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Suggestions for an amp

It has been suggested that I should look at a different amp to get the best sound out of my speakers. 
I have a Yamaha Aventage RX-A830. Front speakers are Monitor Audio Silver 8. 
I am mostly interested in something to provide the best sound while listening to music but also be decent for HT. I have an Orbit with a Grado Black 1 cartridge for vinyl. 
I am not looking at spending a ton of money and will definitely consider used (I am looking at several on this site). 
Many thanks!
128x128granburyspring
granburyspring's avatar
granburyspring OP
21 posts
 
Thanks everyone for the help. As caphill said, some of these may be a bit higher than I was thinking about. Since I am new to this level of equipment, I'd like to summarize what I think you are all educating me on:

One advantage of an integrated amp over an AVR is the absence of all the processing. With the integrated amp I will get a cleaner more accurate rendering of the recording. I would be able to connect it with my existing AVR when I want to use the Monitor Audio's in my surround system. Is this pretty accurate?

I am assuming the "pure direct" option on the AVR doesn't bring it anywhere near the level of the integrated amp option though Yamaha claims it bypasses all the various other sound options available on the AVR and the associated noises.

Here is where I still have some confusion. The manufacturer specs say the speakers are rated for 40 - 175 watts RMS @ 6 ohms.

Why wouldn't some of the lesser cost amps drive them well.
The Musical Fidelity M3si is rated at 85 wrms.
The Cambridge Audio Azur 840a V2 is at 120 wrms. I also looked at the Outlaw suggested earlier and a Cambridge Audio CXA60. These are all priced more comfortably for me and fit well within the range suggested by Monitor Audio.
I don't listen to my music terribly loud...what is the advantage of going to the much more powerful amps suggested?
Again, thanks for helping out a novice.
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

The suggestions for integrated are really if you have separate sources (such as a dedicated DAC and/or turntable).  In that situation, an integrated would do better because of the superior preamp in the integrated.

If you are going to use the Yamaha receiver as the source for all music listening, then an "Integrated" may not really help because the sound is still generated by the Yamaha receiver "DAC" and still goes through the Yamaha "preamp circuits".  If you are doing this, your best bet is to just get an external amp and connect it to the "preamp outputs" of the Yamaha receiver.

With an integrated, you are paying for both a "preamp" and an "amplifier".  A straight dedicated amplifier would be cheaper and allow you to focus on finding a more powerful amp.

The Cambride 850A integrated is a very nice integrated - maybe not quite as nice as Hegel, but a very refined sound.  And not as powerful as Hegel.  But like I said, if you still use the Yamaha receiver as your primary DAC/preamp, I would not bother getting an integrated.

The "Pure Direct" mode in receivers is somewhat more of a marketing thing.  It does bypass all the "processing" stages, which include EQ and crossover/bass management.  However, in the Yamaha receivers I have tested, it actually sound better with Pure Direct turned off.  I think it goes through one more set of preamps and create a fuller/smoother sound.  The "Pure Direct" mode was thin sounding and very sterile / solid-state sounding.  Just my opinion.

Soooooo. if you are going to still use the Yamaha receiver as DAC and preamp for all music listening, then start looking for a nice high current amplifier.   The Parasound A23 is nice, but a little light on brute force and will be on the warm side of neutral with soft high frequency response.  Something like my Emotiva's I mentioned above would be faster and higher resolution, or an Emotiva SA-250 on Audiogon.  Wyred 4 Sound SX500 if you want the clean Class D type sound.

Thoughts?

granburyspring's avatar
granburyspring OP
21 posts
 
My plan was to use the integrated to bypass the HT. 
I would be listening to vinyl and probably CD’s through the integrated and movies/cable with the HT. 
Even though the Hegel seems to be a very good deal at $1600...it is simply more than I planned on spending at this time. 
rmdtexas
12 posts
 
I've had good luck with Marantz 5012 using two channels per side to biamp a pair of Monitor Audio Silver RX-6s. Was surprised at how the second channel per side solidified the lower end.  Was worried the power supply was not up to the task
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

The Cambridge Audio Azur 840a V2 will likely do better than your Yamaha receiver.

There's a Krell S-300i integrated amp I would look at on usaudiomart for $899   (NOT the KAV-300i one -- that's older).  The Krell makes nice stuff.  The S-300i is 150 watts/channel.  It is likely this is the closest that we can come to the Hegel sound quality / sonic signature.

Cambridge CXA60 is too small for Monitor Silver speakers, in my opinion.  Sort of same with the M3si.


A NOTE: none of these integrateds will have a phono preamp built in, so you will have to get a separate phono preamp for your turntable, unless you already have one.  The only integrated I know of that does include a phono input is the Parasound Integrated, which typically goes for more than the Hegel anyways.

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