2. amps-preamps
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Musical Fidelity A5, Simaudio I-5 or Krell s300i

I posted a few days ago and I think I ended up answering my own question. I'm in the market for an integrated amp with some decent power (~100W) to power my Vandersteen 2Ci's. I have acurus separates now and compared to my friend's NAD c356bee they sound terrible, very flat and not engaging.

I'm looking for a piece up to about ~$1,500 used and I already see a decent amount of well liked gear. I'd like to stick with good, recognized, solid name brands that will afford me the ability to sell the piece of I don't like the sound, as I won't be able to audition before I buy.

My room is fairly well treated, and is 12' x 11'. I listen to vinyl on a Rega P1 through a Bellari VP129 tube phono pre, and my main digital source is an Asus Xonar Essence ST PCI sound card playing 24/96 flac rips although I also have an acurus cd player that rarely gets used. I listen to 80's and 90's rock/alternative and folk/country, with some electronic music sprinkled in, and occasionally some classic rock.

I'm considering the Musical Fidelity A5, the Simaudio Moon i5, and the Krell s300i. From what I can tell it's hard to go wrong with either, and they all seem to be within my budget used. I've read the Krell can be unemotional or boring. I'm leaning towards the Musical Fidelity but wanted to know if there were any other integrateds in this range from other brands I've yet to consider, naim, rogue audio (although a tubed power amp right now doesn't seem like a good fit for me in terms of uptime), bel canto, or other models within these manufacturers lines I should consider? Again, I'm mostly looking at mainstream, SS manufacturers that have enough power to give me good, accurate, taut bass from my Vandersteen's 2Ci's 10", and open, airy, high resolution in the mids/highs without being harsh or bright. I'd like to move to Thiel CS3.6's or so some day, but either way I'll need something with enough power to drive 86 - 88db, 6 - 8ohm loads.

Thanks for any direction you guys can point me in.
fargel
countingbackwards
138 posts
 
Some years ago, I compared a Simaudio I5 to a Musical Fidelity A5 - I bought the I5. The Musical Fidelity was on the clinical side of things relative to the Sim. In fact, in that same session, I also auditioned the Naim Nait 5i, which was far cheaper than the other 2, and it was better than the MF A5 to my ears despite its lower power rating and price.

I have since moved on to the Ayre AX7e, which obviously I view as a notable improvement on either and worth the few hundred $ more on the used market.

I've heard Krell seperates from the same line (or perhaps a previous similar-caliber level) as the s300i powering B&W Matrix-series speakers, and that wasn't my cup of tea - it was too aggressive sounding for my tastes. I'd place the Krell sound as my least favorite of any that I reference in this post.
hifisoundguy
630 posts
 
Try out a Bada Purer 3.3se with the Jan 6189 tubes !..
nvp
317 posts
 
Some years ago I have spent a few hours in a dealer room comparing the Musical Fidelity A5 and A308 integrated amps. The speakers used were Focal Electra 1027 Be, the CD player was the Musical Fidelity A5. Even though on paper the A308 seems better (it also used to be much more expensive than A5), the two integrated sounded almost identical to me.

Because of Mr. Michelson lack of respect for his customers (releasing new components that are "better" than the old ones every year or so), the A5 and A308 integrates are in my opinion some of the best bargains on the 2nd hand market. Here in Europe these units can be bought for around 1000 euros (from dealers with full warranty!) and often for less than 1000 euros (from private persons). At this price very few integrated if any (new or 2nd hand) can compete with the A5 or A308 (IMO of course).

Regarding the A5 and A308 prices, usually people ask a bit more for the A308, i.e. 1-2-3 hundred euros more. Given my experience with the two integrated I do not think it is worth paying extra for the A308 unless you really like its look and/or need two sets of speaker terminals.
soniqmike
140 posts
 
Nvp, your comment ...''Because of Mr. Michelson lack of respect for his customers (releasing new components that are "better" than the old ones every year or so)''....I tend to agree with.

What is just as bad if not worse, is that they change ''looks'' fairly often, enough to make the previous style obsolete. Without being as fanatic as McIntosh about this, many companies keep their styling much longer than Musical Fidelity, or at least a certain family resemblance. Take Simaudio - even though I really do NOT like their sound at all, their I-5 have looked pretty much the same for the past 14 years or so....MF is more like the flavor of the month.
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
Nvp, good post!
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