improvisato;272394 Wrote: > I'm looking to upgrade from my Denon DRA-275R. Just about anything > would be an upgrade, but I'd like to stick to around a $700-1000USD > budget for either an integrated amp or pre-amp/amp setup. Your > suggestions are welcome.
Most of the suggestions so far are fairly nice amps, BUT, looks like some were not paying any attention to your budget because most are hundreds to a thousand over your budget. Also beware of the watts game. Yes watts can be important, but available current is the real key with SS amps. NAD gives one a good bang for the buck when it comes to SS integrated amps with a realistic amount of watts with some true current to back it up. As an example, a 200-Watt Kenwood RCVR with 4 amps of available current is no match for a 80-watt NAD with 25 amps of available current. Much less the NAD C370 with 120W continuous into 8-ohm load with IHF dynamic power to 210 Watts into 8-ohm load. I paid $629 for mine NIB in 2002. They are around used (when you can find them) from $299 to $450 for a perfect one. If looking for new, try the 150W NAD C372 with its 150 Watts and IHF dynamic power to 220 Watts into 8-ohm load. Both are well in your price range and IMHO are what would be called starter HiFi. Another huge factor is knowing the efficiency of your DIY Speakers. If the crossovers are not first order, the DIY should be fairly efficient but not phase coherent. Additionally if the drivers are all mounted on the same front speaker face, the speaker will not be time aligned (which is my biggest problem with DIY speakers). If they are first order, get an amp with as much current as you can afford with the most amount of watts. My NAD drives a pair of Thiel Speakers that I would consider in the midrange as to efficiency. It does a wonderful job and has plenty of headroom and bass response for the size room the speakers and equipment are in. -- iPhone iPhone Last.FM http://www.lastfm.com/user/mePhone Media Room: Transporter, Vandersteen Quatro Signature, Ayre MX-R Mono Blocks, VTL TL-6.5 Signature Pre-Amp, VCC-5 Reference Center Channel, four VSM-1 Signatures, Runco 710, RAM Oppo DV970HD, VeraStarr 6.4SE Living Room: Squeezebox 3, Vandersteen Model 3A Signature, Two 2Wq subs, VCC-2, Two VSM-1, ADCOM GTP-870HD, Cinepro 3K6SE III Gold Bedroom: Squeezebox 3, Thiel 2.3, NAD C370 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ iPhone's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13622 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=31843 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
