joey54

Responses from joey54

Looking for integrated solid state amp for daily usage
You should look for a used Ayre AX-7e. A great sounding amp that can be found well below your budget. Good Luck!  
Credenza or media stand for hiding away equipment
Salamander Synergy racks should meet your requirements   
recommend PRAT Integrated amplifiers (not Naim)
Ayre EX-8 or Aesthetix Mimas  
Luxman leaves me wanting
You should look at the Aesthetix Mimas Integrated amp, which is a hybrid amp. Based on your post it just might fit the bill. Good Luck!  
Recommendations on integrated amps
You might want to look at the Quad Vena II which has a built in DAC, Bluetooth and Phono stage and sounds really good for the money.  Music Direct has them on sale right now.    
Recommend a non-polite sounding amp / integrated
Belles Aria or Belles Aria Signature Integrated amps would probably fit the bill. Also if you want tubes the Quicksilver integrated uses EL84 tubes and sounds great!  
Need an amp upgrade suggestion..... But not the usual upgrade request :-)
The older, pre Class D amps from Primare mate really well with B&W speakers. Ayre is another good choice for B&W.   
Electronics for Harbeths -- $5-10K
I used an Ayre AX-7e and Ayre Codex DAC with my Harbeth SHL5+'s for many years. It was a fantastic match but was bettered by the EX-8 with the built -in DAC. I was just about to pull the trigger on it when Aesthetix released the Mimas integrated w... 
Any High End Tube Preamps with *gasp tone controls?
Luxman CL38uC   https://www.luxman.com/product/detail.php?id=27  
DAC Under $3000
Both the new QX-8 and QX-5 support multiple digital inputs but they are not within his $3,000 budget.  
Quicksilver V4 tubes
My favorite tubes when I had my balanced V4’s were Ei KT90’s and GE 6L6GC’s. The 90’s were more powerful than the 6L6’s but the vocals with the 6L6’s were outstanding. My audio dealer likes KT 77’s in there now and he’s not a fan of the 150’s. The... 
DAC Under $3000
The Ayre DAC’s are an easy recommendation as long as you can live with USB only in the case of the QB9. The Codex has USB and an optical input. It’s also a wonderful headphone amp. They are both very natural sounding DAC’s. Good Luck!  
Solid State amp to go with Audible Illusions Modulus 3a preamp
I used an Aragon 4004 MKII with my 3A for years. They worked well together. I would ask your dealer about a good match as well. If you don't have a dealer you could try John Rutan at Audio Connection in NJ. He has sold many 3A's in the past and sh... 
Phono Stage Want List Suggestions?
Aesthetix Rhea  
Aurender Conductor app reliability and user experience
@vonhelmholtz  The Lightning app betters Conductor in the following areas; Look and feel of the user interface Search Capabilities Artwork  I've had good customer service from both Aurender and Auralic. Bottom line, the Auralic Aries G1.1 sou...