Which integrated for Wilson Sabrina's

 

 

cshadow OP

20 posts

12-25-2022 at 01:16pm

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My current system sounds really good, but it lacks refinement in the top end and needs more weight and body in the midrange for my taste. The LTA has a lot of air for a tube pre, but can be a shade bright at times.

I have the Wilson Sabrina and drive them with Pass Labs XA30.8 Class A amp / Pass Labs XP12 linestage combo. The sound is exactly what you describe as your goal - luscious mids, refined top end, full deep bass. If you have a large room, the XA60.8 mono block amps should be more than enough. Pass Labs gear (especially their Class A amps) and Wilson speakers have excellent synergy.
Your preamp is fine.

IMO going from separates to integrated in a $9000 budget range is a big mistake.

One other note - the Sabrinas are picky when it comes to placement and room acoustics. It took me several weeks to fine tune.
A rug or carpeted floor is a must. The first reflection points and the front wall (the wall behind the speakers) must be treated as a bare minimum. Use furniture, acoustic panels, etc.

The Mark Levison 5805 250 W/ch 4 Ohms dual mono intrgrated. Impeccably designed and built, fully specced analog, mm/mc phono, and digital including 32/384, 11.2 mbits/sec DSD and MQA. At 62 lbs it lacks for nothing on the front end or power amp and sounds terrific. Listing for $10,500 it's a bit over your $9,000 budget, but every dollar is accounted for, and deals have been known to be made. It is a fantastic match for your Sabrinas in every way.

My brother has  Shunyata power cords and their line conditioner.

@panzrwagn 

The Mark Levison 5805 250 W/ch 4 Ohms dual mono intrgrated. Impeccably designed and built, fully specced analog, mm/mc phono, and digital including 32/384, 11.2 mbits/sec DSD and MQA. At 62 lbs it lacks for nothing on the front end or power amp and sounds terrific.
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62lbs with all that 💩 in it? Lacks for nothing? 
 

It is a fantastic match for your Sabrinas in every way.

And you know this how? Let me guess…by looking at specs…

@audphile 1

1) People buy integrated amps specifically for the simplicity and integration, and to avoid having piles of boxes and cables. The 5805 has a full feature set of rather uncompromised design including analog, digital, linestage, headphone, and power amp. What would you add, change, or delete?

2) No, by listening to a very similar setup, a 5805 driving a pair of Non-X Sabrinas. The analog front end was a VPI HRX and Koetsu Rosewood. We didn’t use any CDs or streaming. The amplifier demands of all Wilson speakers all center around stability into low impedance loads and high current capability - which the 5805 has in abundance.

3) The OP specified a budget of $9,000. The Pass XA60.8 alone is $14,250, The entry level XP-12 line stage is $6,100, the XP-15 Phono preamp $3,800, and the HPA-1 Headphone amp another $3,675. Plus 3 cable sets and a DAC, at least another $5,000 there. That’s a total of $32,825. Not only have you ignored the budget, but you have ignored the fundamental user requirement of an integrated amp.

You may not be a fan of Integrated amps, however many people are, for the reasons stated - simplicity and value. Many integrated amps are compromised for various reasons. The 5805 is not.

I provided a solution to the OP requirements. You apparently are seeking some kind of validation for your equipment. It’s fine. I get it. I’ve been a fan of Nelson Pass since the Adcom GFA-series high-bias MOSFET amps in the mid-80s, and still use GFA-5800s as subwoofer amps in my dedicated home theatre, and a GFA-535 in my office system. But the current Pass Labs offerings, irrespective of quality, offer no solution in this case.