Downsizing from Ayre MX-R monoblocks

Tbooe,

I agree with Auxetophone, more information would be very helpful. What speakers do you plan to use? There is a used Ayre stereo amp in the shop here and we listened to it some with several tube preamps and one solid state. My recollection was that the amp had some warmth to it. We thought it sounded nice (the shop here is very predominantly a tube and vinyl clan).

I suspect that your best chance of achieving the sound you want (I'm recalling the warmth of that Ayre stereop amp)with an integrated in the price range in which you are looking is going to be with tubes. As mentioned in an earlier post, the ARC should be on your list, but I would add a Rogue Tempest III (they're about $3000 new). Last year I moved from solid state to tubes (Rogue M-180 monoblocks) and they met my criteria for low end control, but with the mids and highs of tubes that I have come to prefer. I also did some tube rolling to dial in the sound to my satisfaction.

To help narrow this down, though, are you considering tubes are looking to stay solid state? And what speakers are you going to drive?

I've seen a Clayton M200, a 200 watt/channel Class A solid state amp on audiogon at $4,700. This is a great deal for a hellaciously great amp. It is easily the best amp at that price and the sound is grit and grain free.

My second choice would be a McCormack DNA-500, which is a very liquid sounding solid state amp. It is also very powerful, but it is very nimble even at low volume.

In third place would be a Modwright KWA150. It is also an excellent powerful amp.

Why would he want Vandersteens when he asked for opinions about integrated amps?

For the money, in my opinion nothing beats a Denon PMA 2000 Mark IV. Used, I think $600-700 is a good price, although they may be going for less. They were around around $1100 before being pulled from the market. Denon has introduced an anniversary integrated amp that looks like the PMA with only very, very minor cosmetic changes. The specs on the anniversary amp read just like the PMA 2000 IV. The new amp is going for about $2500. The 2000 IV weighed 54lbs, the new one is 57lbs. Both are 80wpc into 8ohms, 160wpc into 4ohms. I think it clips at around 120wpc into 8ohms. It's very conservatively rated. They produce a prodigious amount of current - 20 amps continuous, 120 amps peak - that's not posted on the Denon website but I read it on the net somewhere. It sure sounds like it does! I used to own one before moving to tubes.

The shop here is a tube and vinyl clan mostly. Several of the guys who wanted to assemble a solid state system as well have been very happy with the PMA. As the Absolute Sound website used to say, at its price, nothing else even comes close.

A buddy of mine has a PMA and bought my Silverline SR-17.5 speakers. I upgraded the speaker crossover to Duelund components. He is using a Rega Saturn CD player. We tried several cable combinations:

- My Kimber KS3035 and Kimber Select interconnects (demo only, they weren't for sale, I just wanted him to hear them!)

- circa 2005 Audio Magic Sorcerer speaker cables and interconnects

- Kimber 12TC speaker cables
- Kimber Hero interconnects
- Kimber Timbre interconnects

He ended up going with the Audio Magic wire. The sound was clear, rich, fast, and notes eminating from an absolutely black background. Audio Magic is silver conductors, but not bright like most other silver cables. It's good stuff and really worth a listen. And if you can get some of the older Sorcerer wire here on Audiogon, it would be worth it. There's a huge amount of silver in those older cables!!!

I actually thought the Audio Magic Sorcerer cables were a better match than my Kimber Select wire.

Through the end of the year Rega is offering a "cash-for-clunkers" deal, so the Saturn can be had for about $1800 I think. At its price point, the Saturn is hard to beat.

So, that's my recommendation for your system:

Denon PMA 2000 IV (used) or the new anniversary amp.
Rega Saturn CD player.
Audio Magic wire.

And one more thing, I recommend an audio grade outlet - I use a Wattgate - it really does make a difference. The sound is more extended and richer... I compared outlets when I had a PMA. When I went to tube monoblocks (Rogue M-180), I went straight to a dedicated line and the Wattgate outlet without hesitation.

Please email me if you want to discuss any of this in more detail.