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Integrated Tube Around $1000

Hello,

I'm deciding to dip into the tube world and I'm looking for a few suggestions. I love the warm tube sound but I don't want to break the bank or take up huge amounts of space with mono blocks and a pre-on the floor.

I plan to spend around $1000 US. I currently have a pair of Dynaudio A72 Floor standers and a pair of Totem Model One's. They are both in the 87-88db efficiency ball park. So I think I'll need a little juice to get them going but I suspect that 30-50watts should do the trick. My music room is in the small to medium area. I listen to everything and I do mean everything. From punk to Indian Classical and from lap top music to Jazz. Eventually I will probably go with a more efficient floorstander but I am hoping to use the integrated with the Totems or the Dynaudio's.

I'm thinking about the Jolida 202 with Mods by parts Connexion or maybe the Prima Luna One. I've heard the Jolida and been suitably impressed and I'd love to hear the Prima Luna.

Any suggestions? Should I think about used instead of new?

thanks

matthew
mcrosier
umn
65 posts
 
I have no experience with the Jolida or the Model One's.
FWIW, I run a Conrad Johnson MV-55 tube amp & a Creek OBH-12 passive preamp (with remote) with Totem Arro's. I normally listen at a measured 70db and I never turn the volume more than a third of the way up. My room size is 12x22x8. With careful shopping you may be able to get an MV-55 for $900 and the Creek for $200. Vince, the owner of Totem, suggested that I stick with my tube amp for the Arro's as it has great synergy. I think that the Conrad Johnson sound adds a nice roundness to the razor sharp sound of the Arro's. My 2 cents!
restock
831 posts
 
Ok, here's a short correction to what I said earlier. I lied. The Mission 751s I have are 89dB and 6Ohm (not as wrongly stated before 88db, 4Ohm). Still I found them fairly difficult to drive with a Linn LK 85 and Rega Mira I had previously. The Jolida 302 does a much better job than either one in terms of musicality and loudness.
rar1's avatar
rar1
1,765 posts
 
Hi Arthur;

The 85db that I was referring to with the AR 302 and the NHT SB2 speakers was their sensitivity ... as opposed to the resultant sound level that I am driving them at. I doubt that I am using more than a watt or so of the Prologue Two's power output, though. In HI FI Plus' review of the Prologue Two, it speaks a bit about how loud the amp plays.

Regards, Rich
mcrosier OP
61 posts
 
So it sounds like the Jolida 302 or 502 as well as the Prima Luna are the leading contenders. Has anyone been able to compare the Jolida vs. the Prima Luna?

According to the Totem web site, they suggest that 15 watts is a bare minimum for the Totem's and the Dynaudio site says that 25 watts is needed for the A72's. In time I plan to replace the Danes and go to a more sensitive floorstander. But I do plan to keep the Totem's. If they will work with the integrated Tube, than that just gives me more flexibility with the system. They are great with my Classe 100 mono blocks, but that's 200Watts of solid state. I don't listen to music loud, I found that with the mono blocks I got full sound out of the speakers at low volume. I'm hoping for something similar with tubes. But maybe 30 watts isn't enough, although it might be. Is there a floor where you can't go wrong? 40watts? 50watts? 60watts?

thanks

matthew
classic95
52 posts
 
I have Totem Model 1's and I recently hooked up my 30 watt RM-10 (from the 4 ohm taps) and it could NOT drive the Totems to ANY kind of reasonable level. As soon as I hooked it up it was pretty obvious that it wasn't going to work very well. I had planned on listening at least through the weekend and it didn't make it more than an hour or two. HTH.

Wes
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