Jungson or DK Design: good with Quad 989's?

IMHO, if you really want more dynamics than you can get out of a D400 you need to get new speakers, not new electronics. Lack of dynamics is inherrent in the design of the quads.

Now, if you really value midrange presense and body, as you say you do, you're not going to find it in any SS amps I have ever heard, with or without tube preamps, with my Quad 63's.

Frankly its hard to imagine anyone who cares enuf about the quality of sound reproduction to spend the loot to get Quad 989's to then want to use SS integrateds, of any quality level. But then, as Viridan implies, I doubt that is why you posted in the first place.

I'm going to disagree with Newbee. The Quads have outstanding dynamics. I've never heard a speaker that betters the Quad's ability to differentiate the various levels of loudness between very soft and very loud. What they don't do is go very, very loud and beyond. Also, why the slam on solid state integrateds? As the owner of such a beast I take offense. Not a lot of offense, but offense none the same. True, SS amps won't have the midrange papability that a good tube amp can possess, but then again those tube amps won't provide the bass slam that the SS amps deliver. Based upon what others have described, the hybrid DK may be just the ticket for those British electrostats.

To shill or not to shill, that is the question.

Onhwy61, I agree with you if you are using the term dynamics to mean "resolution". When I speak of a lack of dynamics with the Quads, what I'm referring to is a sense of compression, not its ability to differentiate between the gradiations between the softest and the loudest levels. With both my Quads and my dynamic speakers, in my room, with several different amps, when you compare the level of the softest sounds with the loudest sounds on music played at moderately loud levels, with the softest level being the same for both speakers, the dynamic speakers will always be slightly louder on the peaks. This is most apparent on loud large scale music. The Quad excels on lower volume levels where the dynamic speakers seem to have no life or ability to soundstage (I'm not speaking of my new Tylers however, which seems to be somewhat of an exception).

Sorry if I stepped on your toes re your SS integrated. I'm a tube-o-phile of long standing (never owned tube amps though until I got my Quads). The SS stuff I heard over my Quads, including some Threshold SA series amps with ARC tubes, although excellent, never made the Quads sing in the mid-range which is very important to me - as I indicated, thats why I got the Quads.....

Regarding your last sentence, since posting I found this same post on AA wherein the original poster has listed his system which includes an ARC Reference Pre-amp as well. He describes the sonic's as including warmth and lacking holography. He does not note a difficiency in dynamic's.

I would suggest to him that if he isn't getting holography its more likely a set up problem or an (unknown as yet) need for tube amplification, which would open up that mid range and high end, to go along with the rest of that great stuff that he has. FWIW it took me almost 6 months to fine tune my Quad/room/system setup.

I really doubt that he is a shill, even though this is his first post. I think he has a sonic problem with his system as set up and is looking for an easy solution. I just don't think these integrateds are his solution (with all due respect to your sensitivities).

Whoaa... Like a friend of mine used to say, "I feel like I just stepped in sumthin". I dont post very often, as I have a very busy work life and three kids, but shill? Shilling what?

Regarding tubes or nothing attitude. I respecfully submit that it really isn't on point. Newbee is evidently willing to make different sacrifices than I am. As I explained in my post, I dont really want to go to a tube output stage. Been there, done that, and I have decided to make different choices. I have been in this hobby since 1976 (when I bought my first ARC amp and preamp and MGII's), so I do not have to be told that silicon doesnt sound like glass.

Regarding it being an integrated, I do believe that at this juncture there is no reason why you cannot get sound that is just as excellent from one box as from two. I would evidence the EAR/Yoshino integrated that I had spent 10 satisfying years with.

So my question still stands. But please, offer experience or informed opinion. Please no presumption and no lectures--life is too short. Thanks for your replies, sogood and onhwy61.