My last Integrated Amp: $5-10,000?


I would like to hear recommendations regarding integrated amplifiers costing between $5-10,000. This will be my last amplifier for quite a while. I prefer to buy used when I can but also prefer no older that 2-3 years.  My speakers are likely to change every couple of years and I may keep more than one pair.

I like a detailed and transparent sound with air and the ability to easily to pick out the location of the instruments/singers.   I have liked the class A that I’ve heard and I’ve liked the tubes that I’ve heard but I don’t want to mess with tubes.  Also, I do not want a streaming device and I’d rather not have a built in DAC but I can live with it. 

My music preferences are vocals and 70-90s rock. 
So far I have identified the following possibilities that are available.
Mark Levinson: No 585 at $8400 and ML-5805 at $6550.  The latter is a new model and I have read that there have been teething problems. I don’t know if ML have corrected this situation. 
Luxman L-590AXII $7250  has a good reputation and longevity but is relatively low powered.

McIntosh MA5300, Coda CISB, and Gryphon Diablo 120 are also possibilities if available.

chinook9
Post removed 

Stick with,Mac or coda for longevity 

 

if I had the,coin, I would get a Mac, the ayre is nice also!

read a lot of reviews before the wallet opens!

 

i saved  up some good coin with family help, took me just over or under 4 1/2 years to save. Was not easy. I’m glad I had the strength to save, and for the nice lady going through a divorce , and helping me with total price for my monoblocs!

had 3 brands I was very interested in here on the gon, pass, McCormack and ……crap, forgot,…anyway, I think the one pair sold, so it was between the pass and McCormack’s, after luck that they didn’t sell, and reading the entire internet about pass and McCormack, I think the pass monos were 300 RMS, AND were in great shape, after many late nights reading, calling the factories, talking to two of my cousins, to get their thoughts, as this was a unheard purchase,  only the second time or maybe 3rd a blind purchase was made, so happy with the McCormack monos’ the,correct choice was made, as far as future upgrades. 
 

   I suppose I would have flaunted themPass amps more, but the correct decision was made!

as soon as I seen the truck pull to curb, I sprinted to help, as I’ve been disappointed on many occasions with the moron fed X and ups, bunch of disrespectful morons. Arrived in 3 boxes, so the lady was awesome at packing them! Unpacked, put on rug overnight as it was cold when they arrived.  
 

it was like Christmas when I woke up, put on the stands, wired everything up, double and triple checked all connections. After hum and static, it was fixed with better shielded cabling. 
she helped me so much, the LD-2 WAS IN my grasp, and scooped her up as well as the aging UDP-1. For a great price, ended up with a great system of top tier audio for an amazing price, all components are in like new cond. 

 

 damn, detailed it,,sorry.

 

 

  Mac, coda, is the way to go.

 

 Happy shopping!

Thank you to all of you who have made recommendations.  I have started reading reviews and checking to see what's available. 

The reading reviews part may be a bit easier than I thought.  I expect reviewers to say lots of nice things that don't generally help me, however, for a couple of these amps the reviewers just flat out state that its the best they ever heard.  It makes interpreting those reviews much easier.

Thanks again....but I expect I may be back asking for additional information.

Gryphon Diablo 300 if it's going to be your last integrated amp. I currently have one and it's a superb amp - will drive any speaker. The one on USAM will go soon if you don't jump on it.

I’d put more emphasis on reviews/reviewers who take the time and effort to compare a review sample to another competitive piece, otherwise the reviewer could just be listening to the reviewed product in a bubble and relying on longer-term auditory memory — that is horribly unreliable — to form their opinions and judgements. Read pretty much any TAS review and you’ll see they don’t compare review equipment to anything else and usually just gush over what a product does well as throw in a lightly-worded sentence or two of where it falls short.  And in many of their reviews they don’t even disclose any of the associated equipment currently in their system, and if they do they conveniently omit only the piece in the category of the review sample — WHAT??? Bunch of cowards desperately trying to avoid accountability or being pinned down on anything.  Worst of all, after I read one of their reviews I can’t say with any confidence I have a good idea of how the product really sounds. Stereophile, Soundstage!, and some others usually include product comparisons as a matter of course (I know Soundstage! requires relevant comparisons to be part of every review and for good reason) so they’d be worth seeking out more than others. Just my $0.02 FWIW, and best of luck in your search.