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Preamp and DAC to drive KEF Reference 104/2?

A buddy of mine just acquired some 104/2s for free and is mainly looking to play digital via computer as his source, quite probably CDs as well. He's just starting to venture into the world of higher end components, so I'm thinking he's in the ballpark of spending 2, maybe $3K.

Given that he's working the serpent from the tail end, albeit the speakers were free, he may or may not have the opportunity in Seattle to listen to the suggested components. Beyond advising he get the speakers serviced, I didn't have much to offer him. Any suggestions?
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roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,986 posts
 
those are very good all around speakers even by today's standards, so I think that the answer is simple. Tell him to get the best that he can reasonably afford.
rlwainwright
1,904 posts
 
Perhaps he should look into the Emotiva line of components. They have a very nice preamp and very solid power amps. All of their gear comes with a 30 day in-home trial and 5 year warranty.

Have him look at the XSP-1 preamp and maybe an XPA-2 power amp. Link to XSP-1 is below:

http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/processors/products/xsp1

If he's just going to use a PC for his source, the XDA-2 DAC/Preamp might be just the ticket:

http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/processors/products/xda2

-RW-
electroslacker
375 posts
 
They're very easy to drive, so a lot of options would work. I'd spend $50 each to get the tweeters refurbished, (check eBay) and buy a decent used sub and cross over at 50hz, then just get enough power, which isn't that much. I drove a pair with a VAC Avatar tube integrated with 28 watts triode, but that's on the low end. It's a great speaker, presents a benign 8ohm load, pretty efficient, but the tweeters dry out after a decade.
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