Find an Ayre V-3, they go used for $1100 or so--sounds fantastic with Beethovens, I owned the combo for couple of years.
Amp for VA Beethoven
Currently my system consists of a Sunfire Cinema Grand, Anthem AVM-20, Vienna Acoustics Beethoven (Bach surround, Maestro center), REL Storm III etc.
I'm moving to a bigger place and figured I'd take a shot at a 7.1 setup (I have an extra set of Bachs) so I'll need another two channels of amplification for the Beethovens. Despite the 7.1 setup, 99.9% of the listening is stereo. I really enjoy these speakers and have no plans to replace them any time soon. A pre will be added eventually, but I'm in no rush for that either. The Beethovens are a very musical warm speaker, but I don't want them any warmer. For that reason, I'm looking for an amp that is not at all warm or laid back. Budget isn't my greatest concern, but I'm not looking to spend 50% the cost of this whole system either--something in the realm of the surrounding components would be nice. But most importantly, something that will provide a clear improvement over the Sunfire in the current setup and be worthwhile hanging on to when I add a preamp down the road. Thanks for the help.
I'm moving to a bigger place and figured I'd take a shot at a 7.1 setup (I have an extra set of Bachs) so I'll need another two channels of amplification for the Beethovens. Despite the 7.1 setup, 99.9% of the listening is stereo. I really enjoy these speakers and have no plans to replace them any time soon. A pre will be added eventually, but I'm in no rush for that either. The Beethovens are a very musical warm speaker, but I don't want them any warmer. For that reason, I'm looking for an amp that is not at all warm or laid back. Budget isn't my greatest concern, but I'm not looking to spend 50% the cost of this whole system either--something in the realm of the surrounding components would be nice. But most importantly, something that will provide a clear improvement over the Sunfire in the current setup and be worthwhile hanging on to when I add a preamp down the road. Thanks for the help.