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Which Amplifier for Sonus Faber Olympica 3 Speaker

I own a pair of SF Olympica 3 speakers and have narrowed my choices to 2 amplifiers. My tastes lean toward the warmer richer side of the fence. The Hegel 300 or 1 of the LFD amplifiers. On 1 hand the LFD is lower power but quite balanced. The Hegel is approximately the same price but has 250 wats of power plus a built-in DAC. My speakers rquire some power at 90DB efficient but its a 4 ohm load. I have heard the Hegel but with Magico speakers. It sounded good with nice detail and never tipped over the edge. The LFD is playing on my speakers now but drawing comparisons is difficult given different speakers. Any thoughts re these 2 amplifiers is most welcome.
frontier1
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
fortitudefive

Hi, $5k for an integrated, look at used Gryphon Diablo 120 or 300 or new Parasound Halo Integrated Hint 6 or even the older Halo Integrated which both have dacs in them. Both of these makes have bi-polar output stages and can come "close" to doing the doubling act down to 2ohms.

Cheers George
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samzx12
1,222 posts
 

@justmetoo if your friend couldn't get enough bass out of the MC452 there is something seriously wrong. I'm using a MC452 with great results on my Olympica 3s.  The O3 will actually play lower than 34hz. 

greywolf
33 posts
 

Update

Ended up with a Parasound Halo JC 5 amp, NAD M12 preamp, 2 Sonus Faber Gravis II subs. 

armyslowrdr's avatar
armyslowrdr
25 posts
 

I have Oly 1s and initially tried driving them with McIntosh tube amps (MC75 monoblocks). No go at all. Muddy undefined mids/lows. Enter a Marchand crossover, and a beefy Class D amp, and all is well. The 75s now drive solely the tweeters.

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