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Claude’s amp upgrade recommdation

On a whim I asked Claude what it thought the weak link is in my system (see my Agon profile).  It said my Peachtree Gan1 power dac was the limiting factor.  I gave it a $4000 replacement budget and it recommended a Luxman M-700u.  Great amp, but the only one available used is here on Agon for $7700.  I reduced the budget to $3000 and Claude said a Cary CAD 120SE.  There is one on Agon for $3800 and one on USAudio for $3250.  As a second choice, Claude recommended a Rotel Michi M8 for some reason. The cheapest used one is at TMR for 9499!  As a third choice, though, was an Emotiva XPA-2.  TMR has one for $1199.

i had been thinking of maybe class D monoblocks, but Claude said they would be a poor.match with my Stirling LS3/6 speakers.  Quite a range of suggestions.  Would the Emotiva be an upgrade on my Ric Schultz modded Gan1?  Is the Cary the best choice if the Luxman is above my budget?  What do you think?  Thanks.

treepmeyer
kennyc
2,873 posts
 

So the OP is asking us to evaluate their AI recommendations?

At best there may be some suggestions that personally resonates with the OP. Beyond that asking others to guess what the OP would personally subjectively like seems like a waste of time as only the OP knows their own preferences.

hilde45's avatar
hilde45
5,998 posts
 

Really sick of this AI "stuff" in the forums, though it's "fairly" easy enough to side step/ignore it (just like side stepping and ignoring TROLLS).

Practice what you preach.

mike4597's avatar
mike4597
304 posts
 

I recommend you take a look at Odyssey Audio amplifiers.  I have been running a pair of Kismet mono-blocs (in lower cost cases) to power my Fyne F-702 speakers and have been very, very pleased with the sound I am getting with the combination of a tube preamp (Rogue RP-9) and solid state power amps.  Klaus at Odyssey can customize amps for you with various upgrades.  My only caution is that it might take a few weeks for him to get them built ... but the results are stunning.  

I want to vertically bi-amp my speakers, and I thought about selling them and getting something else, but they sound so VERY good that I am having Klaus convert them to stereo and upgrade the power supplies.  (And I tried two other amplifiers, one tube, one solid state, before discovering the Odyssey Kismet amps.  The Kismets outperformed both.

dekay's avatar
dekay
6,179 posts
 

"Practice what you preach."

And - how are I not doing so - hillde45 - and please be specific?

OH, and I'm still sick of this AI STUFF (sick of skimming over posts in a forum that used to be voiced by real people and their opinions).

"Easy Enough" adds up over time.

 

DeKay

parkergetdean
1,036 posts
 

I would side with DeKay here, this AI stuff is extremely unproductive, silly and a waste of time. The sources it's learning from is BS. Let AI work on things it was meant to.

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