Integrated amp to replace a MF Nu-vista M3?

The unit (Passion) failed because of (and he say's this as clear as day) a mistake Sam Tellig made, inadvertantly thinking the amp was off, he touch the ends of two speaker leads. This is a fault of the Passion? Give me a break? You really have to be pushing that baby in the red zone to blow a fuse--as he probably was. He indicated that, as well. peace, warren

The Audio Research CA50 is a real sleeper among integrated tube amps. It is not in production any longer, but occasionally you can pick up one on Audiogon, and I guarantaee you that with the right equipment, it is an outstanding audiophile's delight! I have it in a system with the Arcam FMJ CD23 player, Silverline SR17 monitors, Acoustic Zen's Matrix II IC's and Satori speaker cables, with a Dedicated Audio Wattgate PDS power cord on the CD player, and dedicated power lines bringing the juice to Wattgate receptacles. I also cut the fixed power cord to the CA50 down to 12" and put a Wattgate plug on the end. I also use NOS 6922 driver tubes and KT88 power tubes instead of the stock tubes. This system sings! The CA50 produces a wide and deep soundstage with incredible definition and musical timbres. I have had systems that cost 5 times what I have in this one, but I've never enjoyed the music any more than with what I have now! It's a combination of all the component parts, but I can tell you that the CA50 is the heart of it!

Warrenh, the YBA Passion failed because the designer chose to not have any short circuit protection. In the manufacturer's comments to the review they mention that all the methods they tried degraded sound quality. Sam Tellig's review was overwhelmingly positive, but the fact is one unit failed and the other unit blew its fuses.

The unit blew a fuse because he listened to the amp at very high SPL... He even admitted that he was abusing of it... I would be curious to listen to the M3 and maximum SPL and see what kind of damage can happen!

As for the short circuit protection, who tell's you that other company's circuit protection doesn't affect the sound? As far as I'm concerned, nothing tells me that any other manifacturer's circuit protection doesn't affect the sound. Maybe they deceided on comprimising on the sound in order to deal with human stupidity...

YBA's quality and reliability has always been above average.

Best Regards

Maybe the YBA should carry a warning sticker stating that listening at high volume constitutes abuse and could result in damage to the amplifier. The Stereophile review didn't state the exact nature of the damage nor whether it required the unit to be sent back to France for repairs. At least the blown fuses was fixable by a trip to Radio Shack.