Raven Audio and Beyond...


Hello,
I'm hearing from a couple of you all about the RavenAudio product line.
I'm fairly new into listening/building a system for audio.
My current plan/aim is to build components for "rest of life" usage.  I'm not well to do and am looking into the Nighthawk and Blackhawk integrated tube amps.  
Currently, I have a Bifrost 2 Dac, Rega P2 turntable and Dynaudio X14s running out a cheap integrated Pioneer tuner/amplifier.
As I've been considering my next couple moves, Integrated Amp and upgrade in speakers, I bounce between the "first" move being either amp or speakers.
Lots of folks mention speakers first, rest after.  Since I appreciate the X14s for the limited sound, I wonder what kind of sense it makes to bump up the amp, integrate a couple subs and seek the "finish" speakers next.  After that, play with the rest of the components.

Currently, the room we listen to music in is 12' by 25', open frame ceilings that are 8.5' high.  

My questions are this:
What's your take on taking on the amplifier first, and setting up the rest after?
Am I going to notice the X14s responding well enough to help me learn more about the direction of my speaker choice later?

If I have some time before I can fully upgrade the speakers, would integrating a sub amp with the subs be a positive move?

FWIW, I plan to keep the x14s and other requisite equipment for the most part to set up/gift to others as I can.  I am interested in long-term enjoyment for music I love and a love for exploring music yet to be heard.

Thank you

mijale

For me, I learned from my mistakes in this hobby....pick a speaker and then match the amp.  Amps are easy compared to finding a speaker to your tastes.  Raven is an outstanding product and I owned the Raven Reflection MK2.  If you are sold on Rave as an amp, I really think you should talk to Raven about their speaker line-up.  I have heard Raven amps paired to the Celest'.  It was pretty damn good. 

@willgolf 

For me, I learned from my mistakes in this hobby....pick a speaker and then match the amp.

Generally I would agree with you. This is the general thought when building a system from scratch. But not necessarily true  when trying to maybe rectify mistakes. He is not building from scratch. He is remodeling the system. As I said, his speakers are of much better quality than the "Cheap Pioneer and make for a better base at this point. Trying to drive good speakers thru that "cheap Pioneer" is a heartache in the making. Besides,He can always upgrade later. And if he buys used he can recoup a lot of his $$$

I am in the speakers first camp. Reason being the room acoustics are the hardest thing to change/fix so you have to get the speaker room integration right first then find the amp best suited for the speakers.

Modest power Tube amps will work and may sound good but Dynaudios are not designed for use with tube amps. They tend to like beefy high current SS amps for best performance.  I’d consider any of the  various high quality Class D amps around these days as a good match with Dynaudios.   I have run that combo in my house for a number of years and can vouch for it   

 

OP … Listen to the impartial unbiased advice given by @tomic601 ​​@arafiq ​​​​​@jerryg123 earlier in this thread

Something to consider in picking a speaker first. There are a lot of amps, yes. Depending on your choice of speaker however you may wind up with virtually zero amps to choose from. Or very poor choices. Search around for all the time and trouble people have had taking this approach. If all you do is consider the speaker then at least be intelligent about it and exclude from consideration anything below about 92dB, as anything below this and you quickly run into a situation where only 100+ watt amps will do.

The Raven Blackhawk is a truly fine amp. As it turns out, a lot of the very best sounding amps are even lower power. There are some pretty fine amps in the 50-60 watt range as well. Above there and it gets real hard (read, expensive) real fast to find quality sound in 100 watt and up amps. Real hard. A lot of us would say impossible. No matter how much money you have to throw at it.

Being on a budget it is simply not responsible to say pick a speaker without making this tradeoff as clear as can be. 

Stick with speakers in the mid-90's and up sensitivity wise, and you will find it very easy (read, affordable) to find a truly high quality amp to drive them. 

I would say without a doubt given your current setup the Raven with your current speakers will sound a lot better than the other way around doing the speaker first. Way better. Like no contest.