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Starting from Scratch -Please Help Pick 1 out of 3

Dear Friends,
Hope that all of you are well, in a moment of transitional evolutional state of mind i sold off my Rogue Cronus Integrated, my Tannoy Stirling Speakers ; well pretty much the spine of the entire system.

I wanted to start over, i listen to a lot of varied stuff ; usually very complex stuff ; i love the weight of solid state gear and the resolution of their baselines and the treble which intermittently sound "filled" ; i also love the midrange liquidity of tubes especially on vocals and the natural timbre of orchestras and drum snares.

So i had gone on a spree to audition some gears, some which couldn't be heard are also included as a part of the system (say, i listened to the power amp but not the pre) i couldn't get to some of these due to various difficulties but generally i've put a package of 4 different set ups - i hope learned pundits here can guide through this to build a good system which i will use for a long time.

I am not the type for frequent upgrades.
Thank you!

The Candidates

Group 1
------
Pre : Rennaisance Preamplifier MKIII by VAC (Valve Amplification Company)
Power : VAC Phi 200 Power Amplifiers (Valve Amplication Company)
Speakers : Harbeth SHL5 [or] Devore Fidelity The Nines (Please Pick)

Just love the look of this system!

Group 2
------
Pre : Modwright LS 100 or Ls36.5
Power : Pass Labs XA 60.5 (Class A 60 wpc) but can take a few months to save
up for Pass Labs XA100.5 (Class A 100 wpc) if it really matters.
but evidence shows otherwise :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXGf3AonFCQ
Speakers : Magnepan 1.7
Which sounds great!

But Will the Modwright (semi-tube) impedance match with the pass'?

Group 3
-------
Pre : Leben RS28CX Premium Preamplifier
Power : CS-660P Separate Power Amplifier
Speakers : Harbeth SHL5 (or) Devore Fidelity The Nines (or) Devore Fidelity Orang Utan

Group 4
-------
Pre : Modwright LS100
Power : Pass Labs XA30.5 Monoblocks (30 watts Class A)
Speakers : Devore Fidelity Orang Utan

Also Please Feel Free to Mix-Match and Advice.

Music will be fed from my MAC to my DAC and to these.

Thank You!
thegoodarcher
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,793 posts
 
I am not sure I would go with systems listed per OP. For example, I would probably go with the Devore loudspeakers, but if you want them to sound right (especially to play bass right) transistors are not a good idea. They are very tube friendly, and most transistor amps will overdamp the speaker, resulting in some punch but no definition or real impact.

You also don't need a great amount of power with that speaker. So you will have a lot of flexibility with the tube amp used.
thegoodarcher OP
70 posts
 
Thannks guys i am reading all of your posts with much enthusiasm, any other speaker recommendation for the VAC gear - budget is around 4.5-5K.
thegoodarcher OP
70 posts
 
and i am quite intrigued that - pass labs is getting no love at at all lol..
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
Pass Labs is very good gear......for solid state. Tubes give the music that "fuzz on the peach" quality that solid state cannot replicate, IMHO.
knghifi
1,668 posts
 
11-13-12: Thegoodarcher
and i am quite intrigued that - pass labs is getting no love at at all lol..
Thegoodarcher (Threads | Answers | This Thread)
From my experience, one is not better than the other but different. You can't go wrong with either. You can always go Vac pre and Pass amp. Tube amps do require more maintenance and cost per watt is higher.

Another reason I like Vac is they are built for real world applications. Amps can drive real world speakers and pre with low output impedance can drive virtual any amp you will ever own.
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