Best integrated for PSB Imagine T2's

@OP,

I have the T2s and have played around with SS and tube integrateds.  I can't write much right now but I'll follow up tonight.  

By the way,  the bass from the Creek into the T2s is just so nice and tight.  I can make the curtains move if the speakers are closer to the wall. 

The Primaluna is my favorite though.

easola01, 

I have tried the Primaluna Dialogue HP Premium, Creek Evolution 100A, and PeachtreeNova 300.  

If you're open to tubes, I'd highly recommend the Primaluna.  It's a great match with the T2s.

I haven't gone up the the $5k mark on the solid state end. But I can tell you that the T2s put out the sonic character of the amp used.  I could see playing around with amps to no end.  

I thought the 300 watt Peachtree would be fun to get the T2s really moving.  I have to agree with others, you don't need as much power as you'd think.  All of the SS recommendations above are certainly worthy of your time and money.  

I'd be curious to hear the Luxman or the Bryston.  If you are open to tubes, I think you'll be very happy with the Primaluna.  And if you don't like it, they sell quickly used and keep their value.  

Tube rolling on the PL HP is not expensive in the preamp phase, but is in the amp section given the number of tubes.

Sure thing!

The T2s and the Creek were a great match.  The Creek digs to 170w at 4ohm and the first 25 w are class A.  It really did the trick.  I moved the Primaluna out for the hot Chicago summer months and went back and forth with the Creek and Peachtree. 

The Creek has such a nice spectrum of sound.  Nothing is bloated and the highs are simply airy without harshness.  I'd love to try the Creek up against many other SS integrateds because it has great PRAT and does everything well.  It is very smooth.  

The bass on the Creek into the T2s is really something.  I thoroughly enjoyed that.  

The Nova is a bit harder to pin down.  I don't know if the Class D stuff really takes more time to break in.  I like it now and all is good, but I don't think it sounds as good as the Creek or the PL. All of that said, the Peachtree is up and running and keeps me happy. When fall strikes, it'll move out and the PL back in.

I cannot comment on your phono preamp as I have not heard it. But the notion of a good phono pre brings up a good point.

The phono stage in my Creek Evo 100A is decent, but when I bought a Manley Chinook phono stage it changed everything for the better. In fact, I got the same advice from folks on these forums when I was looking to spot my weakest link. I’d have to go back to the thread that I started to see for sure, but I remember one guy passionately recommended upgrading from the Creek’s phono and keeping the Creek. I didn’t listen to that advice and started with the Primaluna upgrade and put the Creek on the bench.

What happened? Well I loved the Primaluna. But later when I did upgrade the phono to the Chinook I found, and can clearly say, that the Chinook made the biggest improvement. I can still enjoy the Primaluna OR the Creek with my Imagine T2s, but in either case it’s the Chinook that’s the true MVP. I would never have thought that because--to me, before--a phono stage was not a very sexy purchase. Amps and speakers was where it was at.

Now, to make matters more confusing...

The built in phono stage on the Nova300 is very good. It is actually better than the Creek.

The Nova300 is very good, and for folks who don’t want separates and want to use a one box solution it is very talented and super reasonably priced. So I want to be careful about saying one thing is clearly better than the other for all purposes.

Back to sonic signature...

The Creek does everything well and nothing poorly. It is well behaved and not harsh. It’s crisp and defined with really strong but fit (not bloated) bass. I can tell you that I was thinking of going McIntosh after the Creek. While I never tried Mac gear with the T2s, I did try it with Sonus Faber Olympicas and B&Ws--not apples to apples. Nonetheless, after hearing a $20K+ system, I thought the Creek and T2s were better to my ears in my room. The Creek Ruby DAC board (not cheap, $600) is really, really good. It holds its own with my NAD M51 DAC--a Stereophile A+ product. The NAD has more finesse and detail, but the Creek doesn’t misbehave and has superb creamy big sound.

The Nova300 is a bit hard to nail down. I don’t hear any grain in the high treble as Stereophile did in its review. [They played it through vintage horn speakers]. The Nova300 did seem to take a long time to break in. Sonically, I feel that it’s trying hard to present a cohesive sound smoothly. It’s very good and has gobs of power. Funny though that the 300w per channel into 4 ohms does not have more control over the T2s than the Creek at 170w at 4 ohms.

The Nova300 is a very, very nice amp at the price. It seems to cast a cohesive picture of the music in a concerted smooth way--at the cost of resolution shy of the Creek. The top, middle and bottom end are sort of blended together and, while this sounds seamless to me, I just like the character of the Creek more. Yet the Nova300 is a damn fine amp. I really, really need to hook the Nova300 up to my KEF LS50s to try that on for size. The reason is now obvious to me: synergy is important. The Creek and KEF LS50s sound great together, but I wonder of the Nova300 would be a better fit with the KEFs.

So after all this, we can tell I'm not the best reviewer in terms of describing stuff. Sometimes it just comes down to, "I like this one better." The best I can do on sonic signature of Creek EVO 100 v. Peachtree Nova300 is say it equates (in my mind with the PSB T2s) of a more high fidelity rig sound in the Creek versus a more common stereo sound in the Peachtree. The Creek is more sophisticated and better under the aural microscope (things are in the right place and delineated more clearly). But I’d be willing to bet the Peachtree would have killer synergy with some other speakers--not that it doesn’t sound good with the T2s.

And finally, I should say this. The Peachtree might best the Creek and the Primaluna with orchestra works in my system. This might be because some classical recordings present more of an aggregate picture as opposed to imaging detail. If the music is recorded to look like a class picture of 50 kids as opposed to a quintent of five friends, the Peachtree can shine as it has gobs of power. But the Primaluna and the Creek can show you that picture of five kids better, as they depict the intimacy of detail and mood better. I hope that makes sense!

You're welcome!  

I became curious to see if my aural memory was accurate.  I swapped in the Creek Evo 100 yesterday and listened for a good 3 hours.  The Creek is just clearer.  It's lens into the music is cleaner. The Nova300 is bigger in sound, but not sweeter or with as much resolution.

By the way,  it's actually a treat to swap out the PL for SS.  I'm so excited for fall weather to arrive in Chicago.  When it does, I'm getting a whole new sound for the Fall and Winter!

@easola01,

I have the Primaluna Dialogue Premium HP integrated feeding the T2s.  

It's plenty of power in my room--about 13 wide by 22 long by 9 high. I love it.  I have only 2 gripes with it and they are small.  1. When you power it up it defaults to ultralinear mode, which is not my preferred mode (I like triode more).  All you have to do is push a button so this is pretty neglible.  2.  The remote seems pretty directional, meaning it needs to generally be pointed in the direction of the unit as opposed to other remotes that seem to work from the next room. 

The HP version should be able to drive most speakers and it is great with the T2s.  Whether you will like it depends on personal taste. I love it into the T2s.  I do not, however, use it from June-September as it pumps out a good bit of heat.  I swap in the Creek or Peachtree for the summer months.  

I cannot say enough good about the HP version.  There are plenty of reviews online for you to read, which will be more succinct and eloquent that anything I can say.  One caveat--the HP is a tube rollers dream, but swapping out power tubes (there are 8) can get pricey quick.  That said, it's such a great amp to experiment with.  I wasn't planning on tube rolling yet that was a nice feature with the autobias.  Once I tried tube rolling out of curiousity I was hooked.  But that's not for everyone.   

Easola, any update on your research and decision?  Just curious!