Amplifier for Sonus Faber Cremona M

Thanks again guys for your helpful responses!

@Defride, I like the idea of Pathos. In fact I have many different speaker amplifier choices in my mind, from Opera, Unison, Nola KO, Quicksilver ect. The problem is I need to listen to them all and no dealers around. So I have to stick with what I have heard and seen personally. Thinking about attending the Audio show AXPONA in Chicago this March. Maybe hold off my purchase until then?

@Rgs92, I used to own some Luxman gear a long time ago. Very nice! I haven't heard their new gear but from what I remember I might want a little bit of a warmer sound than the Luxman's provide. I might be wrong. No dealers here.

@ Lewinskih01,

That is a very good idea to look into. I could buy one McIntosh MC275 and a McIntosh tube pre amp. Live a while with only 75 watts. It should be fine, but then buy a second MC275 later and use them as mono blocks. It would be more expensive, especially over the MA6600 integrated, but worthy of consideration. I will have to make the people at Magnolia move some things around as those amps are now in the front of their store. Magnolia is not the best when it comes to rearranging gear to listen to different combinations. Prefer the independent stores for that, but not many of them left.

@ Johnnyb53

Marantz makes some pretty good gear that always seems to punch above it's price. I owned the PM-8004 for a very short time to play around with in my second system. I was very impressed with it. It could sell for twice the price and I wouldn't think it was overpriced. Perhaps it wasn't broken in fully or perhaps it was my Proac's I had it hooked up to but I found the PM8004 a little too bright sounding and preferred my little Creek 4330 so I sold it. Other than the brightness it did everything better than the Creek. I doubt the Marantz was even broken in all the way. Maybe I should have waited longer.

@ Paraneer,

You make some very good points. It seems like we had the exact same setups at the Magnolia's we went to. You are right! I did prefer the Cremona M's hooked up to the Marantz 15S2 LE over the much more expensive B&W 802 and McIntosh mono block amp, preamp, combination.

I thought it was because I just didn't like the B&W's that much. They were a bit to analytical and mechanical in their musical approach and a bit too bright. The Cremona M's played with more emotion, warmth and beauty without sacrificing detail. In fact I thought I could hear more details and layering in the recordings over the 802's. All this while being hooked up to inexpensive Marantz 15S2 LE! So that must say something. Don't get me wrong the 802's are still excellent speakers. But for me they just sounded more "Hi-Fi" and less like music.

I will try to get Magnolia to set up some different amps with Cremona M's. After I hear the Marantz, then hook them up to the MC275 tube amp and tube pre. Magnolia does not carry the MA6600 but does have the MA6300. Not as good but maybe that will give me a better idea.

Mezzanine: the thing is, regardless of your matchup of the PM8004 and Proacs, the HDAM-featured Marantz integrated amps are an excellent match with the Cremona Ms. Three separate people on this thread have heard the Cremona Ms powered by either a Marantz PM8004 or a PM-15S2 and *all* of us preferred the synergy of that amp/speaker combination to anything else we'd heard near that price range.

I can take the PM8004 further: I have an Internet audiobuddy who's been using a restored vintage Dynaco stack of separates to drive his stereo. He was finally getting to where he wanted something better. I had recommended he save up for a Rogue Cronus Magnum. In the meantime, at the musicians' forum where we met, I posted a glowing review of my experience hearing the PM8004 driving the Cremona Ms. He was so taken by my recommendation that--even though he's sort of a dyed-in-the-wool tube guy--he interrupted his Cronus savings program and bought a B-stock PM8004. He's running his turntable directly into the PM8004's phono stage, and he's ecstatic with the results. He let me know that he'd been spinning vinyl almost nonstop since it arrived.

A Marantz HDAM amp is not going to have the tonal balance of most tube amps, but it is so honest, so quiet, so tight, so dynamic, and so resolving that it conveys the same sorts of essence of the music--transparency, inner and low level detail, imaging, soundstage--that tube electronics do so effortlessly. Tube lovers may find that the HDAM Marantz amps give them what they value most in tubes without the cost, the looser bass, and the rolled off highs (not that every tube component does that).

After my PM8004/Cremona M experience, if I *ever* have the good fortune to acquire a pair of Cremona Ms, they will be powered by an HDAM Marantz amp. And if I had the budget you have, then I'd go upscale to the 11S3 with 100/200 wpc at 8/4 ohms for $4995 or SC-7S2 preamp for $3995 and 11S1 power amp at $2995 down from $4500.

Really, though at your budget I'd do the PM-11S3 and be done with it. WIth the way that PM8004 energized a fairly large listening room with the Cremona Ms, the 11S3 with 100/200 watts (i.e., very high current capability) should be *plenty.*

BTW, in addition to possible unfinished break-in period, your PM8004 may have needed something as simple as Vibrapod footers to get a better match with your Proacs. I have a sackful of Vibrapods and when I sense midrange glare I try those first and they usually fix it.

Yes, good analogy Mezzanine. The 802's sounded good but just not as musical as the Cremonas. I would be curious to know how you like the Cremonas with the McIntosh MA6300 vs what we already know - the Cremonas and the Marantz. Please let us know after you have this audition. Have fun.