Plinus 8200 MkII vs. Unico Nuovo with Totem

Thanks!  Done and done.  I'll look around for an outboard phono as time goes by no doubt.  

Get the MkII Plinius...sweet and powerful....I personally preferred an outboard phono preamp to the one in the Plinius ( an old, old ss Superphon preamp phono section).

if you avoid their lowest-rung output models, SIMAUDIO  will serve you just fine , even with the MANI-2s. the Mani-2’s 85 dB sensitivity is way below that of nearly all contemporary speakers -- They are not kit to be driven loud.

When I last remember seeing them, an upgrade to a full  SIM preamp / power combo ... (P8 / W7 ?) was the associated kit... More expensive but well worth it.

The integrated model number escapes me, but the SIM integrated mated to the Totem Model Ones sounded lovely each and every time I heard them.

If you go the SIMAUDIO  route, then adding in the SIM cdp and/or DAC is a good synergy step. You won't go wrong with an all-SIM system.... FWIW, because SIM and TOTEM are both in Montreal, they use each other's kit to voice their kit.

It looks like the Simaudio integrateds might be underpowered for the Model Ones and Mani 2's.  They do keep a 5 W reserve in class a and likely have more current,  but still on the edge without much headroom.  I had Plinius SA201paired with grunt hungry  Dynaudio Confidence 3's and it had plenty of juice.  The Plinius 8200 has a not so musical  pre section, but the Sim integrateds look a little underpowered unless you go to the 340 an that's still borderline...

Awesome advice.  I'd like a phono stage so I may go with the Plinius....Simaudio 250i

between these two choices  ... PLINIUS ... Full stop 

this has been one a TOTEM preferred pairing (along with SIMAUDIO and AYRE) at the AUDIO expos.

TOTEM's own discontinued heavyweight integrated amp ... The AMBER .... Was a joint effort with SIM based in SIMAUDIO's platform.

ive heard them all with TOTEMS ( I owned the ARROS and FORESTS simultaneously in a prior rig ) ... All three amp brands are very good with a  favouritism towards the  SIMAUDIO

IMO your takeaway:

- the more grunt you can get for TOTEMS ..., the better (WPC in isolation to a high current are meaningless ). All TOTEMS are grunt hungry gear and the MANI-2s and FORESTS especially are prominent offenders.

- NA brands easier to trade-in or sell privately IMO if you want an easy change later 

- NA brands are easier to fix if problems arise .

-SIM and AYRE have nice supporting source gear - synergy matters 

FWIW....