2. amps-preamps
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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
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
1,783 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
10,836 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
1,147 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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