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New Integrated amp recommendation

Greetings:

I’m looking to upgrade my Yamaha 801 to drive my Revel 328s

Unfortunately I live in South Carolina and auditioning equipment requires a fair amount of time and travel. 
The room is 20x25 loft open to one side to a staircase and 11 foot ceilings (not ideal but limited amount of conditioning will follow) 

Almost always classic rock and contemporary jazz never above 80db Vinyl/CD and streaming

I’ve read a number outstanding reviews on Luxman integrateds and that is the first question..Is the 505z a good fit? If so does stretching the budget to the 507z offer a sonic difference? If not Luxman any other recommendations. I’m not necessarily looking to color the sound of the Revels but the Yamaha and maybe the room lack a bit of low end clarity and maybe a bit of fatigue from the Be tweeters.

Finally has anyone had experience buying direct from Japan? Can I assume the transformer is going to add unwanted noise?

Appreciate any thoughts love the forum. Learn from it everyday.

Thank you

JF

 

 


 

jwfitzdo
mdalton's avatar
mdalton
810 posts
 

bit of a drive for you but great store in Winston-Salem, NC:  Ember Audio.  He carries a bunch of great integrated brands, including Hegel, Atoll, Accuphase, Simaudio, Octave (tube), and others.

troutbum
85 posts
 

Dayglow.....re: Aria...say what? I just like the way they produce music. I quit being that analytical when I retired from public accounting. The closest I come to it anymore is trying to figure out what trout fly to use.l

bgross's avatar
bgross
530 posts
 

Options are endless... how about a Plinius, Hautonga? Haven't heard an integrated under $10K with this type of low end grunt & growl. I like Accuphase & Luxman a lot too but maybe think out of the box. If I were looking at SS Plinius would be in my sights. Just my opinion

dayglow
2,440 posts
 

@troutbum   Not critizing the Belles Aria it just has obvious limitations. The Plinius Hautonga is a good high powered integrated amp but lacks the refinement of a Norma IPA-140 at similar used/new price points.

waynefia
192 posts
 

+1 on the Hegel H400 @ only 44lbs which is heavy enough for me heading towards 70. I had some much heavier, but no more like that. Plenty of power, you never know WHEN you may go another way with speakers, and want the power. I found one on here a year or so old, for a little over 1/2 of the normal price. Really enjoying the H400, using with the internal DAC and streamer for now. In fact sold my Lumin U1 Mini, as I did not feel the WOW of the seperate streamer. In my system with the Denon 110th Anniversary SACD player, ROON and Qobuz Connect both thru the Hegal. Good luck on your search.

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