Look at USAudiomart for a KRELL K-300i integrated. The ad may not be up yet but it one will show up.
My last Integrated Amp: $5-10,000?
I would like to hear recommendations regarding integrated amplifiers costing between $5-10,000. This will be my last amplifier for quite a while. I prefer to buy used when I can but also prefer no older that 2-3 years. My speakers are likely to change every couple of years and I may keep more than one pair.
I like a detailed and transparent sound with air and the ability to easily to pick out the location of the instruments/singers. I have liked the class A that I’ve heard and I’ve liked the tubes that I’ve heard but I don’t want to mess with tubes. Also, I do not want a streaming device and I’d rather not have a built in DAC but I can live with it.
My music preferences are vocals and 70-90s rock.
So far I have identified the following possibilities that are available.
Mark Levinson: No 585 at $8400 and ML-5805 at $6550. The latter is a new model and I have read that there have been teething problems. I don’t know if ML have corrected this situation.
Luxman L-590AXII $7250 has a good reputation and longevity but is relatively low powered.
McIntosh MA5300, Coda CISB, and Gryphon Diablo 120 are also possibilities if available.
Showing 3 responses by yyzsantabarbara
@chinook9 I owned and compared the CSiB from Sept 2020 (not as good as yours) with CODA #8, KRELL K-300i, KRELL Duo 175XD, Benchmark AHB2(s), Parasound A21+, D-Sonic something, NAD M22 V2, and LSA Voyager 350 GAN (modded) If you really want to get substantially better than the CSiB and stay with the slightly warm sound with grunt, you need to go to the CODA #16. That is a killer amp. I still have the AHB2 and KRELL 175XD which sound different than CODA amps. I may upgrade the 175XD to an upcoming KRELL amp.
|
If you want more of the class A smooth sound, then go with a KRELL K-300i over the CSiB. I owned both, including CSiB V1. I ended up with CODA and KRELL separates because I liked the K-300i and CSiB a lot.
I also thought the older ML 585 was better than the newer ML 5805. I think the DAC in the newer integrated maybe better than the old 585. |