Finally upgrading my amp


My budget is $2500.

My system currently consists of a pair of B&W 630's, an old Denon 50 watt reciever (DRA-550) from the mid 80's,  and a Marantz 5004 cd player.  And a technics 1500c Turntable.

Is integrated the way to go with my budget?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

128x128jjbeason14

@jjbeason14 , if you love your current speakers (in this case your B&Ws) putting some better electronics in front of them will make you love them even more.

I have an ancient (30 year old) pair of B&W 805s (Matrix’s) and I have played around with the electronics in front of them a few times, and every time I have heard a difference.

I have never done integrated since way back in the late ’80s (rack system) but I would think for $2500 you could probably get a decent integrated, especially if you were willing to consider a preowned unit.

Awhile back  I brought my B&W's to a HI FI store and the sales person said they sounded alot better than he expected.

 

HTH

There are so many good options out there both used and new, are you near any dealers? Getting out and listening to some gear is the best thing you can do.

You also might takea look on Music Direct and plug in "integrated" into the search box (as I just did) and see if anything comes up in your price range that piques your interest.  The beauty of MD is that they have a 60 day audition period, but I am pretty sure you would have to pay for return shipping.

As I typed previously, I don't have any experience with the recent integrated gear, and I am pretty much a tube guy (and I do not see new tube stuff in the price range you listed) but here on MD is a "open box" Icon Audio integrated for about 2k.  I don't know anything about Icon, nor do I know anything about the B&W 630s, so 30 wpc might be a problem.  But tube wpc isn't quite the same as SS wpc, so I'd be kind of curious how that might work out (if your B&Ws aren't real hungry for wpc).