+1 @audiopacer @dman777 audition ATC SCM40 passive. I heard these speakers and I can tell you for the money they’re hard, if not impossible, to beat when it comes to reproduction of every genre of music. They will rock as well as do large scale symphonies or acoustic jazz. And won’t hurt you with those 90s rock and punk albums. Better fit in my opinion than the sopras in your case. Good deal without compromising sound quality. |
Interesting thread. I decided to combine the best of both worlds. I have the simaudio Moon 791 preamp and the Passlabs XA 25. The interconnect is a Cardas Clear Rev. 1. I do not claim that it is better than some of the systems described but the synergy is excellent to my ears and given my modest room configuration of 20x11. |
With the combination of, Luxman 595, Eversolo A10, Focal... I would expect you would be looking for a warmer more musical sound. Those taken together push towards the detailed and trebly side of things. The Luxman solid state sound is very shiny (every time I hear one, that is what comes to mind). If it were my system I would look to replace the preamp first. Get the core to be warm and natural. Moon is not warm... it is resolving and somewhat dry. With your Focal speakers (also resolving and a bit hot on top) you want a warmer more musical amp / preamp. The new Pass integrates are really good. They are getting surprisingly good rhythm an pace from a solid state amp that is resolving but not overly romantic. If it was me, I would look at an Audio Research or Conrad Johnson Preamp and a Pass XA amp or if you want cleaner faster Xamp. Although realistically tube amps will get you closer to the real thing. |
After about a week of using my Luxman 595, I switched back to my Moon 861 with my low fi Yamaha rn 2000a as a preamp. The Moon sounded so beautiful. It was really pure and blissful. It wasn't bright at all with the Yamaha. When it comes to Hi-Fi, I can’t trust my mind and my ears. I’ll go through periods loving an amp, then I’ll go through periods not liking the amp. Then I’ll go back to loving it. No matter what the amp is I do that. |
Luxman L-595 preamp section will utterly outperform the Yamaha’s preamp on all fronts. Have you tried this? The Moon 861 is a reference level amplifier that ought to be paired with a preamp in a similar class to show you what it is really capable of. Get the Pass Xp-22 ; it’s a full sounding pre with beautiful tonality and should really flesh out your 861- your Yamaha tone on steroids. The more gear you have laying around can cause inability to relax with what you have- always changing for the sake of different sound placing the emphasis on the gear and not the music. I’ve been there and know this equipment contagion syndrome well:) sell it all ; keep the moon, get pass preamp then reassess in a few months.
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