Integrated amp for Eggleston Andra II

Sorry to be late in responding - but - I am using a Rowland Continuum 500 integrated amp on a pair of Eggleston Andra II speakers and the results are excellent. Clean, pure, good soundstaging, great depth, plenty of power (to say the least).

I am very pleased with this combination - the Andras and Rowland are in my "second system" - my main system is Avalon Eidolons with Spectral electronics - and I find nothing whatsoever to complain about with the Rowland integrated in comparison with the Spectral.

I have tried many, many integrated amps and prefer the Rowland over all. The last two I tried - Moon I-7 sounded wonderful but was a little underpowered for the Andra II speakers. The Gamut DI-150 was the most beautiful piece of stereo gear I've ever owned and sounded absolutely fantastic, but I sold it in favor of the Rowland because of its lack of a balance control. Seating in my makeshift listening room (for the second system) requires a slight shift in the left to right balance - otherwise, I would have kept the Gamut - although I am not sure it sounded any better than the Rowland.

You might consider Classe CA-M400 monoblocks. Very nice sound, lots of power (400watts@8 ohms, 800w @ 4ohms). Although they have a substantial class A bias, the are not too warm driving my power-hungry Magnepan MG-20's at substantial levels. A nice pair can be had for 6K on Audiogon. I run mine with a Herron VTSP-3 preamp, very sweet. Don't skimp on power cables.

Jprice,

Can you give me a brief comparison between the Rowland Continuum 500 and Gamut with the Andra IIs? I assume the Gamut probably sounds similar to your Spectral and the Rowland a bit warmer.

Thanks!

Possibly worth looking for a used ASR Emitter, 1 or 2, i would imagine it would fit what your after, does not sound like ss. You may not want to swap back even..

Knghifi,

Unfortunately, I had to sell the Gamut to get the funds to purchase the Rowland - and therefore never heard a direct comparison. And, since the Andras are "warmer" than the Eidolons which are driven by my Spectral gear, I really can't paint an accurate picture of the difference there either. Perhaps I should switch the amps around in my two systems. It would be easy to put the Rowland into the Eidolon system but more difficult to put the Spectral into the Eggleston because I would have to switch interconnects and speaker cables - due to the Spectral requirement for MIT only.

Based on what I know to be true about the Rowland vs the Gamut, I would expect your assumption about the Rowland being a little warmer to be valid, but having never heard a same-time direct comparison I can't really say definitively.

I do think that the Rowland does a better job than the Gamut on powering the Andras to their full potential on orchestral crescendos etc. because of its huge power reserve. Detailing, resolution, soundstaging, are all exemplary.

I am quite pleased with the Rowland.