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Finally stepping into the hobby after 30 years of watching from the sidelines

Ok, so I hope you are all ok with a longwinded post from a first time user of the forum.  I have been obsessed with vinyl and tubes since my dad played records for me as a 5 year old.  My wife and I are finally in a place that we can take the leap into the scene.  We want to grow our system over time and may even create 2-3 systems along the way as we have a bed and breakfast where we want to make analog part of the theme. 

We have made up our mind that our first speakers will be Vandersteen 2CE sigs.  That is about as far as we have gotten.  We definitely want to power them with tubes and have very little idea of where to start.  Obviously the mainstream option would be a Mcintosh mc275 and our local HiFi salesman would LOVE to sell us a pair of those.  However, we know that there are several cheeper/better options out there and would love some input from the board.  We'd like to keep the first amp under $3,000, but we aren't locked into that.  Keep in mind that we are ok starting with a single amp and then adding a second one along the way to mono them.  Also, we would love some help with a table/arm/cartridge!  One with an integrated phono stage is fine to start with and we would again be open to upgrading and adding a stand alone phono stage later on.  

We will be doing some electrical work soon to run a 40 amp fuse to the BnBs espresso machine and would be open to setting up a dedicated line for our main system at that time so that we can have clean power.  Has any one had any experience with this?  Any ideas or recommendations that you may have would be a big help here! 

Thank you all in advance, and we are really excited to finally be part of the scene! 
128x128cottguy
cottguy's avatar
cottguy OP
56 posts
 
@inna, Not at all :-) We've had a busy couple of days with guests and honestly, I needed to step back for a few days and let some info and ideas sink in.  I've committed to not buying anything till after RMAF.  There are going to be several companies there with gear that we're interested in and I think it's best to audition as much as we can in our price range since we have an amazing 3 day long opportunity.  I have a lot of info to sift through, as you all have some awesome ideas that have got me thinking...  
I'll try to reply to all of the posts tomorrow :-)
inna
7,296 posts
 
If there is Ypsilon/Lansche room there - stay away from it as far as possible because after you hear that sound you won't want anything less, anything else. Absolare/Rockport is great too but very different - avoid. Lamm and Gryphon amps - big no-no as well.
terry9
2,353 posts
 
The trouble with Magneplanars is that they are so damned fast and accurate that they leave subs far behind. The combination blurs the sound from C3 on down. Magneplanars alone are better (and cheaper). IMO.

I have had good luck driving Magneplanars with Bryston (SS) amps - they sound good, are indestructible, and have a 20 year warrantee. And no tubes to replace. That would absolutely sing in a big room.

Why, you might wonder, do we need such big panels? Because you can't expect to get a realistic piano sound, with its 20 square foot soundboard, from 2 square feet of speaker. Again, IMO.

cottguy's avatar
cottguy OP
56 posts
 
I have nothing against Maggies, just not my thing.  

I've been doing a lot of looking at some higher efficiency speakers and also what amps I'd be interested in pairing with them.  So far, this is what I have found and am considering:
Audio Space Reference 3.1 300B 
Trafomatic Experience Elegance 
Ampsandsound Casablancas (not integrated) 
Line Magnetic 518IA
Elliott Studio Arts 66-001 (not integrated)
AUDION STERLING STEREO KT88 (not integrated)
Ayon Scorpio 
Serious Stereo 2A3
Primaluna Dialogue HP
VAC (something used)

Obviously each of these amps has it's own strengths and matching them to the speaker choice is key.  

These are some of the better reviewed amps in my price range.  However, Serious Stereo, Ampsandsound, and Elliott Studio Arts are not the easiest amps to dig info up on.  I really like the idea of an American made product, but I'm not sure how they would stand up to the other brands?  Seeing as they are not widely reviewed and info is scarce, it would be hard to consider them seriously at this point unless, any one has info on them?   

A few of these options exceed our price range, but that's not to say that we might go over a bit if we find exactly what fits us.  Hopefully a good chunk of the these companies will be represented at RMAF.  

I wish the audio fest was this weekend...this is torture :-)
facten
2,882 posts
 
cottguy,

I have not personally listened to Raven Audio tube  amps, but given your interest in possibly buying American (Texas design & mfg)you might check them out . Seem to get good reviews
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