Definitely upgrade amplifier before anything else. You need a high current amplifier cos the Sasha’s impedance dips very low around 80 Hz. I stand corrected on 80 Hz.
AMP or Preamp
What to add next to my system, budget $5000 to $7000? My current system consist of Wilson Sasha speakers, Yamaha RX-A3050 receiver that I run pure direct, Rotel RB-1590 2x350 amp, Hegel DAC and a Bluesound Vault 2i streamer. I have been looking at a Mcintosh C2600 to replace the Yamaha receiver to give me the option of adding a turn table at a later date or would adding mono blocks give me the most bang for the bucks or other options?
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Upgrade the preamp first. Get the one that is better than the built-in preamp section of your Yamaha receiver. I think your Hegel DAC is probably good not sure I haven’t heard it before. Hegel generally makes good products. If you plan on keep using the Hegel DAC with a Bluesound Note streamer I suggest you look for a pure analog linestage preamp (no DAC). The McIntosh MC2600 preamp has built-in DAC. Your Rotel RB-1590 power amp is pretty good, and especially for its MSRP of $3k it is really good. I’ve heard this amp before driving the B&W 803 D3 speakers and was very satisfying. Also got plenty of power reserve on tap to drive just about power hungry speakers out there. It drove those B&W 803 D3 with ease and effortlessly. Of course there’s always room for improvements especially to pair with your Wilson Sasha speakers. But for now I would focus on upgrading your preamp and upstream electronics first before the power amp. |
Look for a used ARC linestage preamp preferably their Reference series preamps such as the ARC Ref 6 or Ref 10 if you can afford them cause these ARC Ref 6 & Ref 10 preamps (especially the Ref 10 pre) cost many times more than the Mac C2600 preamp. Then get the ARC Reference series amps or you can still keep using your Rotel RB-1590 power amp for now and then upgrade to the ARC Reference series amps later down the road. ARC (Audio Research) gears pair really well with Wilson Audio speakers. McIntosh gears don’t sound good on Wilson Sasha speakers. McIntosh gears sounded good on Sonus Faber speakers though. Those are pretty good pairings. The ARC Ref 6 or Ref 10 preamps will be a huge step up sonically from the McIntosh C2600 preamp. All ARC linestage preamps are pure analog linestage preamps (no DAC). |
I don’t believe the new ModWright KWH 225i is shipping yet but this might be something decent to hold you over in the meantime or use the rest of your cash to get a proper table. https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9fiei-modwright-kwi-200-stereo-integrated-amplifier-kwi200-remo... |
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