beyond the speakers)

No3.
Body without warmth

no4.
small in size if possible, but no class D, doubles into 4 ohms, Good at low volumes
new or used.

possible candidates from reading reviews

crayon cia-1
teac ai-2000
krell s300i
sugden a21se

128x128zuio
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
zuio OP
Lively, fast & open sounding integrated under 3k?

The Triangle signature Theta’s can go down to 4ohms, and to me sounded like they needed to be livened up  

A used John Curl designed Parasound Halo Hint integrated, you should be able to pickup for $3k or less, it’ll drive almost anything even has a ESS Sabre dac in it as well as a phono stage if you need it.
https://parasound.com/hint.php

$2.5K https://www.ebay.com/itm/Parasound-Halo-Integrated-Amplifier/324200768315?hash=item4b7bdf233b:g:RjkAAOSwTO9eSf3s

$1.4K!!! https://www.ebay.com/itm/Parasound-Halo-Integrated/124201839309?hash=item1ceb01aacd:g:hBgAAOSwSiVezmXD

Cheers George
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
Parasound Halo is voiced just slightly on the warm side of neutral, so it is not going to be as open or high resolution as stuff like Hegel, Music Fidelity, Yamaha.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Parasound Halo is voiced just slightly on the warm side of neutral
Not from what I’ve heard, that may apply to the Halo JC1’s etc, switched into high Class-A bias mode, but the standard a/b lower bias mode is definitely a cooler more etched sound.

Cheers George
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,628 posts
 
I was going to recommend the Kinki Studio M-1 but it's not small and weighs in at around 50 lbs. It does all the things you mentioned with aplomb and one eye closed and one hand tied behind it's back.

From what I've read from a reviewer who's owned the Crayon and the Kinki, and who thinks they have that same Swiss sound, check out the Crayon.

All the best,
Nonoise
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,313 posts
 
Hegel?
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