Recommendation for Class-A integrated amp

@celtic66 ,

Fully agreed on the financial side of logic, and I am not putting Sugden off yet, instead, I am still consider it could be a good possibility, but since I am not sure how well it will work with Ascend Sierra Tower that is in my secondary system, where the impedance will drop to 4 ohm, and the Sugden amp spec show 30W at 8 ohm, 40W at 4 ohm, which put a bit of concern whether there is enough power to sustain.  I could end up with one to test down the road anyway, where I know it will be fine with Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC used in my primary system, but I need to get a few more things tested with an amp that is capable to drive both so I can have a solid baseline to draw from.




@arafiq ,

Thank you for the Ayre suggestion.

Let me give some more props for the CODA. I now have the latest CODA 07x preamp and CODA #8 amp. I moved up from the CSiB integrated which I bought on A'gon used.

This gear is stuff I will never be selling. I think this 07x + #8 combo is good as the Luxman c900u preamp and m900u amp that I was so gaga about a few years ago. Luckily I could not afford them back then.

BTW - I bought the brand spanking new CODA from a CA dealer for a combined $11K. I also had some custom work done on the amp which added to the cost and likely killed any chance of resale (which I have no interest to do). So the guy buying used CODA pair for $6K sounds about right to me.

If you would love class A sound without the heat check out the new Technics integrated, based on GaN technology

OP - I am biased - but give the new Krell K300i a listen - uses new patent pending ‘sliding bias’ to stay in Class A longer. Pushes my Maggie 1.7i to new levels of clarity. If it can handle Maggie’s - any other speaker is a piece of cake. New the integrated runs $7k. Not cheap but build quality is great.

Went to demo and buy the luxman s and was left wanting.   Bought the Esoteric F03 with a milks discount but way over my initial budget.  Have no interest in resale as it has been the most enjoyable amp I’ve owned