A decent integrated amp under 2K ...


I'm looking for an INTEGRATED AMP. My speakers are Altec 620A (100 db efficiency) and my listening room is 14 x 21. I mainly listen to digital files from my DAC (Metrum) but sometimes I feel less lazy and put on a vinyl on my Garrard. I don't need a phono stage, I use the one from another integrated amplifier (Spendor D40). Here's my shortlist:

1) Belles Aria Integrated (slightly powerful for my needs)

2) Croft phono integrated (since I don't need a phono stage, I think it's a shame to burn tubes for nothing)

3) Rogue Sphinx V3 (too powerful for my needs)

FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS: I can live with tubes but only in the PREAMP section and I try to avoid Class A due to the heat. I'm open to Class D (proof: the Rogue) but the choice is limited and these devices come with a bunch of stuff I don't need. I rather spend my $ where it will make a difference.

regards

128x128alaindexe

@ditusa : I know about this class A/B thing ... I was talking about the class A section of the headphone which is - according to Schitt - 6 watts ... this doesn't seem much, but still I'm wary of the heat generated by class A ... BTW, it's not convincing to say that it heats up less than a 20 watts amp in class A since everyone knows that such an amp emits a LOT of heat ... I read the 52-pages pdf file with all the graphs and detailed specs but NOWHERE does Schitt mention standby consumption, idle consumption or give any other consumption figure, which seems suspicious for a company generating so many measurements for its devices ... You're right about one thing : the only way to know is to try it, but the problem is that I live in Canada and won't be able to take advantage of their trial offer because of the customs ... Finally, you wrote :

My speakers efficiency is 2.7% @ 8 Ohms.

I've been in this hobby for over 40 years and never saw such a measure... efficiency is always measured in decibels (db), usually with 1 watt at 1 meter (with a pink noise) ... regards... AL
 

@alaindexe,

Sorry for the confusion:

Ok, Efficiency and sensitivity are not the same. My speakers are JBL 4435 monitors and have a sensitivity of 96 dB SPL @ 1 watt @ 1 meter @ 8 Ohm their efficiency is 2.7%. See the JBL manual below specifications last page. As for idle current consumption for Schiit Ragnarok 2 I don't know what that figure is my guess maybe 75 watts quiescent. As for the difference between sensitivity and efficiency see the link below JBL technical note first page sec;c. Hope that helps. Mike

http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/specs/pro-speakers/1984-4430-35.htm

http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/reference/notes/tech1-3a.htm

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-efficiency.htm

@ditusa : Wow! these are amazing speakers you have ... a friend who has a recording studio has 4430 and they are awesome ... never heard the 4435 but I guess the extra 15 inch gives it better response in the bass ... Do you use them for monitoring or hi-fi listening? It seems that I learned something new today ... I always thought that efficiency was expressed in db but now I see that sensitivity and efficiency are different ... sorry for the mistake .. AL

A nice Jolida 302 tube amp would be good. Raven nighthawk or blackhawk would be winners.