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Integrated amp for Totem Sttaff

Hello all. I am new to the site but have been ravenously reading reviews and posts the last few weeks. I am in the proccess of replacing my 20 year old Boston A 400's with the Sttafs....Now my dilemma.I am currently running a Denon 2106 and have found a helpful dealer selling...Naim, Creek, Sim, Cambridge, Arcam. I am seriously considering jumping in the deep end of the audio pool and get a new power source as well to match....My problem..The dealer is a 3 hr drive away so auditioning the Totems and the matching amps is possible, im hoping your experince may help me have a better starting point if im to drive that far....I know other brands are out there, but I dont have access to viewing them, let alone buying them. Im hoping $ 1,500 cdn will put me in a good spot to get the most from the Totems...Thanks in advance.
mxwizard
dmg
12 posts
 
I have recently bought Sttaf's on the Gon and am using the Cambridge 840a to drive them. When I upgrade I will consider both the Krell 400 and MF A5.For now I have, what for me, is a very full and pleasing sound.
lush
262 posts
 
Dmg,

The Staff and Krell would be a HORRIBLE combination. I know because I've used them together. No synergy what-so-ever. You'd be better off with a Naim 5i, SimAudio i-3...just my opinion.
audiobroke's avatar
audiobroke
51 posts
 
I recently hooked up a pair of Sttafs to the Creek Destiny Integrated and it was very nice. It's really as high end as anyone needs. May I also suggest the new Marantz PM-15S1GL Integrated. It's very nice and would be a good compliment to the Sttafs. Build quality is amazing too.
rumadian
152 posts
 
It's been a number of months since I've come back to the thread. First things first:

DMG. As Lush stated, Krell and Totem do not go together well at all.

MxWizard. I'm not positive if you're situation is... what amp you've ended up with or if you still even have your Totem's, but if you do - I made a recent discovery; the Vista Audio i-34. Man, this thing is absolutely unreal (on the both Sttaf and ML Vantages). I've got it next to two integrated amps in excess of $8000 and the i34 does not sound far outclassed at all. In fact, it's doing some things even they cannot do. Call it synergy, call it whatever, but for just under $1000 USD - it's stellar.
dmg
12 posts
 
I actually settled on the Cambridge 840A v2 after the dust settled from my initial transaction. It is nicely paired with my Sttaf's.
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