Which Hegel Amp with LRS+

@jjss49 

The A. Excellence guys were the ones who declared the 390 and 590 warmer than the rest of the line and the 390 the warmest. I don't claim to know which model would best suit the speakers in question or the OP's tastes in terms of tonal presentation. I only pointed this out in the context of comparing one Hegel vs. another and because, as far as I was aware, this distinction hadn't yet been mentioned. If there were no sonic differences between the 290, 390 and 590, then I'd agree the choice could be boiled down to power requirements alone or "need", as you put it. 

Thanks @stuartk for raising the warm tonal nature of the 390. I was not aware of that the tonal nature of the amplifiers was that different.

As I am not a fan of warm sounding speakers / systems, looks like I will need to try out the 390 and 190 (together with Rel T5 and T7 subs) and see which I prefer.  You saved me from making an expensive mistake!

I will let my ears decide. Should be able to try it out in the next fortnight, and will definitely let you know of my choice. Thanks again.

@stuartk

i have had all three (190, 390, 590), along with an h20 power amp, but that is an aside

to me, used as an amplifier only (no dac) through the rca or xlr inputs the 190 and 590 have a similar amount of high treble energy, the 390 is ever slightly smoothed over up top and in the upper mids -- overall i would say the 390 sounds the ’warmest’ even though they all obviously provide a close family resemblance in sonic presentation - the differences here are less than, for instance, plugging in a pass int-60, which provides even more midrange warmth and tube like 'wooliness'

depending on the speaker being driven the 190 may have a touch less low end grip and can sound a little leaner, but this is very speaker dependent and this would be heard on quite a difficult, reactive low impedance speaker (which the maggie is not)

i kept the 390 as it has the better internal dac than the 190, decodes mqa, and with my maggies i don’t need that touch of treble energy the 590 provides... and the 2 grand price difference is well applied elsewhere

Thanks for your input @jjss49 

As I was researching the Hegel line up, I came to know of the fact that the H90 and H95 run very hot. As I live in a tropical climate, that could be a major issue. And then there's the fact that the H95 is not Roon ready, which is likely to be my main source for this setup.    

That's why I am looking at the H190 and H390. Will keep this thread posted as to my choice over the next 2 weeks. 

@jjss49 

Thanks for your clarification regarding the nuances of the various Hegel integrateds.