Marantz SA8260 Direct to Amp

Mikesinger, thank you for your recommendations, I'm looking into their availability.

To those of you whose experience was poor, running source direct: As rule of thumb, I understand, output impedance from the source should be below 300 Ohms, input impedance on the amp should be >50k Ohms and capacitance of the interconnects should be below 100pF/ft. Violating any of these measurements would cause high frequency roll off and mush bass. By any chance can anyone validate this by confirming that their components did NOT adhere to this rule of thumb???

Mikesinger,

You mentioned a 'midbass/bass suckout' when running a CDP directly to an amp. I assume this phenomena occurs even with players that have a variable output. You've obviously experienced this first hand. I wouldn't make sense to me that such a problem could be written off to a system mismatch.
So what causes this to happen. Naturally, if this occurs as a rule, people would avoid this arrangment. Could you offer any insight into why this happens?

Thanks,
S.Hebert

I would strongly recommend buying a good used Integrated Amplifier. You could easily buy a high-powered Integrated right here on Audiogon (or ebay) for around $1,500-, including models from Krell, Musical Fidelity, Classe, Plinius and others. Some of these models put out such excellent sound that it would take big, big money to better them with seperates. This is where you need to be with your budget and even quite a bit beyond in my opinion.

I agree with lars22. Your situation is begging for an integrated amp and there
are plenty of good ones to be had for under $1500 used. I don't think you
can do better in seperates (remember, with seperates you will need another
set of interconnects as well) at this price point. Go integrated.

Sorry, I just noticed that this thread was over one year old. Decision is
probably made huh?

Amplifiers can have a wide range of input impedance, ranging from a couple of k ohms to more than 100k ohms. A basic rule of thumb (for passives), is, that the upstream component's output impedance should be less than the input impedance of the component you are driving. If not, not only are you going to introduce higher frequency roll-off, you also may raise the distortion due to increased noise. The latter is probably the most cause for the flat/dry/lifeless result from improper impedance matching. The so-called micro dynamics suffer and you hear that (or not depending on how you perceive the problem).
Unless you like a binary approach to volume control (off or full on) connecting any source directly to an amplifer (assuming this amp has no gain control or whatever in the front end) will result in the amplfier applying its rated gain (typically 25 -30-ish dB) into whatever load. Not a really useful setup.

The 2.2 volts you refer to is the specified RMS output of your CD player.
Try a McCormack TLC-1 in buffered mode. These can be had for about 300-400, and are high performance line level controls. One of the few truly audiophile grade components out there at affordable prices.