Seeking New Amplification for My Graham LS5/5 Speakers

@mezzguy2 I don’t have a recommendation as such, but I guess any British amplifier with a bit of grunt should be a suitable option.

I have the Graham Audio ls5/9 myself but am driving them with a Belles class A power amp, it sounds very nice, but the Belles only measures to fifty watts or there about, so better suitable for a smaller room.

The BBC designs are renowned for the tone and timbre and the true sound of un amplified instruments, am a bit surprised that you find the 5/5 being so bad sounding in relation to the Sapphire, it can off course be the room not suiting the 5/5 or maybe you are leaning more to the Sapphire sound signature? No shame in that, we all hear differently and enjoy different sonic, so maybe for you the Sapphire simply are the better speakers.

@ken6217 Interesting that the 585 is a good match, a beautiful amp that is indeed.

@gryphongryph It was the amp I had when I bought the speakers. I'd say it is on the neutral side, however my cables are warm, my DAC is an R2R NOS, and cables are on the warm side, and so I find everything works well together. 

When I went to listen to the speakers at the dealer, it was connected to a D'agastino Progression amp that sounded absolutely amazing. However it was more than I was looking to spend.

I actually had never heard of Graham prior to being in that shop. I had wanted to hear the Harbeth 40.3 XD but no shop that I called had any to listen to. After hearing the LS5/5, I bought them without even listening to anything else. They make music sound so natural.

Why would you want to spend $10K? Get a pair of Fosi V3 Monos with two 48 volt power supplies. About $400 and over 200wpc. 

@ken6217 It is great when we find good synergy systems vise, myself I am thinking about getting a StringAmp d220 power amp to pair with my pre when I move my speakers to my bigger living room, also thinking about getting two Rel’s to make the sound a little bigger.

BBC design is said to be amp friendly, as long as the amp has a strong power supply I think one does not have to spend crazy money.

@jasonbourne71 There is probably no reason to spend 10K on an amp to drive a Graham speaker, but that doesn’t mean that a 10K amp would not do a terrific job 😜 I have never heard a Fosi amp, they may sound great with the Graham’s or they may sound terrible, the Graham’s are very revealing speakers as all the BBC designs are monitor speakers meant to be used in different sizes studios, luckily for us they also sound great in our homes.

Accuphase and Luxman amps pair well with Harbeth speakers.