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Powering Totem Sttafs and Rainmakers

Hi all,

Just bought Totem Sttafs and Rainmakers (I like 4 stereo speakers in one room, I also like floor-standing speakers on stands so mid-range is ear-level). But my Integra stereo receiver under-compels Totems and anyway the 8 ohm Sttafs & 4ohm Rainmakers will kill the Integra in time. The Nad C375BEE would feed the power hungry Totems and drive down to 2-3 ohms but is it worthless without a Niles or similar switcher? I use an OPPO DVD as my CD player but soon will likely run all my audio / video from my laptop + Moon DAC. Are there tube pre’s and solid state amps that pair well with the Totems that I should consider? Or another integrated superior to the Nad for the Totems? What about cables? Thanks in advance. -Scott
scottmoshen

Showing 1 response by bdgregory

bdgregory
1,724 posts
 
I've powered my Sttafs with many different amps and they all worked well. You don't indicate a budget range, but staying in the neighborhood of the NAD there are a number of options. I like B&K amps - and if you want to power 2 sets of speakers a multichannel amp is an option. One of these would be quite nice. (I don't know the seller and have no interest in the sale).

Other options - Musical Fidelity A3cr, PS Audio HCA-2.

A Dared SL2000a preamp is one tube preamp worth considering in the presumed budget range, but only has 2 inputs. are great.Other Tube preamps I can think of will run $700+, but in the $700-1000 range there are probably some great choices (eg, TAD 150sig if you can find one). In Solid State - staying with B&K and PT-3 or PT-5 are great for the money.
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