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Amp for Revel Ultima Studio 2s

I currently am driving my Revel Studio 2s with a Simaudio Moon Evolution i-7 integrated but am looking to move to a more powerful pre/power amp combination. I only have room for a stereo amp (I don't have room for 2 monoblock amps). My audio cabinet (recently custom made) can also only accommodate an amp 20" or less in depth and 9.5" in height (although less height is ideally needed for the amp to breathe - the space in the cabinet is only 10" high).

I'm considering moving up in the Simaudio line to a P7 or P8 pre-amp plus a W8 amp. Other option is McIntosh MC452 amp and a Mac pre-amp or Mark Levinson 532H amp and a ML pre-amp (or a mix of the Mac/ML gear). Suggestions?
camb
goatwuss
877 posts
 
What don't you like about the i7 driving the revels?
camb OP
164 posts
 
Nothing, actually. That's a good point! But when I heard the more powerful W-8 drive the revels there was a greater sense of control and space. So I guess I'm going from very good to excellent performance.
camb OP
164 posts
 
Tried out a bunch of diffent combinations of Mac, Usher and Levinson amplification yesterday. Aside from the fact that I learned that Mac is not the sound I'm looking for, there were a couple of surprises:

1) The combination of the Levinson 326S pre amp and the Levinson 532h power amp does not work well. Very dull and kind of washed out in terms of sound. Strange - you'd think that all gear within a brand would work well together - not the case here. On other occasions I've heard the 326S pre amp with the 532 dual mono amp and the 53 monoblocks, and both were extremely good combinations...

2) The Levinson 326S pre amp and the Usher R-6.0 power amp (only $3,600 for 150 wpc amp) sounded fantastic! Huge open soundstage and slightly warmish, engaging sound. The only thing that was missing from the sound coming out of the Revel Ultima Studio 2s was the lowest of low frequencies. The Usher R-6.0 is a real sleeper, high value product that's worth checking out!
camb OP
164 posts
 
On my first point above, I just heard from my dealer who said his 532h had a bad output stage, which solves the mystery of the poor performance I heard with the Mark Levinson 326S and 532h. Apparently it's not a synergy issue between these 2 ML products after all!
tmsorosk
1,013 posts
 
It may still be a synergy thing with Levinson . I've owned half dozen Levinson components over the last ten years or so , still own two ( see system link ) , I have always felt there pre/power amp combo's were not a good match , a little dull or lifeless for me anyway . So far I have kept my #431 power amp but sold the #320S preamp . First I went with an ARC Ref 3 preamp for three years then traded up to the Ayre MX-R , both were considerably more synergetic than the Levinson pre . The #532h is a great sounding amp , I will likely upgrade to it or the full #532 , but I would not recommend using them with one of Levinsons preamps .
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