Look into Music Hall Raven and Mambo. The Raven has a tuner built in and is 100 watts. The Mambo is tuner-less but has 50 watts of nice warm class A power. Both have awesome built in DAC's with upsampling and pre-amp outs for a sub. Just run your CD into the digital or audio inputs and you are set.
Advice on upgrade of a 2.1 audio setup
I have a system that I’m using both for HT and 2.1 audio. Currently I use a low end receiver (yama HTR-5860). I would like to upgrade my 2.1 path. I don’t care about audio quality for HT/5.1 and I will continue to use the receiver for this.
My speakers are Onix Ref 1 monitors and ACI Force XL subwoofer. I want to stay with these for now. My source is a stock Squeezebox3 streaming FLAC files.
I listen to all kinds of music, but primarily alternative rock, jazz, punk, rock. I like female vocals (e.g. Stina Nordenstam, Patti Smith, Nico, Feist). I listen at moderate volumes but in a large, open room.
I know that I’m missing a lot with my receiver, but in particular I’m looking for two improvements: less fatiguing, easier to listen sound and more clarity, especially for “larger” compositions.
The budget is about $1000 for used equipment. I’m considering are 2 ch amp (SS only - I will use it for HT as well), preamp and a DAC. I know about SB3 mods but I don’t want to go this route.
Which component should I upgrade? Whole budget on amp and continue to use receiver as pre-pro? Divide budget between power amp and preamp and use analog out from SB3? Divide budget between amp, preamp and DAC? I have been reading about tube preamp with a SS amp and I’m very interested in this idea. Is this advisable at this budget? If not, what budget would be required to get the benefits?
Some amps I’m considering: Mccormack DNA 0.5 or 1, Odyssey Stratos, CI D-100, Bel Canto, Parasound, Ps audio HCA-2. I don’t know about preamps yet (I think I need HT bypass and second output to feed my Force XL) or DACs.
Thanks,
Adam
My speakers are Onix Ref 1 monitors and ACI Force XL subwoofer. I want to stay with these for now. My source is a stock Squeezebox3 streaming FLAC files.
I listen to all kinds of music, but primarily alternative rock, jazz, punk, rock. I like female vocals (e.g. Stina Nordenstam, Patti Smith, Nico, Feist). I listen at moderate volumes but in a large, open room.
I know that I’m missing a lot with my receiver, but in particular I’m looking for two improvements: less fatiguing, easier to listen sound and more clarity, especially for “larger” compositions.
The budget is about $1000 for used equipment. I’m considering are 2 ch amp (SS only - I will use it for HT as well), preamp and a DAC. I know about SB3 mods but I don’t want to go this route.
Which component should I upgrade? Whole budget on amp and continue to use receiver as pre-pro? Divide budget between power amp and preamp and use analog out from SB3? Divide budget between amp, preamp and DAC? I have been reading about tube preamp with a SS amp and I’m very interested in this idea. Is this advisable at this budget? If not, what budget would be required to get the benefits?
Some amps I’m considering: Mccormack DNA 0.5 or 1, Odyssey Stratos, CI D-100, Bel Canto, Parasound, Ps audio HCA-2. I don’t know about preamps yet (I think I need HT bypass and second output to feed my Force XL) or DACs.
Thanks,
Adam
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- 13 posts total
I feel that the SB3 with flac is a decent source. I would look to an integrated with HT bypass. Take the SB3 straight through the integrated and you are good to go. Then when you are ready you can add a DAC. http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?intatran&1199452788 A little over your budget but it does have HT bypass. A 3.5 would be pleanty. There are other's of course. Hopefully others will chime in with some ideas. |
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Elevick/Artizen65 thanks for pointing me towards integrated amps. Music Hall Mambo looks like a nice amp but it doesn't have HT bypass or pre outs from what I was able to gather. MF M5 looks like a great match to my needs although a bit more expansive than what I was looking to spend. Bob_reynolds, I was thinking about bass management. I was going to configure my receiver to output bass to LR speakers, connect LR preamp out from receiver to the integrated amp HT bypass input and connect a preamp out from the amp to subwoofer. My SB3 would be connected to a line level input of the integrated amp. I would get sub signal from both sources however my LR speaker would be getting full bass signal (no crossover). Would it be harder (impossible?) to integrate subwoofer with main speakers? Is it always better to use crossover for monitor speakers? X2 looks like an interesting product. To use it in my case I would need a separate preamp (with HT bypass) and separate power amp. It wouldn't help with bass management with integrated, right? |
- 13 posts total