Integrated amp suggestion for Sonus Faber Olympica 2

I'm really hoping that someone who owns the Olympica 2's will chime in at some point.

@millercarbon I called Raven Audio a couple of days ago to inquire about the Blackhawk amp. Incidentally, Jim lives 15 miles from my house and graciously offered to demo the amp at his place. I'm planning to visit later this week or next.

@deon3 ... sorry somehow I completely skipped over your post. I have always heard good things about Ayre, although never had a chance to listen to it in person. The EX8 looks to be a great piece of equipment, although it comes with additional features - DAC, Streamer, that I don't need. But you had me looking at other integrated amps from the company that were previously not on my radar. Thanks for the suggestion.

@mrklas ... thank you for the suggestion. I'm definitely going to look into it. Your comparison with Sonnetto V is valid, but from what I understand, the Olympica's tend to dip to around 2ohms much more frequently than the Sonetto's, and that's why they are considered a bit more difficult to drive.

So I think some clarification is in order here ...

Before I bought the SF O2’s, I auditioned quite a number of speakers, including high efficiency ones like Klipsch Forte III, Devore O/96, Proac D48R, etc. I also auditioned Harbeth SHL5+, PMC (forgot the actual model), KEF Reference 1 (last year), and a few more. So it’s not that I don’t understand the pros and cons of low sensitivity speakers as @millercarbon seems to be assuming, although his input and guidance is very relevant and generally spot on. But for whatever reason, I never seem to warm up to the sound of high sensitivity speakers; there is something about them that I don’t get along with. Of course, this is a matter of personal preference and I’m sure many of you will disagree. Admittedly, I haven’t heard all the high sensitivity speakers under the sun, so I’m quite sure there are some that I might have liked. But as a general rule of thumb, I don’t buy speakers that I cannot audition. And of all the speakers that I auditioned, the Olympicas and Harbeth SHL5+ (I already own P3ers and love them), connected with me emotionally. In fact, I could have bought the Harbeths and be equally happy.

Having said that, if I had not heard the Olympica’s II driven by more expensive gear, I would have been perfectly fine with the Cronus Magnum II. In fact, I played around with positioning last night and already notice a substantial improvement. I’m also going to contact GIK next week to get some room treatments. So it’s not really a matter of not liking or enjoying the sound, it’s just that now I know that these speakers have much more to give and hence my original post. And I knew exactly what I was getting into when I bought the speakers.

@mesch Sorry I got really busy last week and couldn't visit Jim. Will probably setup an appointment later this week or next. I'll definitely share my experience, although it's kinda hard to determine how they would sound with my speakers, in my room.

@mesch  I have a feeling that you are probably right :(
I am actually going to listen to the Osprey when I get around to visiting his place.

Hi @mesch ... so I was able to visit James’ house yesterday. It was an interesting visit. First off, James is a gracious host, he took his time to answer all my questions and let me listen to music for a fairly long time. At no time I felt pressured to make a decision. His enthusiasm, passion and knowledge about his craft is commendable.

Having said that, there were a few reasons why I thought the experience was not enough to let me reach a definitive conclusion. First, he didn’t have the Blackhawk or Osprey at his house, so we ended up listening to one of the higher end amps from the Reflection series, I think it was around $14K. As per James, other than the power and chassis, the circuit topology is the same so the sound characteristics should be fairly similar between all their amps. I don’t know, but I’m somewhat skeptical about the claim, not that I have any reason to distrust his opinion. It would have been nice if I had a chance to listen to the Avian series (and I had mentioned about it explicitly before visiting). It will be too much of a leap of faith for me to purchase the Osprey based on my impressions of a much more expensive amp.

Secondly, we used their CeLest’ speakers for the demo. I think they are very competitive within their respective price bracket ($4000) - neutral, transparent, above average resolution, and well controlled base. The big surprise was how well they projected vocals. Reminded me of my Harbeths, which is a huge compliment! However, I felt they lacked just a bit in refinement and tonality which is important for me. I wish they had more higher end speakers for the demo to allow a customer to assess the full potential of the amp. But for $4000 a pair, these speakers definitely deliver the goods. I understand that comparing them to my more expensive Olympicas is not fair.

I was expecting to be blown away based on what I’ve read on the internet, but I wasn’t. The Reflection amp was certainly better than my Cronus Magnum II; it had a bigger (width and depth) soundstage, definitely a richer and fuller sound, but IMO not enough to justify the huge gap in price. To be fair, James has offered to inform me if he gets the Osprey at his house. I might take my Cronus to his house to do a direct comparison. Until then, please feel free to take my impressions with a grain of salt :)

And lastly, the trial period is not entirely risk free. There is of course the return shipment cost, but also a 7% restocking fee. Given all this, I will hold off and continue to search for other alternatives. Of course, if I ever get to hear the Osprey in person, and compare it directly with my Cronus Magnum, I might change my mind. But for now, the search continues.

@wlowe I ended up buying a Luxman 590AXII to pair with the Olympica 2s. This pairing is fantastic - Luxman had no trouble driving the Olympicas. I was surprised how much more and better high end extension as well as bass was available from the speakers. I also tried the speakers with the Audio Research GSI75 which was also quite good but the bass was loose and flabby. 

I eventually replaced the Olympica 2s with Harbeth SHL5+ which I find more suitable for my taste. But both are excellent in their own way 

If the choice is between McIntosh and Luxman, I’ll pick the latter without hesitation.