Pass....Accuphase....or......


Hi Audiogoners!

I need a new power amp to my Verity Audio Parsifal Ovation (18 watts minimum recommended input power / 8 ohm).

Have a Mark Levinson No.532 that keeps broking down and it's getting too expensive to fix in Europe. 

Music: Classical/symphonic and jazz.

Room: 13 x 26

Preamp: Auralic DAC/Pre (but this can change....)

Ideas so far:

Pass Labs XA-25 (hype or really good and powerful enough?)

Accuphase A-48 (too polite?)

If you have a minute....I need ideas in that price range...+/- $$. Thanks!

 

southofdallas

It’s not so much high volume I’m after but dynamics.

@southofdallas Proper ’dynamics’ should arise from the signal and nothing else. Quite often amps can generate higher ordered harmonics which the uses to sense sound pressure, so just as often these harmonics are mistaken for ’dynamics’. So you can see that in many audiophile conversations you can replace the word ’dynamics’ with ’distortion’ and not change the meaning of the conversation.

I’ve found (using LPs and CDs I recorded personally) that the mark of the best systems is that of a relaxed, effortless presentation even at higher volume levels.

You don't need great power for that; just finesse.

I’ve had significant seat time w great musical happiness with subject speakers and a variety of Ayre amplifiers…. still a great company after CH passing. Ariel is agreat engineer…with ears

PS …if i was a younger man and wanted to spend more than my normal 3 months in Canada… i would seek to restart Verity…. 

If @grislybutter is right, the OP should be checking out some good SET amps. Why mess around with these Class A SS amps, go straight to a good 2A3.

 

I drove mine with a few different amps, the Luxman M800 was probably the most solid with them. That was 60/120. The 590 was okay the 550AXII for low levels. You need to hear a few amps and align with your preferences and circumstances. I’ve had a few Ayre amps, dealer friend demos but liked the Luxman better.

One great sounding combination I heard them with was the Audio Research Ref 110 with Ref 3 preamp.

As for lighter load, I would guess that the impedance curve on these isn’t horrible, but agree with Ozzy you wouldn’t call them high efficiency. I owned the Otello’s, much easier to drive with 93db eff I think. I’d say they Otello's are on the lower side of higher efficiency at best. Drove those great with 30 wpc tubes.