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Requesting opinions about 4 specific amplifiers

Greetings Audiogon community,

I am requesting your input about four specific amplifiers in a particular price range and how they may, or may not, pair well with my Dynaudio Confidence 20 stand mount speakers.

My room is 20' x 16' and does have wall absorption treatment. I do not listen at high levels, typically in the 75 to mid 85 db territory. 

I currently own a Luxman L-509X integrated amplifier, which is probably the best integrated amp I have owned to date. However I am wondering if there is a better amp match for my Dynaudio Confidence 20 speakers, and so am considering moving to separates. My budget for the amp alone is in the preowned $4K to $5K range.

Here are amps I am asking for your input about ;

-Simaudio Moon 860A V1 (Dynaudio dealers seem to endorse Simaudio)

-Pass Labs X150.8

-PS Audio BHK Signature 250 stereo (PS Audio has dropped the price on new amps in their closeout sale)

-Parasound JC 5

I realize there are many, many, amp manufacturers, and that of course if I reach a bit higher I could consider Ayre, or Aesthetix, or Coda, all of which interest me, but seem to stay outside of my budget. 

I wish I could side-by-side compare or demo all of these amps, but unfortunately it is not possible. I am looking to your experience to help in any way possible.

Thank you!

 

jpipes
emergingsoul
1,132 posts
 

What's the sensitivity of the speakers you have? If I had to do it again I would pick a tube amplifier that can run on low wattage with speakers that are higher sensitivity. There are a lot of very high-quality tube amplifiers that use just a few tubes, operate with a lot less watts, which are worthy of a lot of attention. I have speakers that require a lot of power and I biamp with a McIntosh 901 and that's an ideal configuration.  

And if all else fails I would buy a puppy.

 

stuartk
2,769 posts
 

Too many unwanted puppies in the world, already.

Why support breeding more?

Adopt!!!

jpipes OP
28 posts
 

A bit of a delayed follow up to my original post...

Thank you all for your kindness and generosity to share your experiences and insight!

Sometimes things take a different route than anticipated. I was offered a generous trade-in opportunity for the Luxman L-509X from Dedicated Audio toward the purchase of a new, factory sealed, Hegel H600 integrated amp. This is Hegel's new top-of-the-line reference integrated amp. It pairs with my Dynaudio Confidence speakers really well.

I have been enjoying many albums for a couple of weeks now through it, and am very impressed. It is also allowing me to simplify my system a bit and sell my streamer and DAC due to it's outstanding built-in capabilities. 

So for now, I am sticking with an integrated amp.

So many choices and opportunities with this hobby, it's fun to try new things.

Thanks everyone!

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