Integrated amp for Thiel 3.7's
I am sort off picking up where Thieliste, Jafant and others left off in the discussion thread about what electronics to use drive the Thiels. I was, and I suppose still am looking for a preamp to drive my pass labs 60.5 mono's, but in reading some of the posts I have also started considering simplifying my system and just going for a high end integrated. Part of the reason I am thinking about going in this new direction is that we may be moving- and this might be the right time to scale down.
I am not sure yet, but I have started thinking about it.
For preamplifiers I keep on toying with the idea of a PS audio BHK, Pass labs xp12, Simaudio 740p, or an Aesthetix Calypso Eclipse. One of these would replace my Prima Luna Dialogue Premium- as I have mentioned before I think I can probably get better detail, definition, and depth a preamp with a higher quality volume control (vs the Prima Luna blue velvet).
But maybe a high end integrated might actually do the trick as well- I cannot afford one of the new Uber integrateds but maybe some high quality used ones might work. I am budgeting under usd10k. By selling my other equipment I should be able to get to my budget with a relatively small additional investment (usd1-3k ?).
So I have been looking at Luxman 509x, Nelson Pass Int 250, Vitus RI-100 or RI-101....Diablo 300 would be out of my reach even used but maybe the 120, and maybe an ASR (the exclusive 2 would be so many boxes that it would defeat the whole purpose of consolidating the system- so maybe the 1?). On these last 2 I really have no idea about how much one gives up going with the lower models.
Ultimately my hope is that the list above will still get me further than where I am with my current set up.
Anyway, would be very interested in your thoughts as I look at this new angle for my system.