Amp-preamp, Integrated paring with Magico A3

soix    "What specific improvement are you looking for, and what sound characteristics are most important to you?  What someone else has had “success” with may have little correlation with what you’re looking for as everyone’s tastes/preferences are different, so the more info you can provide the better/more targeted recommendations you’ll get here." 

Well, I’ve owned them for a couple days, and do not own a preamp-amp integrated right now. So, it’s hard to say what improvement I’m looking for as I’ve not experienced anything other than the gear at the dealer and my friends Copland (ok, not great and not enough power really, and not mine) that I borrowed until I can find suitable gear of my own. 

I’ve owned a lot of tube gear over the years. I’ve moved away from tube amps but like to potentially keep a tube preamp in the mix. I like what tubes can bring to the mix. I ran mac C2700 and MC 301 mono blocks for a few years but think the Magico’s deserve better. I like a detailed but musical engaging sound quality. As I’ve not had Magico’s for long I’m not sure what works well with them to get the most out of what they can do.

I’m open to suggestions as they say and open to something new. I liked the Moon and Constellation gear on them at the dealer, so they are ae both on my list. I’ve not really looked at gear at this level ($20k+) that closely and not up on the newest greatest things. I’m jumping in, as they say to new suggestions. Lots of past recommendations on the forms but most are a few years old or older. T+A, Constellation, Moon, Luxman, Pass labs, etc all come up in prior forms.

At this point I’m looking for suggestions then I’ll do research (try to listen) and see what matches what I’m looking for. I have access to a few good dealers in the Vancouver/Victoria/Seattle areas. Used is an option as well.

 I have not had the privilege of owning Magico’s. I have had a number of speakers, and a number of tube pre amps/amps. The pre amp I am using now Is from Zesto, and it is right where I like things to be: Just a little warm, just a little saturated, a full sound that doesn’t sacrifice detail to feel that way. I wonder if it would team nicely with Moon equipment?

I had the A3s.  I tried several amps with them.  A JRDG Continuum S3 (class D) gave enough power but was quite boring with these speakers.  I tried Primaluna monoblocks with them running KT120s (150 w/ ch) and it really did not sound good, sort of mushy; not good speed or dynamics.  I then went to a Luxman 509x which was really good, and finally settled on Luxman’s top separates.  In hindsight, I think the 509x would have been a good place to settle with them, it was good enough.  At the dealers I heard these run by McIntosh MC275 in monoblock form also, which I thought sounded pretty good, but it was a limited audition, not a lot of heavy music tried at that time.  

Given what you said I think a tube pre with a good solid state amp makes a lotta sense and may be the best of all worlds.  I also prefer a detailed but also a very natural/musical sound, and I’d start with a Spatial Audio Raven or Aric Audio Motherload XL preamp and pair that with a good and fairly neutral power amp.  Moon and Constellation would be obvious candidates since you already seem to like their sound with Magico, and I’d add Coda and possibly even GaN amps from AGD or Atmasphere.  I believe Spatial and AGD offer trial periods, which would be really nice in your situation that I’d very seriously consider taking advantage of, but not sure about the others.  Congrats on the nice new speakers and hope this helps somewhat, and best of luck. 

@glennewdick following up on part of @soix ’s suggestion, have you read this review of the CODA 16?  Class A for the first 100 wpc  (at either 8 or 4 ohms) and total 150 wpc into 8 ohms, doubling into 4 ohms.  (The A3s are 4 ohm speakers, right?) I had neither the space (nor the appetite) for this amp, but I did just buy the integrated CSiB V2 (250 wpc at 8ohms, doubling at 4 and 2 ohms, Class A for first 12 watts), and while it’s not paired with ideal speakers (Revel F226Bes), and probably not fully broken in yet, it still makes the F226s sound very much better (more alive and musical; not as harsh in the upper frequencies) than they did before. (In February, i will get to pair it with Joseph Audio Perspective 2 Graphenes, and I’m very much looking forward to that!)  In case it’s of interest, here is a review of the CSib V2 .

I don’t know if it is possible to hear the 16 in the Seattle or Vancouver BC area, but I would defintiely suggest it if you want a powerful, dynamic but still neutral sounding amp, it is worth hunting down. (And of course the CSiB has enough power for the A3s at a fraction of the price, but I have to believe that the 16 with a good tube pre-amp would be magic.)

Good luck!