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Best Integrated Amp

I've been on a quest for a long time for the best sounding integrated amp. I've tried everything in my home, The Krell KAV300i, the KAV500i, the Mark Levinson 383, the Musical Fidelity Nuvista integrated amp, The Audio Research CA50, the VTL IT-85 and countless others and I think I finally found just the right one; The Goldmund Mimesis SRI2. This integrated is rated at 125 watts into 8 and 200 watts in 4 with 25 amps of current available. When I was comparing this to the Levinson 383, it blew it out of the water, it was much smoother, MUCH MORE DETAILED and just plan more life sounding, I don't feel that the 383 sounds flat, I think they raised the midbass level to try to make the amp more exciting, however after time its just tiresome to listen to. Another amazing thing is that the Goldmund wasn't any weaker in power then the 383 and it cost considerably less at only $3750. I think I've finally find something I'm going to stick with a while. All the other integrated amps out there had flaws, the Krell KAV500i while more powerful, was dull and lacked soundstaging depth or width, the Audio Research CA50, while a wonderful sounding piece just lacked power with its 45 tube watts and the VTL, just wasn't that good. I honestly think that the Goldmund SRI2 is the best sounding piece of gear I've heard in a long time. If you get the chance you should listen to it for yourself. I was just wondering if anyone had any other ideas about what they thought was the best integrated out there. (BTW this integrated out performed a Levinson 334 and 360s and a Conrad-Johnson Premier 17LS with a Classe CAM350 that I heard last week)
bigcigarman
bigcigarman OP
14 posts
 
The Musical Fidelity that I got the day when it came out was very good, however I don't think that at $4500 it was better then the Goldmund, it had slightly more current, but with the Goldmund and my Prodigy's I was still able to put out 113db in my room with a reference count basie jazz recording, so I don't think I need the extra juice. The M3 was overall okay, but still slightly ruff and grainy subtly, but not as smooth as the Goldmund. As far as the Krell 300IL, my local dealer has gotten it in, and I got a chance to hear it for 15 min, much better then the old KAV300i, but that doesn't say much. There are still much better stuff out there. Although I think it sounded more natural then the KAV500i close to the Levinson 383, but Goldmund is still the king of integrateds for me!
jkingtut's avatar
jkingtut
28 posts
 
Mr. Bigcig, does that Goldmund have remote Volume control? Great info on your posts, has somebody found themselves another reviewer? :~} I'm currently (no pun ...) slogging along with VAC Avatar SE, ok with high efficiency horns. Actually as I upgrade cables I am getting happier with it. Jim
joeb
121 posts
 
hi, I am relatively new to this level of equipment and am trying to make sense of all this. I have worked my way up,(without having a plan of course) and have BW Nautilus 804's, and BW602s w/ HK500 receiver. I have learned that I can use that HK as a pre-amp and get a good amp to do justice to my 804 speakers. I have no idea what the cost of these amps you guys are talking about, and would like info in that area. I may scrap the HT-pre-amp idea and just get good separates, but need to know at what entry level cost were talking.
thanks,
jb
bigcigarman OP
14 posts
 
JKINGTUT: The Goldmund does a have a remote volume control. Very simple metal cased remote. With just mute, volume, and a mode that you can set a reference volume, which you can return to with one switch. I've heard some VAC stuff, pretty good for the money actually, just a different sound from the highspeed ultra wide bandwidth solidstate such as the Goldmund or Spectral. JOEB: These amps we're talking about range from $2500-7000, I used to own Nautilus 804s, they are decent speakers, just be careful of what you pair them with. If I were you I would get an integrated amp and plug the cd into the integrated so when you listened to music you would do so without the receiver being in the path. And I would connect the preamp out from the received to the tape in on the integrated in, so you could do music and HT without unplugging any cables. Just set the integrated amp to a reference level and then adjust the volume with the receiver so that all the levels are balanced.
jkingtut's avatar
jkingtut
28 posts
 
Thanks for the reply, I hope to hear alot more solid state stuff in NY in May at the Hilton, everybody I know in this is all tube all the time so I have had no exposure but I do have an open mind although my preference is definitely for horns which seem to like tubes. But I enjoyed reading your posts enough to check this amp out, so good luck, and one final question, did your comparisons include analog and digital source material?
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