Plinius or Mark Levinson for Grand Pianos?

If you have a chance to audition an Edge M8 do so. It is 175 wpc x 2 and is a wonderful sounding amp. Smooth, detailed amd dynamic. They do come up used on Audiogon for $2500 - $3000 and are worth a look. I personally have an M8 and love it driving Energy Veritas 2.8's.

I am very happy with my Sa102 on my SF Cremonas , no need for more power, no need for 2 sa102, unless Cremona needs less power than Grandpianos, I don't think so.

What is your preamp ?
This is something you must check out first.

I am an ARC fan and I have owned the D-130. When compared to the ARC 100.2, the D-130 sounded lifeless. Either the 100.2 is really really good, or the D-130 is really lackluster. Just my two cents.....

magnepanmike

Well Kops I don't have a preamp at the moment and currently running the amp straight into my XA7ES CD player. Will get a preamp once I get the Plinius SA100MkIII. Yet to sort out that one. My room is pretty huge so I need the power but will soon place my system in a smaller room to eradicate the problem.

At least now I know I'm not the only one who felt that the ARC D130 sounded lifeless. That's good. Now I can expect some improvements in my upgrade. I've nothing against ARC and I do know the 100.2 is a great amp, but I wanted to try something different and furthermore the aesthetics of the Plinius is very appealing to me.

I have got the Plinius SA-100MkIII for my Grand Pianos. Despite running the amp cold in the first 30 minutes, I can verify that the Plinius is a huge step up from the ARC D130.

Jadem6 you are right I am very happy with the upgrade. Basically everything improved. The Grand Pianos are not too laid-back as I have thought of earlier -the ARC D130 is just purely lacklustre. (Please note that this is a comparison between the SA-100MkIII and the ARC D130)

The Plinius is very airy and dynamic. With the SA-100MkIII, dynamics and transient attack were improved by leaps and bounds. More detail at the top end and the bottom end was much firmer and full compared to the wooly bass of the ARC D130. Music sounded like music now, much more lively with a greater soundstage.

Bottom-line is that the Plinius is a much better amp than the ARC D130. Okay got to get back to my listening chair now since the system has more or less warmed up after more than an hour!