Amplifier suggestions for EE Minimax/Soliloquy 6.3


Hi everyone!

I have been lurking here for awhile, but this is my first post. I am looking for a good amplifier to pair with my Soliloquy 6.3 speakers and Eastern Electric Minimax, as well as a Consonance Reference CD 2.2. I have about $1000 to spend, new or used. I listen to jazz and orchestra, and am looking for something fairly musical, and with good detail and seperation.

Here are some options that have crossed my mind:

McCormack DNA-125 (used)
Musical Fidelity A3.2 CR (new/demo)
Musical Fidelity A300 cr (used)
PS Audio HCA-2 (used)

The Minimax is a tubed preamp, but is fairly detailed. The Soliloquy's are a pretty neutral, efficient speaker at 89db/8ohms, so I don't need gobs of power. My room is 16x13. I used to power these with an old C-J MF-2100, but it is having trouble, and I will probably just get it fixed and sell it-there are better options available these days, it seems.

Any thoughts on my choices? Any others to recommend at this price point? The PS Audio seems like a well-regarded piece, but I always see them for sale, which makes me wonder. I haven't heard the MF stuff, but it is well-regarded, and well built. I did hear a McCormack in my system, and it was very nice-perhaps not as detailed as a CODA piece I had borrowed from a friend, but at less than 1/2 of the price, I wasn't expecting miracles. Thanks for your suggestions!

komaki
Look into something from the Odyssey line. I believe a new Khartago(110w) is in the $750 range and there's a used Stratos Extreme(150w) for sale right now for $1100. Do a search for Odyssey.
I have a Sugden Amplifier with my Soliloquy 5.3s. Works quite well it seems to me.

As a 3 month old demo, it cost 1000 even with the phono stage.
Hello,
I'm running the MinMax PreAmp through a Musical Fidelity A3cr. It is a nice sounding match. I can only assume that the Higher model Musical Fidelity Amps will be better.

Have you done any tube rolling? I'm new to this and this PreAmp really responds to tube changes
Hello, I went through the same "amp" search dilema and the winner was a MArsh A400 amp. The Amp came highly recommended to me by soliloquy's president David Bearman. BTW... The AMP also won the TAS golden ear award. My current set up has the Soliloquy 6.5's paired up with the Marsh amp, a musical fidelity pre, Bel canto Dac,Denon 2800 MKII transport and the results are wonderful.

The amp retails for 2300.00 but you should find one pre owned on A'gon for less then 1000.00. If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email.

Good luck
Monarchy SM 70 monoblocks... very sweet sounding class A amplifiers on the Sols. Or maybe a modified Teac A700 30 wpc amplifier. It uses two rechargeable 12 volt SLA batteries.I imagine it sounds more powerful than the specs suggest..should be 10 hours of playing time between charges. Musical Fidelity stuff is nice on the right speakers.It may be overly syrupy paired with a tubed preamp and the Sols.

Good luck!