2. amps-preamps
  3. 139034-117516

Making a difficult decision

I am trying to decide between a peachtree nova 150 or a parasound 135 both are intergrated amps. The parasound has a lot of power and connectivity options. The peachtree has power and connectivity also but what worries me is in the reviews I have read the build quality and the power supply not discussed. The parasound weighs47# the peachtree is only 17# this concerns me some. I plan on using them to drive my Magnepan 1.7s. Any thoughts?
audiomaze
geek101
284 posts
 
@audiomaze, wrong comparison, nova150 working well for Paradigm is not the same as working well with your speaker. Paradigms are 92 dB / 89 dB and are stable at 8 ohm (if I remember right) very easy to drive and they have been like this for sometime. They driver based speakers. I have a pair of Paradigms studio 40 v3 version very easy to drive.

Do you know the lowest impedance level your speaker will go to?.

Check out Sanders amps , top notch and built for electrostatics : 
http://sanderssoundsystems.com/products/amplifiers/esl-mark-ii-amplifier
http://sanderssoundsystems.com/products/amplifiers/esl-mark-ii-amplifier

Try used market for such amp. You may be able to get something and have spare budget for an excellent tube preamp.
geek101
284 posts
 
You could also try this:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/rogue-audio-sphinx-integrated-amplifier

Measurements are good all the way to 200W @ 4 Ohm.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/rogue-audio-sphinx-integrated-amplifier-measurements
ridavher
9 posts
 
I've owned both the Peachtree Nova 150 and the Parasound HINT (Original - not the HINT 6).  To me, the Nova 150 felt like a toy in a lot of ways, though I felt it sounded great (when it was operating correctly).  I didn't like the volume control and I had several issues that Peachtree was very helpful with.  One unit had a high pitched sound with the analog input, the replacement had another issue, and the 3rd unit had a bad remote control or remote sensor.  1-2-3 strikes and your out, so I moved on to other options.  This was when the Nova 150 had just come out so I would expect that they have since cleaned up QA.  The Parasound was very nice but perhaps a little uninvolving or unexciting to me.  All in all, If I were forced to choose between the Peachtree and the Parasound, I would go with the Parasound based purely on my experience with the reliability.  The Rogue Audio Sphinx 2 mentioned above is a very nice integrated.  It's bare bones but sounds amazing.  I owned it as well, but decided to move to a more up-market integrated. 
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