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Parasound A21+ vs MF M8 500S vs Cary 200.2 ES vs Hegel H20

Whilst in COVID lockdown I've been considering the next step for my system. 

I've been running a Herron VTSP-3 tube pre-amp into a Rogue ST100 tube amp for a while and whilst it has beautiful tone, timbre, density and the performers appear in front of me, I feel like it is a little smoothed over and lacking in excitement and dynamics. It needs a touch more air, liveliness and punch.

I tried a CJ CA200 (185wpc) integrated and a Kinki EX-M1 (215wpc) integrated and they both brought excitement and dynamics to the presentation but the CJ was faulty and was returned to the seller and the Kinki sounded just a touch dry to me (I upgraded the opamps which helped but it somehow sounded harmonically incomplete or overdamped and I couldn't ignore this when listening). Surprisingly, I didn't miss the tubes although both my pre-amp and amp sound pretty neutral and not typically tubey.

Although my speakers, Silverline Sonata III's, are rated an easy 93db sensitivity and 8ohm (+/- 10%) impedance, the extra power of the two integrated amps I tried really seemed to bring them to life. So, I'm thinking that if I keep the tube pre-amp but replace the Rogue ST100 (60wpc in Triode mode and 100wpc in Ultralinear mode) with a solid state power amp that's around 200wpc+ into 8 ohms, it might get me to where I want to be.

Obviously taking the candidate power amps home for trial would be ideal but this would be very difficult logistically, plus I will probably want to buy used in order to be able to afford the quality I'm after. Buying, trying and selling a number of amps is not something that would be readily tolerated by my wife who, although tolerant of my audio obsession has her limits.

So, if anyone has compared these amps, especially directly against each other, I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts as to their relative strengths and weaknesses. 

dkerr
dkerr OP
22 posts
 
@avanti1960  and @jjss49 
Thanks for your feedback and suggestions, good information for me to digest as I consider the next step.

I noticed that like me, Herb Reichert (Stereophile reviewer) was using both the Holo Spring DAC and Rogue ST100 power amp in his reference system. He was using the Rogue RH-5 as his linestage but later replaced  it with the Rogue RP-7 pre-amp. @avanti1960  aside from the  inferior dynamics, did you feel that the RP-7 was otherwise better than the RH-5 or did they sound pretty much the same?

We appear to only have one Rogue dealer in Oz, about 600 miles away, so I won't be able to try the RH-5 or RP-7 without buying and there's also no Rogues on the "used" market here. I haven't got the $$$ for a new RP-7 at the moment but I could possibly grab the RH-5 if the dealer here has it. 

The Cary SLP98 suggestion is interesting but if we suspect the use of the Rogue ST100's SE inputs is the cause of the lack of dynamics, I hesitate to buy another SE only pre-amp. 

I've always run my Rythmik sealed subwoofer (30k Zin) off the second pair of SE outputs on the Herron VTSP-3. It shouldn't be an issue as the ST100 is an easy 200k Zin for SE and the Herron's Zout is quite low at 100 ohms from memory. However, in the next few days I'll change the connection over to the sub's high level inputs running off the ST100's speaker outputs to ease the loading on the Herron and see if it makes any difference to dynamics. I had the sub connected that way when I was trying out the Kinki EX-M1 as it didn't have a pre-out output for the sub. 

avanti1960
1,480 posts
 
@dkerr 
the RH 5 sounded more neutral and transparent than the RP 7.  The RP 7 sounded soft and overly polidhed, rounded off on top despite trying the best tubes to fix it.  
i could easily have lived with the RH 5, I traded the RP 7.  
The Cary SLP 98 has extreme drive and dynamics despite the RCA connections.  
My preference would still be the RH 5 though.  
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 
when i had the cary slp98p i felt the unit was very euphonic, rather rolled off on both freq extremes, a very caramel type of sound... moreso than counterparts from cj, arc, modwright...  ymmv
dkerr OP
22 posts
 
@avanti1960 
... important to note is that the rogue RH 5 sounds much more dynamic than the RP 5 (no balanced connections either). it even sounds better than the twice as expensinve RP 7 which i owned. I was very disappointed in the lack of dynamics in the RP 7.

I noticed on another forum that you said ...

never heard the 9 but the rp 7 is possibly the most transparent and dynamic piece i have heard. incredibly clear with no loss in smoothness.

Did you change your mind later on the dynamics of the RP-7 after listening to it for longer, or did you still have the RH-5 and later pop it back into the system to compare?
   
avanti1960
1,480 posts
 
my thoughts on the RP 7 became less favorable after the honeymoon phase, possibly additional burn in.  guilty as charged.  I should have kept the RH 5, I only traded it because I had the opportunity.  
the RH 5 is a smaller modest unit with incredible sound.  

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