Picking a Tube integrated amp


Hey all. Trying to figure out my amp situation and am looking at a few integrated to upgrade to. 

I currently have a McIntosh integrated and want to move to tubes. I have the vivid v1.5speakers and a Clearaudio Concept. Looking at the following:

—Primaluna Dialogue premium or HP.
—Audio Research VSi60
—Octave v40SE

Question...does the AR still hold up? It’s likely it will be a used model, but curious if it’s still competing with the others I listed. Any others to consider?  

Thanks!


 
128x128rubytuesday
Completely rebuilt Sansui 1000a. You’ll have 1100 into it and the sound is sublime. It blows my rogue away. The famous old Sansui iron is as good or better than today’s transformers. The level of detail and the amount of low end punch is stunning. 
I had the AR VSi60 and it was a very good amp. I used it with more sensitive speakers, but I think it would be enough to power your vivids. My one nitpick is that the gradation of volume steps at low levels was not fine enough and I struggled with listening at low levels. So late night listening or having music on in the background with people over was not great. But when the timing was right for me to kick up the volume a few notches, it was clear and detailed and yet magically tubey.

If it's in your budget, take a look at the AR VSi75. More power (and more control if you're listening at low levels) and an upgraded volume control that is much finer than its little brother. 

The amp sings. Plus, it's made here in the US and customer service is pretty solid. 
I recently traded in my Rogue M150’s and my Modwright KWA100SE for a pair of Primaluna HP Mono blocks. Also traded in my Modwright LS100 pre for the Dialogue Premmium Pre. I also spent a considerable amount of time listening to the HP integrated in Upscale’s room. Driving some Nola Viper R3 speakers. My system has never sounded this good by very wide margin. I have no doubt I didn’t need the extra power of the HP. The sound is amazing detail is great, sound stage and imagining much better than any previous amps I’ve owned. These things are dead quiet, the M150’s weren’t even close. I really liked my Rogue amps but they don’t compare to my ears and they burned through tubes pretty fast.

I was hesitant to go with PL since all the marketing sounds too good to be true. I am now a believer. I am looking forward to some tube rolling soon. The variety of tubes you can use is intriguing but, may be the one drawback of the amp. I could really spend a lot on trying different tubes!!

The integrated and the monoblocks/pre share many of the same components. I can’t imagine you would be disapointed.
Traded in my Cary sli80 for PL Dialogue HP and have never looked back. The KT 150's sound great in them. 
Far better than anything discussed above - Pathos Acoustics Inpol2 flagship integrated, pure class A, fully balanced.