Are you dead set on separates? A McIntosh integrated would match up very well with your speakers. Some believe that the Mc integrated amps easily compete with separates. Plus you save yourself the expense of another power cable and pair of interconnects. I love my Mc integrated and if you can find a MA8000 for under $5000(and I think you can), you may not ever want for more. My two cents, good luck. |
http://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649271492-prima-luna-dialogue-premium-hp-amplifier/ http://www.primaluna-usa.com/dialogue-premium-preamplifier http://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649271492-prima-luna-dialogue-premium-hp-amplifier/ http://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649301483-prima-luna-dialogue-three-preamplifier/ There are many reviews on the Primaluna Dialogue Premium equipment. You may want to do some reading; a lot of the Dialogue Premium separates are rated class A by Stereophile and on the buy list for The Absolute Sound and other recommended buy reviews. Of the PL equipment I have owned, I have been pleased with the value. Prologue PL3, PL5, PL2, PL7(s), PL8. My Primary system is Merlin / Filarmonia, which one of the sources is the PL8 CDP. I have sold everything else but the PL3 and PL5 (shelfed for now). Next system will most likely include the PL HP and Dialogue Premium Pre. If you wait, you will eventually find a Dialogue Premium Pre on the used market. If the price is reasonable, they sell in short time. If your looking for solid state you may want to research the The Odyssey Audio Khartago or Stratos. The online reviews may help you find a pre that works well. Also the above used Dialogue 3 may be a good fit, but I haven't done the research to determine if that is a fact. http://www.odysseyaudio.com/ Weinhart Design sells both the B&W and the PL equipment. He / They may be able to provide some info, of course keep in mind, they are a retailer. He should be helpful with things like describing the differences between the Dialogue 3 and The Dialogue Premium Pre-amp http://www.weinhartdesign.com (310) 472-8880 Although I have concluded (for myself) that the PL equipment is a high value / sound quality equipment, I am not presenting the above referenced equipment as the absolute; there is a lot of good equipment being manufactured now days, and I am sure before too long you will be receiving many responses to your post and many of them good recommendations. Good luck Brad |
Go for 2 Parasound A21 amps, run them in stereo each but use only 1 channel of each. For a preamp, go with a passive Goldpoint level control. Each A21 has about 10-12 watts of class A power before switching to AB. Use some Canare star quad speaker cable, very inexpensive but out easily outperforms anything store bought. |
Odyssey Khartago and Stratos Amps, Plus versions, mono or stereo, also Belles Ref 350a. Rowland Capri v1 and Pass XP-10 preamps. Have not heard the Odyssey preamps. I liked recent Nuprime gear but have not heard their amp and pre in your price range. I do not like the A21, but this is simply personal preference, many great choices at your price point. |
Nemisis1218, Bradf's suggestions on used Prima Luna gear is a great option. A line stage and amp for UNDER your budget that easily will compete with 10k+ combos. You can recoup investment in the the event you don't care for a tube setup. Unless your tastes are for truly exotic or USA made, a good investment. Add speakers,source etc of equal quality used, and you may have a 20k retail setup for considerably less I would jump on those listings if I were shopping. PL Dialogue HP user here. |
McCormack gear is very nice and is a great way to go IF you like the McCormack sound. One has to figure that out for oneself. I've owned quite a few pieces of Steve's equipment over the years. SMcAudio upgraded my DNA-.5 and my DAC-1. The DAC-1 became the Ultra Edition and I enjoyed that Ultra for several years. Great sound and at the time I was hooked! Prior to that, I bought a used Gold Edition DNA-1 and a Rev B+ DNA-1 here on Agon. The B+ was the best of them all for my tastes. It produced multidimensional, full bodied, musical sound that still exhibited the high level of transparency and resolution that this equipment is famous for. I used the amps with TLC-1 Deluxe and/or RLD-1 preamps. Later on down the road, Steve took my 2nd beloved DNA .5 to Gold Special Plus. He put StillPoints under the main control board, installed the largest Nichicon Gold Tune output caps possible for loads of capacitance, Jupiter copper foil caps in the power supply, and several other special upgrades they may not have been offered to everyone. The team at SMcAudio were such a pleasure to work with! They were all very knowledgeable, friendly, helpful gentlemen and I'll always be grateful for the good work. When all was said and done, my personal listening preferences leaned towards a more full bodied presentation of the tunes. Not knocking it folks, it's great sounding stuff. My personal take is that it is in the high resolution and transparency camp and it's all a matter of taste in this hobby. |
+1 for the odysseys. The Candela hybrid pre is very smooth and detailed and a pair of Khartago Extreme monoblocks will still keep within your budget. Factory direct and extremely clean/ solid build have them playing way over their price point. Also Klaus and the guys are incredibly accessible and helpful; great product support. Even if your not the 1st owner. Lou |
I have b&w 803N and I'm running a Primaluna Dialogue HP. List is around $4k, so it's within budget. You don't find them used very often, because people don't tend to part with them. If you don't have a local dealer, I can recommend someone. PM me. I think it's an awesome match. As an integrated, you save the extra interconnects as mentioned above. I highly recommend the pairing! |
