Amplifier advice

Oran

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Hi there,

Im looking for advice and suggestions on the most suitable amplifier to drive PMC twenty 23's?

The options are:

Rega Elex R

Arcam A29

Naim Nait 5Si

Has anyone got any experience or suggestions that could help me to decide?

The source will be playback from my Mac mini with a Cambridge DAC Magic 100.

Thanks in advance,

Oran
 
Naim, surprisingly perhaps, seem to sound very good with PMC in my experience. They do best, as many fine speakers do, with the best you can afford. Bryston, who PMC distributes, are too costly for most of us.

I suggest you try to audition all that you list. Nobody here has your room or ears, after all, and we will all have had differing experiences.

PS. Welcome to the forum!
 

CnoEvil

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IMO. You should be looking at the bigger brothers of those amps eg. Elicit R/A39....the trouble with good speakers, is that they "need" an amp in the same ball park.
 

iceman16

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Oran said:
Hi there,

Im looking for advice and suggestions on the most suitable amplifier to drive PMC twenty 23's?

The options are:

Rega Elex R

Arcam A29

Naim Nait 5Si

Has anyone got any experience or suggestions that could help me to decide?

The source will be playback from my Mac mini with a Cambridge DAC Magic 100.

Thanks in advance,

Oran

Pmc are quite neutral as they may say.

Ive had the 24s and i found them to be lean but differs in yor room
 

Oran

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Hi Al,

There are a few reasons why it is (currently) those 3.

They are affordable.

Those 3 brands and amps have consistently got good reviews online.

Im reluctant to listen to too many options as I will probably just confuse myself. 3 seems like a good number!

Though having said that I am open to suggestions.

Cheers,

Oran
 

rainsoothe

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CnoEvil said:
IMO. You should be looking at the bigger brothers of those amps eg. Elicit R/A39....the trouble with good speakers, is that they "need" an amp in the same ball park.

+1.

I would look at Arcam A39 or used Naim Supernait, or Naim Nait XS2 with Chord Hugo.
 

Andrewjvt

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rainsoothe said:
CnoEvil said:
IMO. You should be looking at the bigger brothers of those amps eg. Elicit R/A39....the trouble with good speakers, is that they "need" an amp in the same ball park.

+1.

I would look at Arcam A39 or used Naim Supernait, or Naim Nait XS2 with Chord Hugo.

Supernait already have a dac?
 
rainsoothe said:
CnoEvil said:
IMO. You should be looking at the bigger brothers of those amps eg. Elicit R/A39....the trouble with good speakers, is that they "need" an amp in the same ball park.

+1.

I would look at Arcam A39 or used Naim Supernait, or Naim Nait XS2 with Chord Hugo.

Not very useful when they are 2 to 3 times the OPs budget.

If anything I was going to suggest the ubiquitous Abrahamsen V2.0UP be added to the list in place of the Rega, or indeed the Hegel H80 that includes a very good DAC, but it's over budget unfortunately.
 

gasolin

Well-known member
Al ears said:
rainsoothe said:
CnoEvil said:
IMO. You should be looking at the bigger brothers of those amps eg. Elicit R/A39....the trouble with good speakers, is that they "need" an amp in the same ball park.

+1.

I would look at Arcam A39 or used Naim Supernait, or Naim Nait XS2 with Chord Hugo.

Not very useful when they are 2 to 3 times the OPs budget.

If anything I was going to suggest the ubiquitous Abrahamsen V2.0UP be added to the list in place of the Rega, or indeed the Hegel H80 that includes a very good DAC, but it's over budget unfortunately.

Can't se where OP is saying what budget he has
 

drummerman

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Nord's Hypex Power Amplifiers.

That should leave £300 to £400 for a pre-amp though I have heard they apparently will launch a preamplifier soon.
 
Blacksabbath25 said:
gasolin said:
Al ears said:
rainsoothe said:
CnoEvil said:
IMO. You should be looking at the bigger brothers of those amps eg. Elicit R/A39....the trouble with good speakers, is that they "need" an amp in the same ball park.

+1.

I would look at Arcam A39 or used Naim Supernait, or Naim Nait XS2 with Chord Hugo.

