Finally upgrading my amp


My budget is $2500.

My system currently consists of a pair of B&W 630's, an old Denon 50 watt reciever (DRA-550) from the mid 80's,  and a Marantz 5004 cd player.  And a technics 1500c Turntable.

Is integrated the way to go with my budget?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

128x128jjbeason14

Showing 6 responses by immatthewj

For the life of me, I do not know what happens on this site when I try and fail to paste a link (I am not at all computer literate) but here is the other link I tryed to paste above:

 

. . . for " a few dollars more" ($3200) here is a EL84 based Luxman (less power) from MD, and it has a phono stage!

 

and for the SET experience (which I admit that although I am intrigued by it I have never experienced it) , again from MD, for about 3k, another Icon.

 

@jjbeason14 , if you love your current speakers (in this case your B&Ws) putting some better electronics in front of them will make you love them even more.

I have an ancient (30 year old) pair of B&W 805s (Matrix’s) and I have played around with the electronics in front of them a few times, and every time I have heard a difference.

I have never done integrated since way back in the late ’80s (rack system) but I would think for $2500 you could probably get a decent integrated, especially if you were willing to consider a preowned unit.

You also might takea look on Music Direct and plug in "integrated" into the search box (as I just did) and see if anything comes up in your price range that piques your interest.  The beauty of MD is that they have a 60 day audition period, but I am pretty sure you would have to pay for return shipping.

As I typed previously, I don't have any experience with the recent integrated gear, and I am pretty much a tube guy (and I do not see new tube stuff in the price range you listed) but here on MD is a "open box" Icon Audio integrated for about 2k.  I don't know anything about Icon, nor do I know anything about the B&W 630s, so 30 wpc might be a problem.  But tube wpc isn't quite the same as SS wpc, so I'd be kind of curious how that might work out (if your B&Ws aren't real hungry for wpc).

 

@jjbeason14  , I think this is actually the same integreated, but new, from MD for $2300; and looking at the specs section (which does not look the same when I click on "specs" of the "open box") it says it is 60 wpc, not 30 wpc.

 

I would buy a dog if you don't mind walking him every night.

No need to buy one, @emergingsoul  , the shelters are full of good dogs (and cats) available for a small adoption fee.