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
ccryder
Here is an unusual one. I run my EA II's with a Bel Canto Evo2 amp. It is fantastic. No grain, very detailed and musical. Once I heard them with this amp I sold my VTL tube amps. I kept the VTL pre of course. Try it.
Chuck hi
I have Sonus Faber Cremona and Plinius Sa102 amp, for over 1 month I am searching for preamp to match.
3 days ago I was shocked of how good the Cary Slp98 matched, the combo is from heaven.
So may I suggest Plinius, regarding the 6ohm speaker impedance I would suggest to find the Plinius sa50 or a 2nd hand 102 and forget about power amps upgrades for years !
Also consider Cary amps that will match perfectly with your preamp.
Keithr - now that I know that tubes are in play, the field opens up everywhere. Do you have the II's and/or the v12i? If so, what is your impression?
Fatparrot - thanks - or maybe not! Damn, I hate it when the answer slams the budget, but I am confident that the M-60's would be great. But finding them in my price range will take ... patience. I can't verify the impedience for the II's, but you obviously had good luck, and everyone I can find who have owned them, loved 'em.
One of the nice aspects of the EA II is it's relatively high impedance curve. I believe that this speaker never drops below 6 ohms. This makes it ideal for OTL tube amps. I had a pair that sounded really awesome with a pair of Atma-sphere M-60 Mk 2.2's. This should be enough power for a small to medium room, unless you really like to listen at very loud levels!
Rrsclyde: Beautiful! Thanks very much - this is what I had hoped would be the case. Happy listening.
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!