The Parasound Halo JC5 does it for me with both low level and powerful complex loud classical crescendo's with an iron fist grip and a playful nature between the two speakers with 3d imaging . Ivan Fisher's Mahler's 2nd from Channel Classics is my go to for my ultimate test of my system after any additions.
For classical music lovers best amp for large orchestral forces?
I recently upgraded my pre to an arc ref 6se. Currently using pas xa25. It's a very good amp but I'm noticing a fair amount of compression when playing large symphonic works. My speakers are Dalis and they are excellent as is the arc.
For smaller forces, chamber, piano and voices the system works beautifully. But if I'm looking for more transparency and a deeper sound stage for symphonies I find sometimes a boxy cramped sound. Looking to spend around 8k or less either tube or solid state. There have been discussions about the xa25 and what's better but they fill up immediately with tangents of philosophical and technical discussions of how one hears. I'm looking for as many possibilities of actual units that I can read about and possibly hear.
Thanks for your ideas.