Rogue versus Peachtree


Hello, all,

This is my first post. I highly value many posters' opinions in here, so I am soliciting some advice. I recently feel in love with and purchased some Magnepan 1.7s. They are so spectacular that I am considering upgrading my amp. I currently have a Rega Mira 3. It does nicely, but I have no DAC and no headphone jack. Some people would also consider it underpowered for driving the 1.7s. For cost, space, and WAF reasons, I'd like to avoid a ton of separates, so I am considering the following four options. I listen to a mix of vinyl and CDs ripped as AIFF files into iTunes on my iMac (then into an Airport Express, so I need something that will accept the AE's optical output). Opinions?

1. Peachtree Grand Integrated with a separate phono stage (Graham Slee or Rega).

2. Peachtree iNova with separate phono stage.

3. Rogue Cronus Magnum with separate DAC (Peachtree iDAC or Rega DAC).

4. Esoterica RZ-1.
zachzins
Those Emotivas and W4Ss are also ones I've considered. I'll have another look. I like Hotmailjbc's suggestion of demoing a powerful power amp to see if the extra juice is really worth the upgrade.
I'd eliminate the Peachtree Inova in that I doubt the amp has enough ooomph to make the Maggies sing at their best.
I am a Maggie and Peachtree Grand owner, so I figured I'd chime in with my setup. I have both Magnepan MMG's and 3.6R's in a HT setup with the Peachtree Grand Pre used 95% of the time for 2-channel listening and used in HT bypass mode for a little bit of BluRay playback or Netflix streaming. You didn't mention anything about HT use, but the Pre offers a few nice features in that regard (bypass and fixed-pre-outs).

I initially listened to Peachtree products by demoing a Nova with some 1.7s, and I was instantly hooked on both the tube-buffered Peachtree and bigger Maggies, leading to my 3.6 acquisition. The Nova was able to handle the 1.7s up to reasonable volumes, but it didn't have nearly the clarity and resolution of a separate high-current power amp feeding my 3.6s (and I don't think this is due solely to the 3.6s)

I just recently opted for the Grand Pre, because I finally realized just how much the Maggie's love tons of clean power, and I didn't want to be tied to a specific amp, especially when the Pre sounds so amazing. I've been through a few amps with the Maggies and finally settled on a Bryston 4BSST2. If you really want your Maggies to sing, I'd recommend a dedicated power amp. I can play so much louder with so much more detail without blowing my Maggie fuses than with any of the lesser amps I tried. I was worried that the integrated might fall into that 'lesser amp' category. Though you aren't playing loud most of the time with a toddler, a big clean powerful amp will be magical with the Maggies. And you can pick up a used Bryston with 15 years of warranty left for not much more than the price difference between Pre and Integrated.

But as for your list of 4 options, the Peachtree Grand will produce amazing results with the Maggies if they're fed enough power.

Also, I am doing something very similar with streaming via Airplay and Optical input on the Grand. I often use my Macbook Pro and iPhones to stream to an AppleTV I purchased solely for music streaming. When connected to the Grand via optical, the CD-ripped digital music played through the Apple TV produced the best digital streamed quality I have yet heard vs. playing the same CDs through my Primare CD31...A testament to both the Grand's DAC and analog implementation around it.
Have you made a purchase yet? Why not try a new or used Esoteric RZ-1.

I like mine.