Best bang for buck integrated amp for $500

I had Triangle Titus for many years. They did fine with most any amp but also liked a bit more power and current still to perform best. Most speakers do.

THing is some will prefer to hear the sound of their amps more than what speakers are capable of especially if a smaller tube amp like a SET. Not me. I want to max out performance. That usually means do NOT drive the amp any harder than necessary. That is the only way to know what a setup is capable of. If something else sounds better (also maxed out) similarly at that point, so be it.


Maxing out performance with a low power amp in most cases means the choice of speakers suited for that will be very limited and/or a powered sub is needed to fill in the low octaves and maybe offload work..


SO be it if so. Just know what you are getting into and why. It’s all good if one pays attention to the fundamentals. No amount of tweaking can max out performance if fundamentals are not addressed first.


You can easily find yourself in tweaking h-ll which some may actually consider heaven. Different strokes.

You know what I'm thinking is that the Rega IO it's probably going to sound better than my Cambridge 30 watts is 30 Watts I know it varies from amp to amp and it could play louder than it seems for 30 Watts but it ain't going to match the 85 Watts I got in my Cambridge I'm just thinking that 30 watts is going to be underpowered even for my little room I'm in.

And then there's the part where I don't know how well my speakers are going to match up with the io but I could tell you I've turned up the dial on my Cambridge quite a bit and they just scale so much better with power that's why I'm thinking the io is not going to have enough balls behind it.

I’m guessing the Rega will bring a clarity, openness, and toe tapping rhythm to your setup. Let us know how you go!

I can personally vouch for the Cambridge Audio AXR100.  It is actually the best integrated/amp I have ever owned.  I'm surprised at the low price; I believe it must have been designed so good by accident as people say it is better than Cambridge's more expensive amps.   I have it paired with Tekton Lores and the combination is other worldly.   You can find a lot of rave reviews on YouTube.

Best!

Well i got the Rega today and here are my first impressions. There is way more clarity, openness, loads more detail, more soundstage. Im am totally blown away buy the power, the kick this amp has, i mean im at 9 oclock and its blasting loud, the cambridge i had to go much higher, but it has 85 watts. The warmth of the cambridge is gone, the slaming bass of the cambridge is gone with the Rega.

I have to say im still checking it out, there 2 totally different sounds completly. I can say i miss the bass of the cambridge already, and that warmth. The Rega is so clear and defined and open, hmmmmmm tough call, need days of hearing both to decide, but its not a easy choice..  I was hoping the Rega would just destroy the cambridge and make it easy, but no.