Best amps for Totem hawks?? please help

Since bobrock's sound preference makes him think of Bryston and Krell as stale, I'm guessing that he would really prefer some bloom/body/tone, which from my experience he can get from Hawks by using an amp with a relatively low damping factor.

Bobrock's description of the Thule having "trouble" could actually be the amp having too much control, and not allowing the speakers to open-up enough for his sound preference. I bet if we could go over to bobrock's place with a Bryston 4B-SST (way more than enough power, way stable amp) we'd get the same listening impression from him of the amp having trouble.

Almost all vintage solid-state receivers from the late 60s, early 70s are going to have a low damping factor. If bobrock can find someone in his area with a high-quality, properly maintained high-end old receiver from that era, he could try out Rumadian's and my theory about damping factor with Hawks.

Maybe something like a Sony STR-6055, STR-7055, STR-7065; Sherwood S7900, S8900; late 60s/early 70s Marantz etc. But it would have to be something with sufficient power.

Interesting perspective - will be curious to see where this story ends up? Hopefully it is a happy ending:-)

Mcintosh is another brand I need to hear, I was told they are good at lowest impedance and Very musical.

Mcintosh integrated 6300 i think.

For tubes I could try Rogue tempest II or Jolida...Thats an interesting option.

Bob,

It looks like you're going in circles here. Time to find a good deal and take a chance! Garnering opinions from a group of audiophiles will just have you endlessly chasing your tail.

That said, I'd like to share some of mine on the gear you just listed. hah!

I owned the MA6300 integrate for awhile. It's a good piece and actually matches very well with Totem products, to include the Hawk. The MA6300 is a solid all-around piece. It's powerful,sounds polar opposite of Bryston,and is built to last longer than anything out there. However, is it the best thing money can buy at 4k? The short answer is no. At its price-point, including MSRP and used, you can do better for the dinero in terms of raw sonic performance. This isn't to say its a bad piece, its just an affordable way to step into the McIntosh culture.

As for Rogue and Jolida.. eh.. it's not in my nature to throw brands under the bus. After all, both Rogue and Jolida make a fine product and subsequently have a loyal following. However... I will say that provided you can live with 35wpc, the Vista Audio piece I mentioned above makes very quick work of them in terms of raw performance.

Anyways, enough of this. Pick something and go for it and after you've tried a few situations out - let us know how things went!