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Any advice? Parasound A21, Ayre V5xe, Benchmark AHB2, or Bryston 4B3?

Morning, I am thinking of upgrading my Musical Fidelity M1PWR Monos but would appreciate advice on which amp would fit my Harbeth 7 speakers best.This is a set up in my home office and I do not want an amp that runs hot. I have the opportunity to buy one of the following:Ayre V5xe ($2,500)
Parasound A21 ($1,500)
Benchmark AHB2 ($3,000)
Bryston 4B3 (~$3,800)Thanks.
zwango
nekoaudio's avatar
nekoaudio
489 posts
 
In my opinion you've picked 4 amplifiers that run across a spectrum in terms of sound character. So I think it depends which direction you want to go, from your current amplifiers.

The AHB2 should run the coolest, due to its power efficiency.
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gdnrbob
4,455 posts
 
+2 for Ayre.
B
chris_adair's avatar
chris_adair
2 posts
 
I tested out the Benchmark and was somewhat disappointed by the sound, the hype was so good. Indeed it may have good bass, but lacked a precision to resolve high frequency detail, imagery and delicate subtleties that give the sense of air and space, and most important the subtle artistic feelings.
Ayre and Bryston would be better. Though both need good airflow around them. 
Funnily enough I was using Harbeths in the amp test. The Benchmark sounded good in terms of amp / speaker pairing.
whipsaw
759 posts
 
Hegel (great value) and Gryphon (great – period!) both work superbly with Harbeth. 
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