What preamp for my Shahinians?

I think you'd be wiser to divide that 6K between a new amp and preamp. You could certainly do a lot better than that Rotel to drive your Shahinians. Maybe a BAT tubed pre and solid state power amp combo might be good. I'm sure others will have suggestions also, good luck.

Have to agree with Jond. 6k would get you some great gear.

Years ago I auditioned a Cary pre & the salesman had it hooked to some Cary amps. When he came back in the room after awhile & asked me how it sounded I told him it was fantastic but he was "cheating" by using the Cary amps-way better than the Adcom I had. He switched to a Rotel amp & the soundstage collapsed, the sweetness all but disappeared...what I'm getting at is the Shahinian's will sound way better on better electronics.

I had some Shahinian's about 20 years ago & thought they were great. Would love to hear some on my Pass/Ayre gear now.

Of course, it depends on what you are seeking, but based on what you said about the Hovland, have you considered the Placette Active line stage? I believe there's a used one still for sale on agon for $3500 or new at $5000. The detail, dynamics, transparency, and resolution are supposedly second to none.

And the fact that you have the Rotel amp, which is known to be a very nice amp, yet a bit on the warm/dark side of life, the Placette could be the perfect compliment.

-IMO

Perhaps worth mentioning here that Peter Thompson voices his Plinius designs with Diapasons. So a CD-LAD and maybe even a SA-250 would seem worth a listen.

Supratek Cortese

I bought my Diapasons a year ago and started to drive them with a McIntosh MA6500 integrated amp, already to good results. Later, I had the new McIntosh C 2200 tube preamp, which was excellent in giving more and preciser soundstage, more natural sounding voices, better defined pop music, you name it. After that, I compared it to a C42 and C200 preamp. The C200 is even better than the C 2200, especially if you do not listen only to classical music, but dynamic pop music as well.
At a dealer's premises, I compared the preamp part of my own MA6500, the C2200, and the C200, running them with the amplifier part of the MA6500, and with a MC352 power amp. I found that the differences between the preamps were much greater than between the power amps. So I bought a C200, and the results are amazing. Given the fact that the C2200 costs 4500 $, and the C200 $ 6000 or more, the 2200 certainly is the better bargain. You should already be able to find one on Audiogon, I think. The Macs and the Diapasons work excellently with LAT International interconnects and speaker cables.

The Shahinian website recommends solid state for these speakers and the Plinius in particular - Have you heard the Plinius 102 amp? It is 125 Watts but HIGH CURRENT, with some novel design characteristics that may make it more appealing than the bigger Plinius. I heard this amplifier and its companion pre driving Quad 989s. VERY impressive sound. Unfatiguing, detailed and musical with a deep, wide sound stage.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm currently investigating some of your responses.

I AGREE THE 102 PLINIUS IS AHECK OF A GOOD AMP,LIKE
THEY SAID PETER THOMPSON USE THOSE SPEAKER TO EVALUTE
GEAR, I ALSO HEARD THE 102, ITS 3 TIMES BETTER THAN
THE SA 100, remember the sa 100 is included, one that almost
redifine the class a category in stereophile.Try it
102 is worth to listen.

PLinius is great.Save money an buy bedini classic 200. This is peter's #1 amp.Check his web site.You will have to spend over $5000.00 to beat this amp!no advertisment no press. save your money and bye.

Supratek Cortese pre w/ Plinius or Pass SS amp, given your preferences.

Lucky one , you allready have, probably the best speakers on this planet, but to understand that you need to partner them with their ideal par.I have search a long time for satisfactory amp for my Shahinian Obelisks, and finaly i found -exactly that what Dick Shahinian recommends firstly- BEDINI, Classic 200- the best amp which i heard untill today, regardles of price.Its just the music flowing ,you can forget about sound ,and just listen to the music,exactly like it was recorded, good or bed , on any level you want ,it is so dynamic that you realy dont need to level up your volume to hear everything, but than if you want power and groove ,you have it,and how? Without any nastys and distorsions, perfect.Bedini have a pair of Diapasons in their fabric, to help them when developing their amps. Yoy said that you never found many differences between power amps, so then give a listen to Classic 200 , and tell us your experiences.Classic 200 is just 3500 USD retail ,you can find ex demo for about 2500, and you have still much money to find a good pre-amp , but beleive me ,your must, and first is Bedini Amp , he just made also Vintage 100/100 monoblocks( unbeliavable 1500 USD), and they say that it is sonicaly maby better than Classic 200.But i will go to Classic 200, you will not beleive to your ears, so like me (see my thread about Bedinis here on Audiogon). I have pre amp Korato - Anniversery model(valve ,three pieces): www.korato.com , which costs in Serbia arround 2000 USD, and plays very good with Classic 200.You can ask also Pearaudio (europian distributor for Bedini and Shahinian) about their pre amp which they make specialy for Bedini and Shahinians (1750 euro line ,and 2750 euro with phono), this is mine next Pre Amp, maby.Cables XLO Signature which i have in my all system are exellent match , and better than many other expensive ones.
I hope you will give me a listen, for your sake.

If anyone have a Bedini for sale please leave me a note.

Holzhauer,
From what i understand Richard Shahinian recommends Solid state electronics for his speakers.Hart Huschens of Audio Advancements is a friend of Richards and also is the US distributor for ESE labs.The ESE lab line stage may be just the ticket.I think it retails for about $3300.
I am very hesitant in suggesting products but these happen work very well together.
Best of luck in what ever you choose

I have owned Diapasons for many years and I have large experience with different pre and power amps. I used to have SA-102: excellent amp but you need two in monoblock to get right low extension from these speakers - exactly as Mr. Thompson and I believe Dick Shahinian do.

Before you go to preamp - make sure that these, may be the best in the world speakers are driven by proper amplifiers.

My choice was Spectron Musician III (standard) - about three years ago and at that time I did not knew John Ulrick. The amp, for these speakers, was so good and I fall in love with them that as it said in the old advertisement " I bought the factory"..

What higher compliment to this combo can I give????
Good Luck
Simon