Newb - Ideas For Quality vs Quantity For 2 Ch Amp/Pre or Integrated (and speakers)

I’ve had great luck buying used mcintosh on Audiogon and usaudio. Check out my system page. The stuff sounds great, built like tank and holds its value with the best of them

Try not to completely rule out “simple face plates”. Hegel for example are excellent integrateds, with minimalist, modern looks. Parasound is another good example with the Hint 6 integrated, or a separates system. Very affordable and capable. Pass Labs used is a nice start too. You can put together a nice, but “used” Audio Research separates system together if you choose wisely and even get a good hybrid tube pre/SS amp for good starter $$. Speakers are another discussion entirely. You will get a different “opinion” from every answer. You’ll need to see what you have available to audition. A recommendation from here can be good, but still a crap shoot as a speaker that sounds amazing in one room/setup, might not in another. Then there are cables... and everything else. Just realize you are embarking on a journey, and unless you get REALLY lucky, you will most likely be seeking out just the right everything for awhile.

Check out Hybrid gear like Vincent or Pathos Acoustics.

I have a Pathos Classic One MKIII and it is a wonderful hybrid and will drive anything speaker wise. 

There are too many options out there to make a meaningful recommendation.  If you could describe what type of sound and sound characteristics are most important to you it’ll help greatly to narrow down recommendations more toward what you’re actually looking for. 

It was suggested to me that a tube amp (not preamp) is not recommended to play all day long, which is usually what I do. Do you have a different opinion?

Do you want music? Or do you want an appliance? The sound I am talking about you cannot get from silicon. Only tubes. Yes tubes do wear out and need to be replaced. Do you give up driving because tires wear out? If you leave it on all day then I assume it is background, or at any rate not that loud. With the speakers I’m recommending the amp will be doing some tiny fraction of a watt. Basically idle from the amps point of view. With that being the case your tubes will probably need replacement every two years, give or take, as opposed to going three to five the way I do, a couple hours a night, with an hour or so of that being fairly high volume.

Again, the speakers are the key. Get sucked into 90dB or lower like a lot of guys do and yes you will be pushing the amp hard. Easy to drive 95dB and up like Tekton the amp is hardly doing anything until the volume gets real loud.

People are funny. They love to make everything harder than it needs to be. Its not that hard. You get Tekton Moabs, Raven Blackhawk, then PM I will give you my phone number so you can call and gush about how you never even in your wildest dreams thought anything could ever sound this good. Take it to the bank. Cash the check. Spend the money.