2. amps-preamps
  3. 187667-181

Recommend a non-polite sounding amp / integrated

Looking for a a non-polite sounding amp / integrated. By polite I mean Denon, Musical Fidelity, Arcam. I had Rotel and Adcom and they were harsh. I was thinking about Pass (maybe is just very detailed) or a chip amp. Probably not digital or tube amp.

Integrated is okay as long as it does not have digital volume.

Price under 3K and driving a variety of easy to drive single driver speakers at 70-75dB in a small room.

cdc
decooney
2,040 posts
 

@cdc If you had nice Rotel or Adcom and they were "harsh", you likely have other issues going on with your source or speakers or room perhaps. You might try various amps and be right where you are right now.  Start at the front.  

What are you using for a source/player up front?

three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 

@carlsbad  I'm reflecting on my time with a Leben CS300xs.  The EL84's (often used in guitar amps) just gave a wonderful midrange "growl" that was anything but polite but amazingly musical.

cdc OP
1,798 posts
 

Thanks all for the variety and unexpected amps I never knew existed. Would a "chip amp" make any sense? I listen to rock, pop, techno which has different criteria than acoustic and symphony music.

What got me thinking about amps was when I recently tried the Cyrus ONE amplifier. I never thought amplifiers could have such an impact on the sound.

Atoll, looks nice. I think class A will be hot. Also a lot more power than I need

Cambridge EVO also looks nice but I do not need / want all in one.

Schitt looks nice and will investigate further.

I have tried Naim, AVA, Parasound, and McIntosh 240.

 

@carlsbad2

Nix the digital volume.

What does that mean?

 

@three_easy_payments
 
 
 

 

Try a tube integrated that uses EL84’s

That may be the best idea. Leben CS300xs is beautiful! How about a MiniWatt N3? I love tubes but am trying to avoid the maintenance and Russian tubes are a no go. How is the bass damping factor? The McIntosh 240 is beautiful but bass kind of flabby / under damped.

 

@decooney

At the time I had B&W Nautilus. So yes, they were a problem. I hear Michi is super nice but more power / size etc. than I need. I am using a Philip’s VAM transport with a variety of Delta-Sigma and NOS DAC’s. Leaning more to NOS now.

 

 

 

nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,884 posts
 

Check out the Technics SU-G700M2. 

 

I checked around on pricing and if there's a BestBuy near you that carries it, they have the lowest price and a great and easy return policy compared to others. Don't let the fact that you can buy it at BestBuy deter you from trying it out.

All the best,
Nonoise

mike_in_nc
1,154 posts
 

You might consider a NAD C399. It uses the excellent Hypex nCore Class-D amplifier modules. I have heard amps built with them them, and they were neither polite nor harsh.

I regret I have not heard the C399 itself, but it’s available from several places with a trial period.

For a little more money, one can get it with the plug-in streaming card, which also offers processing power to run DIRAC.

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