THE Eternal dissatisfied

Oh and yes it must be used not new :)

might i suggest a passive preamp like the First Sound. Try different cables, try Cardas Golden Cross. Experimenting with cables may get the voicing you like without changing power amp. Personally I would stay away from Mark Levinson, sort of thin and bodyless although extremely revealing and'clean' sounding

In all honesty, the best sound I ever heard with your speakers was with the YBA components! You might want to hear some others before changing, you may chase away that upgrade bug!

In my opinion, stick with YBA. Jm Labs speakers sound great with YBA gear... If you want to upgrade, you could get a Passion Amp/Preamp (but much more expensive than you are willing to pay)...

Regards

Well, face it. Your a hobbyist. We hobbiest are never satisfied. There is always the 'bug to tinker' : )

While I don't know your equipment (except that it is very good by reputation) May I suggest some relatively inexpensive tweaks: cabling as suggested is obvious but might cost a bit more than you want to spend. On the other hand you can audition cable (www.fatwyre.com) at little or no cost and evaluate the changes in your system. Sometimes after tryign different cable you find that your system is fine unchanged and the upgrade bug is fed (for a while). Another area to explore: room tweaks. Joh Risch has written a lot about simple inexpensive tube traps which can be fun to make and highly effective. This also feeds the bug. You didn't mention anything about your equipment rack but it's amazing what resonance control of electical components can do for your system. This applies to CD players of course but even amplifiers benefit. This is the nice thing about our hobby; you can spend big or you can spend small and still have fun making audible improvements. So have fun!

The Ayre/Cardas "Irrational But Effacious" system-degaussing CD used on a monthly basis.

Contact cleaning: periodically (at least annually) all cables, connections & jacks including AC interfaces

cabling: upgrade both - your signal cables & AC cords

AC line conditioning

dedicated AC line with a quality AC outlet(s)

Vibration control: cones, footers, shelving, pods

room treatments: including but not limited to furnishings, wall rugs, drapery, specialized diffusers / traps, Room Lenz

I agree with Bob bundus. And That IBE disk really does make a difference. Pretty amazing....

KF

Joule Electra preamp - Electraglide or TG Audio HSR-A cord
Llano Designs amp - TG Audio HSRi or SLVR cord

nuff said

I agree that YBA gear matches beautifully with JM Lab Mini-Utopias. Both are ultra-clean and natural. It's the combo I've come to. But one of the biggest improvements I've ever made was to go from the YBA 2HCDT amp to the YBA 1 high current amp and to get the large seperate power supply for the YBA 1 preamp. The difference makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Buy used and the upgrade won't cost too much.

I agree with the upgrade to the yba-1 high current amp. You will get a big improvement in enjoyment as it only possible to get with a higher current more refined amplifier. If you would like to sell the yba pre amp I would most likely be interested. Let me know.

The Mini Utopias also really sing with the Rogue 120 monoblocks. By nature, I find the minies very articulate, but a bit too analytical. With the 120's you don't lose the resolution and you do get very good bass, but they take the "mechanical" edge off the minies.
It's a solid state lover's tube amp.

Buy a CAT pre-amp......ANY!
Ken Stevenson is the man!

Cary amps mate well with JM Labs. I heard the Minis with V12i and SLP98 pre, and it sounded very nice.

KeithR