Chuck, I've had the EA II's for about a 1.5 years now and love them. I've used Jeff Rowland's Concentra II integrated and the Jeff Rowland Model 112 solid state amps and thought each was a great match. About 1.5 months ago, I switched to the Cary SLI-80 tubed integrated amp and absolutely love the combo--as good as the JRDG solid state amps were, I now understand why many EA II fans say you have to use tubes! the Cary, with 40 wpc (triode) drives the EA II's fine (I also have a REL Strata III for the bass assistance). Good luck!
New amp for SF Electra Amator II
I am thinking about upgrading my Aragon 8008 that drives my Electra Amator II's, pretty inefficient speakers - I don't know what their impedance looks like. There are just too many times when I still hear noise instead of musical instruments.
I have a Cary SLP-98 preamp and listen mainly to vinyl. My favorite music is "spare" without a ton of different sound simultaneously, nor do I play it too loudly, except for when I do. Of course, I do listen to everything - orchestral, rock & roll, jazz, vocals, etc. But the my favorite stuff that I really want to shine are pieces like K Jarrett's Koln Concert/Arbour Zena, Trois Nocturne, Patsy Cline (with a great Scotch), Van Morrison, etc.
My price for something used would be under $2500. So my real question is do I want SS with power, like a Marsh 400 (which would be less than my top end price), or do I want a tube like CJ Premier 11a that has less power, but probably sounds more refined?
I have a powered sub to help the SF's out, btw.
Many thanks for any thoughts.
Chuck
I have a Cary SLP-98 preamp and listen mainly to vinyl. My favorite music is "spare" without a ton of different sound simultaneously, nor do I play it too loudly, except for when I do. Of course, I do listen to everything - orchestral, rock & roll, jazz, vocals, etc. But the my favorite stuff that I really want to shine are pieces like K Jarrett's Koln Concert/Arbour Zena, Trois Nocturne, Patsy Cline (with a great Scotch), Van Morrison, etc.
My price for something used would be under $2500. So my real question is do I want SS with power, like a Marsh 400 (which would be less than my top end price), or do I want a tube like CJ Premier 11a that has less power, but probably sounds more refined?
I have a powered sub to help the SF's out, btw.
Many thanks for any thoughts.
Chuck