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My last Integrated Amp: $5-10,000?

I would like to hear recommendations regarding integrated amplifiers costing between $5-10,000. This will be my last amplifier for quite a while. I prefer to buy used when I can but also prefer no older that 2-3 years.  My speakers are likely to change every couple of years and I may keep more than one pair.

I like a detailed and transparent sound with air and the ability to easily to pick out the location of the instruments/singers.   I have liked the class A that I’ve heard and I’ve liked the tubes that I’ve heard but I don’t want to mess with tubes.  Also, I do not want a streaming device and I’d rather not have a built in DAC but I can live with it. 

My music preferences are vocals and 70-90s rock. 
So far I have identified the following possibilities that are available.
Mark Levinson: No 585 at $8400 and ML-5805 at $6550.  The latter is a new model and I have read that there have been teething problems. I don’t know if ML have corrected this situation. 
Luxman L-590AXII $7250  has a good reputation and longevity but is relatively low powered.

McIntosh MA5300, Coda CISB, and Gryphon Diablo 120 are also possibilities if available.

chinook9
rdk777's avatar
rdk777
571 posts
 

Gryphon Diablo 300 if it's going to be your last integrated amp. I currently have one and it's a superb amp - will drive any speaker. The one on USAM will go soon if you don't jump on it.

soix
9,456 posts
 

I’d put more emphasis on reviews/reviewers who take the time and effort to compare a review sample to another competitive piece, otherwise the reviewer could just be listening to the reviewed product in a bubble and relying on longer-term auditory memory — that is horribly unreliable — to form their opinions and judgements. Read pretty much any TAS review and you’ll see they don’t compare review equipment to anything else and usually just gush over what a product does well as throw in a lightly-worded sentence or two of where it falls short.  And in many of their reviews they don’t even disclose any of the associated equipment currently in their system, and if they do they conveniently omit only the piece in the category of the review sample — WHAT??? Bunch of cowards desperately trying to avoid accountability or being pinned down on anything.  Worst of all, after I read one of their reviews I can’t say with any confidence I have a good idea of how the product really sounds. Stereophile, Soundstage!, and some others usually include product comparisons as a matter of course (I know Soundstage! requires relevant comparisons to be part of every review and for good reason) so they’d be worth seeking out more than others. Just my $0.02 FWIW, and best of luck in your search.

johncurcio
12 posts
 

you have to give the Cary AUDIO sl1-100 a shot. Have mine for a few months and you will get excellent sound

ghdprentice
6,950 posts
 

There are lots of great amps on the market. Review that are positive are good… but after that it is the character they talk about… detailed, fleshed out… The Absolute Sound, Strereophile and HiFi+ are really good a about describing the sound in generally accepted terminology that characterizes it… so you can figure out if it fits your preference. The trick is auditioning equipment they review… if you are calibrated  to the nomenclature… then you know what equipment you will like. 
 

I would buy an Audio Research VSI75 long before I would consider many others. The reviews and listening have shown me this brand shares my values in sound.

Pass, Rogue, Audio Research, McIntosh, Boulder are all very different. You need to find the company that speakers to your emotional center. Worth some auditioning.

mofojo
2,288 posts
 

Sorry if I missed it…. Is this new only?

 

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