I have owned a pair of B&W DM5 speakers for about 25 years. I powered these with a Yamaha CR 1020 receiver amp. I loved those speakers. While not producing tons of bass, for the music I listen to (jazz, classical) they produced to me, a very balanced smooth sound. The Yamy amp died some time back and was not economic to repair. I bought a cheap Pioneer one and the demise in sound quality was huge - the bass in particular had no definition. I then bought a NAD 3020A amp which improved things but still not to the level of the Yamy. Recently, the DM 5's also died. I have replaced them with a pair of B&W CDM1SE's. These are very different to the DM5's. Extraordinary definition - particularly in the mids and highs - I am hearing things in favourite recordings that I never knew were there. The stereo imaging is also very good. They are however to me, not as balanced as the DM5's and overall not as pleasant to listen to. The bottom end seems "veiled" in some way - almost hidden behind a layer of highs and mids. I realise that these speakers are probably not geared for lots of bass - I'm not looking for that but I would love a bit more overall balance and tonality. I am wondering if they really need a better/different amp to perform at their best. As you can probably gather, I am not on a huge budget. I listen to a lot of music but generally prefer to put money into my music collection than the hardware. I think I have pretty good ears though and have been a semi pro musician for many years. I am considering a Chinese tube amp like a Yaqin 10LMC which for $500 would perhaps be a bigger step up than what I could achieve with a solid state amp in the same price range? I have basic electronic knowledge so could probably handle the extra work required with maintaining a tube amp. I would welcome any thoughts/opinions/advice.
