Hegel H20 vs. PS Audio BHK Signature 250 Stereo

Sounds like a great decision. It’s nice to have a 2nd system to play with without having to go all in financially.

@ dmuson
          My initial impulse was to switch amps considering something newer could sound better and save me some space at the same time. The amp that first caught my eye was the Hegel H30 but I thought I could get away with lesser power so my post referred to the H20. Since then I´ve been informed that it is inferior in sound as well as power, something I haven´t been able to substantiate being unable to audition the Hegel line.
         Upon deciding that I was quite content with the sound at hand and realizing that saving space could leave me frustrated and unhappy with inferiorsound I abandoned the idea of replacing the JC1s. Instead I decided entertain myself by putting together another separate, allbeit much smaller system and leave the big rig alone as it is.
          So I went in a totally different direction and purchased the Mastersound 220, a SET integrated that uses 2 EL34 tubes per channel in parallel for 20w/channel and a pair of French 2 way minimonitors : Davis Olympia. Then hunted down some NOS Telefunken EL34s and Siemens E82CCs.  I guess that what I was missing was the expected excitement associated with putting together a new rig and the challenges in achieving some sort of synergy.
          But time passes and I can´t help thinking about how the German T+A PA3100 HV integrated would mate with my Dyn C4s but until I have that kind of spare cash (> 20 grand) I´ll have to stay anxiously put.    
          

Rost,  you have a well matched system as it sits. If I was in your shoes and simply switched to an Integrated I think it would be disappointing (In terms of sound quality), albeit a bit more tidy. It’s hard to take a step back. However, if you swapped speakers at the same time to something you’ve been curious about and swapped to an integrated at the same time I’d imagine it would be different, smaller and maybe exciting again. That’s how I would feel.

If you are now considering integrated, the Hegel h300 or h360 both come heartily recommended.
I have owned the h160 and the h300 and I do like the Hegel house sound and their very good control over my Wilson's in general. The onboard DAC are also quite superb imho.

Saying all that I have now moved onto a Lyngdorf 2170 and will have a hard time moving away as its room correction software has drastically changed my sq for the better.

after listening to different hi end setups using among others, Raidho, Rockport, Martin Logan, Reimyo, Gryphon, Wadia, things were just too hyper-realistic for my taste, (although the latest Reimyo solid state amp in spite of being mated with speakers not of my taste, did leave me thinking how to come up with the $$$) .
have not been able to hear either the PS or Hegel and after letting my rig cook continuously for a few days, I was quite content with what I had (dated and all) and ultimately lost the itch.
concerning downsizing, an integrated would be even more practical than a stereo amp as far as saving space but I´d hate to ditch the xp20.

So it sounds like no one has heard PS Audio? Rost, have you made a decision yet? I’m considering ps bhk monos vs Hegel H30 myself but don’t have local dealers. What does is your new space like? Thx

Dan

Owned the h20 ran it on a good num of loudspeakers it was always musical and its weakness would be that with some loudspeakers the bass has a bit over blown with most it just had great control over the woofers its a wonderful amplifier even off it was just right to look at it. But since you have a pass pre why not consider Pass? I've had great luck with pass gear though I did have one x250 output DC and trash a speaker but Nelson himself took care of me and I was made more than whole.

So jc1 by parasound or a Hegel h20 or h360? considering the speakers wouldn't need the 400+watts of the parasounds? I'm currently listening to some ultima salon v1 speakers and really liked what the h360 sounded like with them but have no way to audition the jc 1's without buying a pair.

I would also like to add that I did approximately 8 months of very hard research before I decided on the Perreaux. I was going back and forth between Class A/AB and Class D amps.  I was so close to actually purchasing a really good Class D mono amp when the dealer who sold them actually talked me out of it. This dealer was so honest that he just blew me away. He told me almost any Class AB amp will sound better in a high end 2 channel system and it's what I always believed anyway. So, as you might guess, I was after the high power because the speakers I own need it, and I wanted to get away from the high heat of Class A. The Perreaux fits the bill perfectly for me with it's cool running Class AB design. There's not to many stereo amps out there that puts out 600 watts into a 4 ohm load weighing in at 66 lbs and sounds this good with two pairs of speaker binding posts for easy bi-wiring,this is important to me, and sounds this good. You should check Perreaux out on their website, they have a lot of excellent products.

Your looking for a really great stereo amp ?  Why not look into the Perreaux Prisma 350 ?  I just bought a brand new one and it's fantastic. First 10 watts class A   350 Wpc & 600 Wpc  into 8 and 4 ohms.  The amp weighs 66 lbs and two pairs of speaker binding post per channel.  It's very hard to beat this amp sound wise at the price and it can drive pretty much any speaker.  Best of luck.

Sfall
I fully understand different amps using the same output devices can and will sound different, even when from the same maker. 
I´ve obviously not heard all Mosfet output amps but the ones I´ve listened to extensively (mainly from Pass, Class A and class AB) although enjoyable, striked me as colored. Not to knock Pass (my pre is the fabulous XP20 and their customer service is fantastic, as also is Parasounds.). 
Bipolars can seem less liquid but their control over the bass drivers on my Dynaudio C4s is a welcome asset presenting the music as an organic, integrel & coherent event and the lack of this control results in overbearing, undefined and out of control low frequencies.
Funny you should mention the Dreadnaught as this was on my short list before settling on the JC1s. I was actually after the Citadels at the time but could not afford them. As far as biamping with the Dreadnaught, not possible due to the Dyns having only one set of posts.
Thanks for your input.

" Leaning towards the output bipolars in the Hegel vs. the MOSFETS used in the BHK."

There is no bipolar vs mosfet. Listen to 10 bipolar amps and they sound different. Same thing for mosfet.

Try and find a Theta Dreadnought, series 1 or 2. It should easily sound better than the amps listed above. It's a multi channel amp, so you can use 4 channels and do a vertical biamp.