Dynaydio Temptation owners - what's you setup?

Boulder 2060 stereo amp, ARC Ref3 pramp, Esoteric X01 limited CD player. All run through Nordost Valhalla cabling. I also have a heavily treated dedicated room.

David Shapiro

I have heard the C2 and the Temptation. Both wonderful products. So is the Special 25, which I own. Before even considering upgrading speakers you should look at upgrading your source and amplification of your Special 25's. Though they may sound nice, you are only getting a fraction of what they are capable of with your current system. I don't think the power of amplification is nearly as important as quality, and I am of the source importance school of thought as well. I would look at shopping for electronics first, listen to the 25's as they develope and keep a mind to upgrade of speakers. I use the Belles Ref150A power amp with that in mind as I may go to the C2 in a few years and will then set them up as mono amps.

If your looking for better sound, I don't think that your speakers are the weak link. David.

I didn’t have the Temptations, but did have the C2s in my systems for about three years with the Mark Levinson 432 Amp and BAT 51se Pre amp with a VPI Super Scout Master / Titan cartridge and BAT VK-P10se phone amp. It did make great music. This combo made the C2s ready dance. I would love to heard your system Deshapiro it sounds like a winner.

Spectral DMA 360 monoblocks; Spectral DMC 30 SL preamp; Linn CD-12; Magnum Dynalab MD 102 tuner; PS Audio P500; All cable is current MIT reference and the room has dedicated 20 amp shielded power. With this set up I have listened to many high end speakers and IMHO the Temptations are the best I have heard and mine are piano black which makes the visually georgous as well.

Thanks guys.

I will have to admit I am more in the "speaker importance" school of thoughts. But for C2 or Temptation, upgrade electoincss seems inevitable. Choosing Amp and Pre-amp is the most difficult thing for me as there are so much more choices and the performance difference is not as easy to spot as in speakers, relatively speaking.

I've seen lots of recommendations here on Audiogon for Dynaudio like, Plinius, Sim Audio, etc. Without any audition on any of them, the following are good choices ?

Mark Levinson,
Plinius,
Sim,
Belles,
Pass Lab

Opinions?

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