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2000-2500 USD budget for an integrated amplifier. Do amplifiers sound the same? :)

Hey guys!

My first post here! Great community here!

I recently bought a pair of Klipsch Forte III and I’m thinking about upgrading my current budget amplifier Cambridge CXA60. My budget is around 2500 USD. I hope you guys can give me a few insights. Cheers!


Current setup:

  • Macbook Pro
  • Network streamer + DAC: Chord Mojo + Poly
  • Amplifier: Cambridge CXA60 (60 watt)
  • Speakers: Klipsch Forte III, 99db sensitivity
  • Subwoofer: Klipsch R-115SW
  • The room is pretty small: 4*6 meters (roughly 13*19 ft) but very well acoustically treated (I covered all the power corners with GIK acoustics bass Tritraps and Soffit + complete acoustic treatment on early reflection points

The Cambridge amp sounds nice with the Fortes but I feel like I’m missing out on something. I don’t know what "something" actually, since I haven’t paired the Fortes with anything yet but the Cambridge.

So the crucial question is: should I upgrade?

I’ve been considering integrated amps like the Rotel RA 1592 and the Peachtree nova300.

I know that it’s kind of an overkill to drive the Forte III with respectively 200 watts (Rotel) and 300 watts (Peachtree).

However knowing myself, I might upgrade the whole system (speakers included) in like 4-5 years or so. And it might be nice to have a capable high powered amp around (with lots of power headroom) so I won’t need to spend further capital again on a new amplifier in a few years.

On the other hand, I feel like I’m wasting quite a bit of money buying a powerful integrated amplifier right now. At the end of the day the Cambridge CXA60’s got 60 watt and it is more than sufficient to drive the Forte III.

This leads to another thing that’s bugging me… The sound quality of an amplifier! People like Ethan Wiener argue in a very convincing way that when compared evenly, the sonic differences between amplifiers operated below clipping are below the audible threshold of human hearing.

This guy summarized this view here:

https://jakekuyser.wordpress.com/2016/05/23/do-hi-fi-amplifiers-sound-alike/


Furthermore I’ll most probably have Sonarworks room digital EQ correction toggled on all the time to remove all the equipment unwanted colorations. These colorations might sound nice, but I’m more of a "I want to hear what the artist intended" type of a listener.

(((To me Sonarworks was an eye opener when I first used it to calibrate my Sennheiser HD800.

https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/home-page/2017/8/24/headphone-shootout-sennheiser-hd800-vs-hd800s

It made me think about the extreme amount of the self delusion nature in the audiophile community. Many audiophiles rave about the alleged flat response of the HD800 when there are indisputable peaks at 5,5kHz and 11kHz, plus very very weak bass. Without correction they’re almost annoying to me and they definitely do not deliver what the artist/sound engineers intended. However, these cans are very often just described as extremely revealing, clinical, unforgiving… which eventually led to the claim that the HD800 is picky regarding the amp…)))

Questions:

  1. So considering that I’ll most probably have Sonarworks room digital EQ correction toggled on all the time to remove all the equipment unwanted colorations, do you guys still think that I might be able to get a "better" sound by upgrading the Cambridge to a more powerful amp, like the the Rotel RA 1592 and the Peachtree nova300?
  2. Is it worth to spend 2000-2500 USD more for this? Or should I use this money for a better DAC or a network streamer?

Sorry guys for this long post!

Cheers,

Egoq


egoquaero
vinylfan62
119 posts
 
I’ve used several Klipsch horn designs. They sound best with tubes or quality class A solid state. If you can try one of those I’m positive it will erase the idea that amps don’t matter. And before you do that please pull those horns out and cover the back of them with some dynamat or other damping material. It’s very simple yet transformative. I can’t understand why manufacturers don’t do this to keep the horn from ringing. It takes that little edge off the sound that keeps many people away from horns. You may find that you don’t need an amp change at all. 
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samzx12
1,220 posts
 
Low to mid watt tube integrated amp. Choices are many but Primaluna, Rogue and Raven Blackhawk should be on the shortlist.  Just my 2 cents because Klipsch are a relatively simple load.  
rinaldoberra's avatar
rinaldoberra
25 posts
 
I agree with Primaluna integrated wonderful for the price
jbhiller's avatar
jbhiller
1,399 posts
 
Eric Squires is right again!

I don’t think all this theory is helping you OP. You seem to be spending effort making an argument.  You may want to try listening to different amps with the Fortes. 

I’ve had the Fortes for nearly a year and I listen about 20 hours a week give it take. I’m not telling you what amp to get or what you’ll like. What I am saying is your speaker sounds different with different amps and does things differently with them. 

I think it is nearly undisputed that the only way to know is to try things out.  I’m no way an expert but one thing I know like audio gospel truth is one must explore in order to discover. Some are talking theories when you need to be talking sound. 

If budget and future proof are a are a top priority I would caution against trying to get this right on the first go. I’d start with a used SS or tube amp in some palatable price—e.g. $750.  
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
I have several thoughts on this discussion, but one thing stood out for me:

He's got a set of studio monitors but often we need to check our work on this Klipsch Forte III hifi system.

You are saying that you use this system as sort of a "mastering reference' for recording and mixing.  I would keep in mind that the Klipsch speakers are very excellent and sound very "live" and "lively", however the horn drivers are very forgiving and soft in the high frequencies.  This means they are not as clean/clear or as ruthlessly revealing as other speakers.  This may not be what you want if you are "checking the master mix".  You really want to make sure your mix sounds good on an extremely revealing system as well as a budget low end system (at least that's the goal, right?).

That being said, if you switch out the speakers, you may find that the Cambridge will sound rather solid-state and sterile in comparison to what you heard with the Klipsch horn speakers.  So, it may come down to replacing both the speaker and the amp.  It depends on how important the "enjoyment" of the system is to you.  Or if you are just using it as a "tool for master mix check".  Or, you may end up liking the Cambridge just fine with new speakers.  I would also agree that tube amp is not the answer as tubes will generally be even slower and warmer sounding than solid state.  As a listener, the combo with Klipsch may be very nice to listen to, but keep in mind that tubes can also be very colored sounding and will not be as revealing as solid-state.
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