Musical Fidelity A5, Simaudio I-5 or Krell s300i

And I love the Simaudio I-5. I've owned both the standard version and the I-5 LE and it's one of the few pieces of gear I've ever owned that I can't find any fault with. It's a very neutral, sweet but powerful integrated with the best ergonomics I've encountered in a piece of audio equipment.

For Musical Fidelity, the A308 is a better choice than the A5. I've used Musical Fidelity for years, original X-series, A3, A308, and A5. Currently use the A308, as it has been the best so far. Although rated at less power than the A5, the A308 sounds more powerful, with much better sound quality. Check out the review at SoundStage, an absolutely perfect description of it's sound. They even comment that it outperforms the Tri-Vista in some areas.

Try the Yamaha AS2000. I have owned two of the 3 integrateds you are considering: The Simaudio I-5 and the Musical Fidelity A5.

On the Simaudio, I wanted to like this one, but ultimately gave up after numerous match-ups with various cables and even speakers of the expensive kind. It's all very subjective of course, but I found its sound somewhat lifeless with exagerated ''dry'' bass with a good thump factor but little actual definition. On acoustic bass, I like to hear (and feel) the strings, not just the ''thump''. I know a lot of folks like this integrated, and the build quality is ok for the price.

I did prefer the Musical Fidelity A5 when compared to the I-5. It has more authority, but, as in a previous MF A-300 I used to own, there is a certain brightness to the sound that I could not live with - But if you have less-dynamic speakers (like some B&W's) you could have a good match. But pair the A5 with highly revealing speakers - and listener fatigue comes in big time - it did for me.

I cannot speak for Krell, never owned Krell, and probably never will - it just doesn't call me.

NOW - if you don't mind being laughed at and snobbed at by your ''audiophile'' friends, I would suggest you give the amazing Yamaha AS 2000 a listen.

In my book, and for a LOT less money, it betters both the Simaudio I-5 (that's an easy one) and Musical Fidelity A5 in sound, and smokes them in features. It's not even close on the feature count. Don't let the fact that it has tone controls fool you - they work in a very subtle way and are of the microprocessor kind - suddenly with those, 50% of my cd collection became listenable again.

Do a search for this amplifier and read up on it - it is a very nice package, beautifully built, and sounds stunning, and not just for the price. It is the least expensive of my components in my system - it can be partnered with much higher priced gear - tha's how good it is.

One last suggestion, but in a totally different direction of course - The Naim Nait is of course another proverbial no-brainer, but that's a different story altogether!

Good luck!

I'm familiar with the Ayre. A local dealer *raves* about that piece, and I had written it off as its retail price tag is $3,500 (although I do see one here for $1950, and that guy's local to me). I've really only heard good things about it, but the stereophile review is less than glowing for some reason. At $1950, it's a little more than I wanted to spend - is it really that much of a significant upgrade to the aforementioned integrateds?

I read the A308 review and people do seem to like it better than the A5.

The Simaudio at 70wpc doesn't seem to me like it will drive my Vandy's to the level (or maybe at least in the bass control/volume) that I like. I'd hate to take a step backwards going from my 150W amp in terms of bass control/authority.

Wouldn't most depreciation have already occurred if I'm buying it at a decent used price here? If I can find the A308 for between 1,200 and $1,500 (not sure how much they usually go for used), wouldn't I be able to sell it for close to the same price in a few months/years? Seems like their stuff is popular and well reviewed, even if they do keep changing models faster than most. Am I wrong?

Also - do most people pay for the blue book feature here? I can see with even buying one piece it would be worth it.

I think you should be looking at current carrying level rather than watts in general.i dont want to open a can of worms without backing but thats what i have come to understand about amps.i do own the i5.3..its pretty powerfull for a 85 watt amp,if it comes up look at the lfd integrated,lots of thumbs up from what i hear and read.