Not very useful when they are 2 to 3 times the OPs budget.

If anything I was going to suggest the ubiquitous Abrahamsen V2.0UP be added to the list in place of the Rega, or indeed the Hegel H80 that includes a very good DAC, but it's over budget unfortunately.

Can't se where OP is saying what budget he has
well guessing his budget here a arcam a39 cost around £1200

Just a guess I would look at his original list we he describes as 'affordable' in a later post (#7). Therefore budget about £800-900.... ;-)
 

drummerman

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Al ears said:
drummerman said:
Nord's Hypex Power Amplifiers.

That should leave £300 to £400 for a pre-amp though I have heard they apparently will launch a preamplifier soon.

See above....

Ah got it.

£1k or so. The Nord's are no good without preamp.

Perhaps also throw in a cyrus 8a at just under £700 just to confuse him more.
 

Blacksabbath25

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gasolin said:
Al ears said:
rainsoothe said:
CnoEvil said:
IMO. You should be looking at the bigger brothers of those amps eg. Elicit R/A29....the trouble with good speakers, is that they "need" an amp in the same ball park.

+1.

I would look at Arcam A39 or used Naim Supernait, or Naim Nait XS2 with Chord Hugo.

Not very useful when they are 2 to 3 times the OPs budget.

If anything I was going to suggest the ubiquitous Abrahamsen V2.0UP be added to the list in place of the Rega, or indeed the Hegel H80 that includes a very good DAC, but it's over budget unfortunately.

Can't se where OP is saying what budget he has
well guessing his budget here a arcam a29 cost around £1200
 

Blacksabbath25

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Al ears said:
Blacksabbath25 said:
Al ears said:
drummerman said:
Nord's Hypex Power Amplifiers.

That should leave £300 to £400 for a pre-amp though I have heard they apparently will launch a preamplifier soon.

See above....
sorry wrong model not A39 aracm a29 is in his list new they are £1200

Or even £995 from many dealers ;-)
that's a good price
 
I'm not sure if the naim5si will have enough juice for the pmc23's,I'm running a naim nait xs with the 20 21's and they sound very nice together,they use the same drivers and tweeters so the xs second hand or xs2 would work well.You have also got the option of adding a flatcap or pre amp in the future if you fancy it where as the naim si doesn't have that option.I'd definetely look into the Abrahamsen option also,i hear good things about that amp.Ps,iv'e just checked the si and it's 60 wpc the same as the xs,if they use the same power supply i don't see any problem with the si driving the 23's.I haven't heard the si but if it's a bit on the bright side like some previous 5i models,i don't think it would go very well with the pmc's.
 

Oran

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Thanks for all the advice folks.

Budget is not set in stone. My starting point is to explore the sub £1000 options.

However if there is good reason to go up to the next level then I will consider that.

The Abrahamsen is an interesting option which I did not know about.

Im guessing that it not possible to audition these in the UK?
 

Electro

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Oran said:
Thanks for all the advice folks.

Budget is not set in stone. My starting point is to explore the sub £1000 options.

However if there is good reason to go up to the next level then I will consider that.

The Abrahamsen is an interesting option which I did not know about.

Im guessing that it not possible to audition these in the UK?

If you contact Colin about a demo of the Abrahamsen ( details and contact info in the link I posted ) or even possibly a home demo I am sure he will do his best to help you out, he has helped many people on this forum already so I am sure he will do the same for you .

He is based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

It would realy be worth your time and effort imo. *yes3*
 
Electro said:
Oran said:
Thanks for all the advice folks.

Budget is not set in stone. My starting point is to explore the sub £1000 options.

However if there is good reason to go up to the next level then I will consider that.

The Abrahamsen is an interesting option which I did not know about.

Im guessing that it not possible to audition these in the UK?

If you contact Colin about a demo of the Abrahamsen ( details and contact info in the link I posted ) or even possibly a home demo I am sure he will do his best to help you out, he has helped many people on this forum already so I am sure he will do the same for you .

He is based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

It would realy be worth your time and effort imo. *yes3*

Seconded. I believe they have a home trial period but basically you are buying on faith. Believe me it's worth a try. If I hadn't I wouldn't have ended up with the amps I currently own.
 

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