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Friend needs help

I have a close friend that wants to upgrade his stereo system.  He is old school and frugal.  Currently he has a Kenwood KA-501, which I bought in high school, many years ago, and gave to him after having it serviced.  He has Cerwin Vega speakers and B/W book shelves.  My question what would be a great integrated amp, with 3-5 inputs, a pre-out to add an amp down the road.  I am suggesting that he gets a WiiM Ultra streamer and get into the streaming game.  He is mostly a rock and roll guy.  He is leaving all of the decisions to me.  

speedysteve4
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
6,545 posts
 

Another to look at is the Yamaha A-S1200.

It's pretty nice also.

kennyc
3,088 posts
 

Maybe Emotiva - good SS for the money or Advanced Paris - hybrid tube pre w SS amp - easy to listen to laid back presentation. 

mark200mph
879 posts
 

Yes emotiva and advanced paris good bang for buck. J7st bought the advance paris 250 as it has it all.tmr had 20% off used 2200$ .enjoy the hunt.

easystreamer
129 posts
 

For a little more, you could get a Primare i25. It has expansion slots to add a pretty nice DAC (DM-36) and streamer (Prisma) boards. This would make it an all-in-one component, but even without, the i25 is a nice Integrated. 

I had the Primare Pre35 for a while. It's knobs and casework were very nice and did not feel cheap at all, compared to others in this price tier.

mswale
384 posts
 

There are a ton of good streaming amps out there, think that should work, get some better speakers. There are some bookshelf ones out there that will sound much better over the CV's. Think he can get a "rocking" setup for $1500-3000 range.

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