Can the Sennheiser HD650 do BIG SCALE classical???

Goatboy- As you may remember, I've got the K1Ks here is you want to try those as well. I think you will be spoiled, but I will also say that since they are very resolving, I would not recommend goind with a "relatively inexpensive low powered amp" 7 watts is more than enough, but they should be good watts and a good source. My experience has been that very resolving transducers in your system (be they cartridge, speaker, DAC) will really bring out all the crap that is upstream.

Swamp - I read your post again and now see that mention of the K1K - I must have missed it... heh interesting

So You wouldn't recommend a relatively inexpensive low power amp? Maybe something like a Lamm ML2? Audio Note Ongaku?

Ha! I think starting with a relatively modest low powered EL34 or other amp would be ok. The problems at least wouldn't be brightness/harshness/dryness. Granted, the whole point of the pursuit is for macro-dynamic control, so I wouldn't want to be throwing that off the boat... but if relative to the Senn650 the K1K with a modest amp is in another league (sorry about the A-phile cliche), then I would be quite happy. I'm sure there are plenty of sub $1000 amps that wouldn't butcher the job too badly. I'd either be using my supratek or my EE Minimax as a pre, and both of those are quite transparent and good sounding, so all I'd need is the power-amp section. I'd be interested to hear what they'd sound like with my plinius 102 in class A... Would it damage them to hook them up to serious 100WPC+ amps just for the fun of it?

Anyway - Your entourage of gear sounds very compelling for a potential drop-by. Do you have the merlins set up too? If so, do you have a photo of the room/setup?

Goatwuss,

I agree with swampwalker about the fact that they reveal what is in your system warts and all, but I did see some discussion about people having success with budget amps at headfi.

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=147291&highlight=k1000

Do you have a decent amp for your speakers now? If so, that's what I use.

I burned my K1K's in with a 200wpc amp, so as long as you keep the volume at a reasonable level (unless you want to lose your hearing), then it should be ok.

By the way if you buy new like I did they take close to 500 hours to burn in from what I was told and can confirm that to be true.

If you have funds though a decent tube amp would be best, but I know you have a budget that doesn't allow much left over for the amp. I hope you get a chance to listen with Swampwalker also, that will give you an idea if it's the right route to go for you.

I have the Merlins set up and would love to have you come down sometime. I will have my new TT set up in a week or 2; right now source is an Exemplar 3910 or an Audio Aero Prima.

As far as the amp goes, it depends on what you call modest. I believe you said inexpensive: that's what I would be concerned about; a cheap amp. Using your Supra or EE with a decent quality 10-15 wpc amp would be fine; an EL-34 might be just the ticket. I don't think you would damage them running a Plinius 100 wpc per se, but I would be concerned about the lack of fine volume control. My Supratek did NOT have the gain switch; a high gain pre-amp like that with a big amp would be a problem. Easy to damage your ears and the phones. Of course an Ongaku would be perfect ;~) or a Lamm would be great. You could probably also get great sound with an older Pass design Class A if you want ss, or any 300b SET amp like the Cary integrated that I use now.