I owned Olympics 3 with an Audio Research Reference 5SE preamp and Pass x350 for many years. Great combination. I know you don’t want to hear this. Although it was pretty much knocked down a notch when I traded the Pass for an Audio Research 160s. But the Audio Research preamp, is detailed spacious and very natural / musical… it communicated the musical core… fantastic preamp. I moved to a ARC Ref 6SE now… a bit better, but either are extrodinary preamps. I also moved up to Sonus Faber Amati Traditionsl speakers. If you want a really natural sounding high end system that sounds like music, you are well on your way. You can see my systems under my UserID.
Pre Amp suggestions for Sonus Faber Olympica III w/ x250.8
Looking for some opinions.
Apologies if you see this post on another forum/chat.
I just recently acquired Olympica III’s. As an amp I have the Pass Labs X250.8. So for me, the Speakers and amp are on the warm side. I have a Sugden Preamp LA4 (Im not a fan of the volume control, also lacking detail, and is on the warm side, it is however very musical) I want to sell and change to one of the following and looking for some opinions to those that might have come across and tested these with Olympica IIIs and similar warm type amp. Hopefully trying to go a bit more to the neutral/warm side with the preamp.
Also, other suggestions are welcomed, but please note, I’m looking for used and I’m in Canada, so availability is going to be another key option. Looking in the 4000$ USD range. Also, want to have 2 XLR inputs and HT bypass option.
First is the Simaudio 740p, I have many other simaudio products and love them. So this might be top on my list at the moment. McIntosh C49 or C53 Solid State, not sure if this is too warm? I see a lot of SF owners with McIntosh, so wondering if this would be a nice good match. Pass Labs XP12 (sadly xp22 is out of reach $ wise) , mostly because it will match my amp, but might be too much on the warm side? not sure.
Audio Research would have been on this list, but used, is sold extremely high here in Canada, also, I want to try to avoid tubes if possible.
The reason I would appreciate opinions on this, is because auditioning any of these combos is close to impossible, Olympica IIIs are no longer sold. The best I could maybe get close to is the Nova III, but pass labs is not sold here except for one store, that doesn’t have SF or any of the other pre amp brands. So mix matching will be very hard.
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@ghdprentice yeah, I wish I could, AR is very expensive over here on the used market, but I will keep an eye out for it. I hope to move up to Amati one day. |
SF Nova 3s and Mcintosh is really a good synergistic match. However, things changed dramatically for the better, when I went from the C47 pre-amp to the tubed C2600 (might be a little above your budget) with Gold Lion tubes. Everything just opened up wide and still managed to be quite detailed. Don't know if tubed would be too warm for your tastes. Good luck. |
I think you will be very happy with the sound profile of the SIMM, they make really nice sounding stuff. As an alternative, maybe take a look at the Hegel P30, mostly neutral and will work with HT. Mac & SF are often paired b/c they have the same distribution company but I would pass on that combo. Good luck and cheers. |