Is there life after a KXR? Help

I only have experience with the Lamm 1.2 Ref. It drove Eggleston Andra 2's w/o any issues, controllung the big 12" woofer without sweat. FWIW, I would think both amps can drive all but the most demanding loads. So, the simple synergy aspect would be the one to focus on more I would think. The Ayre/ 5A combo seem to be making many a happy camper though. That said, I would certainly like to catch another listen to the Lamm's on my 5A's.

Mike,

I can tell you the Lamm's bass is where it separates itself from the MXR. I tired them both on Kharma Midi and also on 5A with the same results. The power was about the exact same on both amps even though they are rated much different. One is class A and the other is not. As all Lamm owners know don't let the power rating fool you. They have current and control which is much more important.

I don't own either of the two amps anymore for the record. I have found better amps then both for my system. I also had the ARC Ref210 that sounded better then both and had better bass.

BTW the big misconception with the 5A is that is doesn't matter what amp you use for the bass because it has a built in powered woofers. That is 100% wrong. It uses an active crossover so it acts differently then if you were to use a Sub woofer. Every amp I put on the 5A changed the bass 100% and it is not a small change either. With some amps I have the bass setting is flat and other I have as much as -3db down. 5A owners know what I'm talking about. People think they can just put an amp that has very little bass and they are not hearing what the speakers can really do. With the Lamm's I got flat bass in my room to 18hz with the MXR I got it flat to 24hz. Nothing different other then the amps. Plus the bass was tighter and much more defined with the Lamm.

For your 20T I think you need more power then either the Lamm or MXR can provide. Aerial will tell you that. The 20T love love current. I would love to hear the Krell EVO on them or a big Boulder. I think the 20T would be world beaters.

Mike

Buy a 2nd hand mac c2300. While not fully balanced it does have balanced outputs and inputs.
It has an wonderful MC and MM phono stage which can be adjusted on the fly as well as bass and treble if you want to.
the best thing is that it sounds very nice and gives you a lot of change on your $10k limit to better manage your hopefully short term financial worries.

cheers

Mtdking,

you certainly seem to have auditioned a lot of equipment. I am curious as to which amps you have settled on for the moment.

Also what are your thoughts on the Audio Research Ref 110

Thanks

Mtdking-

I have great respect for the amount of good gear you have listened too. With all due respect though constantly changing speakers will make your general amp comparisons less applicable for the rest of us. In the case of the Lamms both the Vandersteen 5as and Kharma Midi are much more tube friendly speakers than mine. I've heard the current argument before. I'm no expert and no where near as knowledgeable as you are but the explanation of "tube friendly" and "SS friendly" speaker designs as explained by Ralph at Atma Sphere makes a lot of sense to me. In that explanation he describes the characteristics of tubes and SS as they relate to 4, 8, 16, etc. loads. Both the Kharma and 5as are 8 ohm loads and are generally efficient speaker. I don't doubt your empirical results but I would still say matching the right amp to the right speaker is more important than trying to find the "ultimate" amp. I'm sure the big Krells would sound great on my 20ts as would Levinson, Boulder, Classe, or just about any other great SS amp. However I've heard all of the ones mentioned and while they are all good they are also different. From there it comes down to taste. The big Krells are a bit bright for my taste. I think the Arye MXRs are better at capturing the emotion and space of the performance. I agree the Boulders would be exceptional but they're just too darn big! Thanks for chiming in.