Amp for LS50

Awesome!  Thank You Everyone who replied!  All the suggestions are options I would definately consider.

  I didn’t know that the Rotel and Musical Fidelity had such good reviews.  I wasn’t up to date with those!  Thanks.

Good to hear about the Peachtree stuff.  I liked my Nova Pre/220 and 220se that I had.  I took my LS50’s to my brothers house and hooked them up to his Nova Pre / 220 and wasn’t impressed to be honest.  I couldn’t believe that I could turn it up to 1 o’clock on the volume dial. Made me realize that these Kefs are power hungry, yet I have them hooked to a little 50 watt amp and they sound pretty good so I’m not sure that something like the Rotel or Musical Fidelity wouldn’t sound fantastic...

I’m leaning towards something like that Class D or Mivera amp (Thanks for turning me on to Mivera; I will be reasearching them!).  I figure if I can get some kind of crazy power and then pair it to a sweeter sounding preamp, that would be the hot ticket.  

The Kefs are sounding great though the more they break in.  Interesting as almost all of my previous speakers were pre owned so I never realized how much a speaker can change in the first 15-20 hours.  I wonder how much of it was me adjusting to thier sound.

Wow, That Kinki Studio exm1 looks to be insane...  I read Nonoises review (in addition to some online info / reviews).  Looks to be quite the integrated amp for $2200.  I’m not sure if I have that in my budget right now though, unfortunately.  We’ll see...

Now all I need is about 10 more good choices to really confuse me, hahaha.  

Abasia, Thanks for the input!  I do like Schiit products; I’ve had a couple of thier products before.  I’ll look into the Ragnarock.

I am currently just using a Red Dragonfly dac with Jitter Bug streamjng tidal from a laptop.

I’m still trying to figure out the signature sound of the Kefs but they seem pretty neutral.  The sound that I enjoy is revealing, sweet and airy.  I like that top end detail / sparkle but I also enjoy being able to hear deep into the mix with lots of detail / ambient retrieval etc.  

For reference, my favorite set up this far was a Classe CA200, lightspeed attenuator, schiit bifrost dac, paradigm signature 2 V3 with berrylium tweeters...

Help Help!!

I’m about to pull the trigger on something and I need some final help!

I’ve narrowed it down to the following:
-NuPrime IDA 16 ($1250)
-Rogue Audio Sphinx 2 ($1200)
-McCormack DNA1 Deluxe ($1000+$300-$400 for what preamp??)
-Hegel H160 ($1500, more than I want to spend)
-Outlaw RR2160 ($799!  Allows me to put in nice new carpet in my listening room)

I’m leaning towards the NuPrime because of the reviews, price, the dac is a plus, aesthetics are nice but am concerned about the synergy with the Kef LS50’s.  I see that the NuPrime doesn’t double down in power from 8 to 4 ohms, other than that, it looks great!  I have read all the reviews on the NuPrime so I can’t find many other reviews with it being paired with LS50’s.

I thought I’d go ahead and update the thread with what I ended up purchasing...

sooo, I found a good deal on a B&K Reference 4420 and a McCormack Micro Line Drive.  I paid $625 for both so I came in under budget and ended up with a system that should keep me content for a week or two ;)

This is my first B&K amp I’ve had and I’m enjoying it!  I feel like I stole it at $275!  Thanks Luis, I appreciate you!

Thanks for the input everyone!  I took long looks at everything suggested and learned about some new gear so Thank You!

Happy listening!!

Wow!  I’ve been listening to music this afternoon and my setup is finally starting to click really well.  I’ve never comprised a system that makes female vocals sound sooo sweet; talk about jaw hitting the floor.

I spent quite a bit of time yesterday and today cleaning and conditioning all the contact points in my entire system, including inside my amp and pre amp.  I also added a good amount of dynamat to the inside covers of the pre amp and amplifier.  I have never done this to a system before but Whoa, I absolutely cannot believe the difference.  I’ve never had a tweak do such improvements to the sound throughout the range.  I actually can’t believe that a bunch of deoxit and dynamat could do that much to the sound.  The highs and just shimmering now.  I’ve never had a system that was so detailed and revealing and yet it’s not bright or fatiguing.  

I am thoroughly impressed / happy with the setup!