Vincent vs. Odyssey vs.? Power amp advice

1200 will by a nice version of the Stratos used (as will 800): Transferable 20 year warranty. Made in the USA. Owner available by phone. Lots of upgrade options. Sounds good.

Don't know the Vincent. How does it fare on the above list?

John

I've been impressed by the Nova as a great value but, yes, Maggies might benefit from more power. I found that my Silver Mono Quicksilvers (KT88, 90 watts) had more "guts" driving my old 1.6's than a 300 watt solidstate amp because ( I think) the A/B solidstate was easily driven out of the "A" class range (first 25 watts) and became harsh on top (class "B"). My 2 cents. These Quicksilver amps can be found for $1200 occasionally.

Thanks for your responses. I've recently stumbled upon some rave reviews of the Wyred4Sound stuff as well (just to complicate things further!)

I appreciate the help

Pduff,

I briefly had a Nova hooked up to my Magnepans, and it did not sound bad at all. I ended up getting a Peachtree iDecco (as preamp and DAC) and Emotiva UPA-2 for not much more than the Nova. I noticed a significant improvement with the Emotiva UPA-2 (which much more powerful) over the Nova as an amplifier. Based on my experience, a more powerful amp will make a noticeable improvement over the Nova. If you really want to stay low budget, the UPA-2 is great bang for the buck. However, if you looking to spend up to $1,200, you should be able to do better. You may want to check out audio asylum / planar asylum for amp recommendations. A number over there speak highly of the Wyred4Sound (although not all are fans of the Class D). One amp that gets favorable reviews over there, but is a little less off the radar than some of the more common recommendations (e.g., Pass, etc.) is the Parasound A21, which you might could find used close to $1,200.

By the way, I also have an Apple TV feeding my Peachtree iDecco, as well as a REL T3. :-)

Edge22,
Thanks for your note. I appreciate the first-hand account with (eerily) similar gear! I have been poring over a bunch of threads including several good write-ups on the Emotiva products. While I'm sure they would be a big step-up from the Nova, the Odyssey and Wyred4Sound are probably the front-runners right now and the Red Dragon stuff looks very interesting as well. While I would consider something used, there is definite appeal to buying brand new, especially if it's the right "something"

thanks!

If you go Odyssey, not a huge pressure to buy new: Klaus graciously supports his amps purchased used, and the reputed long break-in period means there might be initial advantage in SQ, going that way.

John