Which amps for Monitor Audio Gold Reference 60's?

X,

I have MA Silver Series S10's as the mains in my home theater along with S2's as surrounds, and S-LCR center channel. Great speakers. Your 60's are awesome as well. I've listened to them many times with about 7 or 8 different amps. To my ears, the Odyssey Audio Strereo Stratos and Anthem MCA 20 sounded great. The Anthem is a great match with any of MA speakers, If you talk to Bruno at Kevro (Monitor Audio parent company) he can offer great advice as well. Other amps that sounded good with the 60's were Marantz, McCormack and Ayre. Musical Fidelity was way too bright and mechanical sounding with these speakers. Rotel was kinda dull and lifeless sounding. My 2 cents...

I owned the 60's and listened to them at a store with Classe amps and it sounded very good, better than the Rotel, B&K and Bryston amps I used them with. In my experience these speakers really open up with more power, so I wouldn't say an integrated is the best option. About 200 wpc of solid state gives you the best bass extension and slam, and using a tube preamp would likely tame any other harshness in the highs, and would give a little welcome midbass fullness as these speakers are a little lean there which accentuates their touch of brightness.

I've heard an Anthem MCA-50 with Monitor Audio GR-60's. It sounded good. The GR-60's will sound good with a lot of different amps, but they will really respond to high quality amplification. They are pretty efficient so a low powered amp can power them, but my personal feeling is that -- to get the most out of those speakers, you will want some juice to fill out and control the low end. Also, your speakers will sound different after you put about 300 hours on them -- the metal tweeter will mellow out. It's hard to give specific recommendations without a budget -- what's your budget?

Hi There,

Thanks for your responses! The budget is a bit of a dicey one since I need to see if my older, unused amps will be sold (I have an ad listed for my Electrocompaniet EC 4.5 preamp). Also it is pretty much useless giving you a budget since things cost very differently here than in the US or Europe (in other words, not just varying levels but also not in proportions). I do not think I will import an amp just yet as I would like to audition it before purchasing.

I have a few options for now. I was thinking of going for something either tube-based, or a solid-state amp with tube characteristics so as not to contribute to the slightly bright nature of the GR-60's. One of these I was thinking of which I can get at a very good price is the Electrocompaniet ECI-3. It's their integrated amp rated 70W per channel, but it has a lot of oomph and headroom and has a beautiful, tube like sound. I also really like it since if I use the preouts the amplification does not switch off, meaning I can look at getting a separate power amp later if need be and bi-amp the GR-60's which should provide some great control.

Other options include some of the Jolida amps (either integrated or power amps, and either tube or hybrid - any suggestions?). I am yet to audition them though.

It is quite difficult since I am limited in terms of availability of makes, and importing quite a few problems associated with it, one of which is the different voltage to the US (which seems to be the best market to look into).

Anyone tried the ECI-3? Anyone heard the Jolida's?

Thanks and Cheers,
X

Hi again,

Just some quick questions: in order to run the speakers in do I need to:

1. run them at normal listening levels or can it be lower?
2. how long can I run them in at a stretch for? 4hrs, 8hrs, 12hrs? I wouldn't really want to leave everything runnning for 40hrs straight, so just need a basic guideline recommendation if possible

Hi
I am having very good luck using a mc275 Mcintosh tube
amp with my gold reference 20. The amp is rated at 75
watts per chanel. Spk sounds very smooth mid and high
with very tight base. I was using a proceed amp2 before
this amp and they sounded very dry to me. Tubes seem
to match well.Hope this helps a little.