Look into Music Hall Raven and Mambo. The Raven has a tuner built in and is 100 watts. The Mambo is tuner-less but has 50 watts of nice warm class A power. Both have awesome built in DAC's with upsampling and pre-amp outs for a sub. Just run your CD into the digital or audio inputs and you are set.
Advice on upgrade of a 2.1 audio setup
I have a system that I’m using both for HT and 2.1 audio. Currently I use a low end receiver (yama HTR-5860). I would like to upgrade my 2.1 path. I don’t care about audio quality for HT/5.1 and I will continue to use the receiver for this.
My speakers are Onix Ref 1 monitors and ACI Force XL subwoofer. I want to stay with these for now. My source is a stock Squeezebox3 streaming FLAC files.
I listen to all kinds of music, but primarily alternative rock, jazz, punk, rock. I like female vocals (e.g. Stina Nordenstam, Patti Smith, Nico, Feist). I listen at moderate volumes but in a large, open room.
I know that I’m missing a lot with my receiver, but in particular I’m looking for two improvements: less fatiguing, easier to listen sound and more clarity, especially for “larger” compositions.
The budget is about $1000 for used equipment. I’m considering are 2 ch amp (SS only - I will use it for HT as well), preamp and a DAC. I know about SB3 mods but I don’t want to go this route.
Which component should I upgrade? Whole budget on amp and continue to use receiver as pre-pro? Divide budget between power amp and preamp and use analog out from SB3? Divide budget between amp, preamp and DAC? I have been reading about tube preamp with a SS amp and I’m very interested in this idea. Is this advisable at this budget? If not, what budget would be required to get the benefits?
Some amps I’m considering: Mccormack DNA 0.5 or 1, Odyssey Stratos, CI D-100, Bel Canto, Parasound, Ps audio HCA-2. I don’t know about preamps yet (I think I need HT bypass and second output to feed my Force XL) or DACs.
Thanks,
Adam
My speakers are Onix Ref 1 monitors and ACI Force XL subwoofer. I want to stay with these for now. My source is a stock Squeezebox3 streaming FLAC files.
I listen to all kinds of music, but primarily alternative rock, jazz, punk, rock. I like female vocals (e.g. Stina Nordenstam, Patti Smith, Nico, Feist). I listen at moderate volumes but in a large, open room.
I know that I’m missing a lot with my receiver, but in particular I’m looking for two improvements: less fatiguing, easier to listen sound and more clarity, especially for “larger” compositions.
The budget is about $1000 for used equipment. I’m considering are 2 ch amp (SS only - I will use it for HT as well), preamp and a DAC. I know about SB3 mods but I don’t want to go this route.
Which component should I upgrade? Whole budget on amp and continue to use receiver as pre-pro? Divide budget between power amp and preamp and use analog out from SB3? Divide budget between amp, preamp and DAC? I have been reading about tube preamp with a SS amp and I’m very interested in this idea. Is this advisable at this budget? If not, what budget would be required to get the benefits?
Some amps I’m considering: Mccormack DNA 0.5 or 1, Odyssey Stratos, CI D-100, Bel Canto, Parasound, Ps audio HCA-2. I don’t know about preamps yet (I think I need HT bypass and second output to feed my Force XL) or DACs.
Thanks,
Adam