High power integrated suggestions please.

Thanks again for all the great suggestions.

Would love to hear some things like the Krell, Rowland, Blue Circle, Musical Fidelity etc.. but home audition is next to impossible.

I was not able to demo the Mac MA6900 but I was able to bring home the smaller 6500 and the MCD201 SACD player. It was very pleasant but could not drive my speakers properly. I would love to bring home the C2200/MC501s but my budget fall just short by about $10k.:-(

I've been very pleased with my NAD 320BEE and c541i cdp so I thought I'd give their new Master Series a try. Brought home the M3 integrated and the M55 universal player. I'm glad I did. This gear sounds fantastic! Briefly, it has power and dynamics with deep bass and great highs. The brass really comes through. The resolution is outstanding and the mids are full and very pleasant.

I have a few other things I'd like to check out but unless it betters the NADs significantly I could be very happy with the M3/M55 combo. The only thing I worry about is reliabilty and service.

http://www.nadelectronics.com/

Cheers

If you like the NAD stuff, don't worry about its longevity. I've got a NAD3020 integrated amp that I bought in 1980 that I'm still using! NAD's were always denigrated for cheap build quality, but 25+ years of service is hard to complain about.

Yes, Lush, I heard the actual 400xi.

Phil

Northwoods,

I did in fact listen to the Krell 400xi discussed here, in my own systems and a friend's which I know well. Is it improved over the unfortunate house sound of Krell electronics? Yes, marginally. Is it absent the lack of musicality emblematic of Krell gear? No, unfortunately. I'm not being inflammatory, I'm being honest. Krell amplification and its sound, IMO, has been a primary contributor to the decline of audiophile credibilty to non-audiophiles for many years. When I saw the 400 and related components go into mass distribution, I was hoping for a better outcome, truly. I just cannot agree that it earns any sonic preference whatsoever over several other alternatives in the market.

Phil

Really, Stevecham, I've tried hard to like Krell amplification. One of my best friends was a dealer for many years and I gave him every chance to convince me with each new product. I can't think of any comparably-priced electronics that produce sound less akin to music, more stripped of tone, more dense with sonic distraction, than Krell -- even granting some product-to-product variances in the family sound. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that if Dan D' and Krell made the only amplifiers in existence, I wouldn't own a hifi. A Tivoli shelf system would be so much less distracting and my mind's ear could fill in the rest. Fortunately there is a vast array of alternatives, so I don't have to deny myself.

Phil