Need an integrated amplifire for totem forest

I don’t understand why people say the Forest requires a lot of power. I am running a Simaudio moon I-5 which drives the Forest to it’s respectable limits. I have tried larger power amps that “spec” out much more power than the I-5 yet the I-5 never seemed to be outclassed by the larger more expensive units.

I too have Forests, but I'm close to buying audiomat's Opera ($7000) or their new Recital $(15000). Any thoughts on this combination would be helpful. Pure class A packs a lot of power even at 30 w. The Recital has 90 w.

get yourself a musical fidelity tri vista integrated amp - it is an exceptional product, and a used one can be had on the 'gon for only $3500 or so. the delicacy of a tubed output in the pre amp, and 350 watts of muscle in the power amp. a flat out great product! i used one with my forests for about 18 months, and the sound quality was nothing short of spectacular. scary imaging and soundstage, and absolutely unbelievable bass from such a small speaker. feel free to contact me directly for more details. the forests with the tri vista integrated amp is the foundation of a wonderful stereo system.

I believe that Achakh means the integrated with tube pre portion and SS output portion i.e. hybrid.
A few brands come in my mind i.e. Counterpoint or Joule.
Pathos or Unico would be too underpowered.

If you can afford it, I'd go with the BAT VK-300x. If not, check out Unison or Audio Aero, but I'd worry a bit about lack of power.

The Almarro integrateds, esp. the 318, are highly undrerrated, I own one and am using it to drive a pair of single driver crossoverless Diatone based speakers, and they are wonderful. They use the same output tubes as the Lamm $30.K amps!
Good Luck.

BAT's VK-300x with 6922 or SuperTubes can be found for around $3000-3500.

It sounds like you want a hybrid amplifier (a two-in-one machine that combines pre- and power amplification stages in a common chassis, but with the pre- being tubed.) Is that correct?

It also sounds like you would like recommendations for a CD player as well to match your system. Is this correct?

Please let us know what your budget is. This will help narrow suggestions for both amp and cdp.

The Forests like power and I would suggest that you choose an amp with a decent amount of power. I have the Forests and have used them with an Arcam FMJ 32, but found this to be underpowered. The new Krell KAV 400 (200 wpc @ 8 ohms) does a fine job with powering the Forests, but this a fully SS unit. I now use the DK integrated (reported to be 160 wpc @ 8ohms) and like my current arrangement with an Arcam FMJ 23 cdp, although I am considering replacing the cdp. I have also heard the Forests with the BAT VK 300 and found this to a fine combination. The Forests also go well with some SS units that I have heard it with, including the Plinius 9200, which produces a more tube-like sound. Totem's own integrated is no longer produced, is HUGE, and I haven't seen many up for sale in the classified, but it does produce a nice sound (I believe it has 200 wpc @ 8 ohms??).

John

I guess I don't completely understand your question. Do you already have a tube preamp and want an amplifier to go with it? If so, you don't need an integrated amplifier (which already has the preamp section built-in). Or are you asking for a hybrid integrated?

Totem's own integrated amp (solid-state) sounds very, very good with the Forests. In fact, it's the best combination with the Forests that I've heard yet. For significantly less money, some of the Jolida integrateds sound great with them as well.

Give us a better understanding of your price range and we might be able to help you further.

Michael