My advice would be to focus on choosing speakers first, and once you’ve done that you can effectively reduce your search/options for amplifiers to those that can drive them properly and synergize sonically. Trying to do both at the same time can be more confusing and even counterproductive. And whatever you’re looking for, always include in your posts here as much as you can about your sound preferences, budget, and room as that’ll help you get much better and more targeted recommendations for your specific tastes and needs. Just my $0.02 FWIW, and best of luck.
What tier do you consider Anthem integrated?
Anthem has an STR integrated amp with the ARC room correction. The integrated teams loaded with a lot of features such as built in room correction, stable into low ohms, big toroidal transformer, etc. Would a 15 year old Pass labs amp walk all over a 3 year old anthem? The Anthem is newer and has more features, Anthem is rated class A by Stereophile review, but Stereophile seems to only give amps with phono stages class A ratings, and the Pass labs doesn't have that. So what would you grab? An older Pass labs that may have age issues, or a newer amp with good reviews and room correction? Looking for best sound, not to impress people with brand names. Thanks.
Showing 3 responses by soix
I’d highly recommend the Joseph Audio RM22XL as they are small towers perfect for an apartment and sound sublime — I almost bought these myself. Here’s a nice pair and a great value at only $1075 and leaves you with a nice budget for an amp, etc. I notice a little darkening in the finish below where the grill ends from sun exposure, but if you can live with that these could be perfect for your tastes/situation… https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649958511-joseph-audio-rm22xl-in-maple/ Alternatively here’s another pair in black, but the seller is smoking something offering them for $2200 as they retailed for around $2500 so should be negotiable and sell for no more than $1500 IMHO… https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisb4a4h-joseph-audio-rm-22-xl-full-range I heard JA speakers at a show powered by Hegel electronics and the sound was excellent all around and very natural sounding — Jeff Joseph show demos are always stellar — so I’d look for something like a used Hegel H190 integrated you should be able to find for around $2800 used if you’re patient, and it also includes a good DAC that should be very serviceable until you wanna spring for a standalone unit. Hegel and JA both have a house sound so having heard that combo I’m confident you’d be very happy and impressed with this pairing given your tastes/needs. Anyway, just one option to ponder and best of luck. |
Most sell in the $3-4k range depending on condition. For future reference, you can go to hifishark.com and search for a component. You can see a list of all that are currently for sale across several sites, but you can also click the tab that’ll show you all past listings for items that already sold that will give you a good reference for a real-world price range. |