Arcam A19 vs Hegel H80

[rainsoothe]

the Abrahamsen seems to be getting a lot of love, so if it has nice smooth highs and is a but warmish, it should solve the OP's issue. And for the moneys, it seems like a great bargain.

 

[iQ Speakers]

Its also a very natural sound no harshness. On the other hand it bounds along with great timing notes stop an start precisily giving a great sence of timing. The UP is heavilly biased into class A and runs warm but no where near as warm as my Sugden A21SE. A chap on HiFi Wigwam has had one to carry out a detailed review which hopefully he should publish soon. When I asked about collection and what he thought of it he said Fantastic!!!!!!!!!

 

[paulselwood]

I agree too. Arcam A19 & B&W 685s2, do not work. Far to bright, for me. May be my cambridge CD550, bit to bright. This year I have change try four different speakers. I can say, that when I had the b&w 685 on a first, I smile big time. But after week or so, too bright.

With hifi you never be happy.

 

[Fiore]

hm... The MLs are indeed great speakers, but reading around on your HK amp says that it can be a bit bright. Combine that with the ribbon tweeters, and you might get some harshness. I've seen a review of a guy that uses the HK only as a preamp into a tube amp - i forget the brand - so if you know your way around tubes or know someone who can help, this might be a sollution. Another is to look at 1k-ish amps that can handle 4ohm loads. The Roksan K2 is not a bad idea actually, AND it has great power. Another suggestion would be a 2nd hand Naim Nait XS (the first model, not the XS2). Peachtree, used Creek Destiny 2 and Marantz PM8005 might be worth looking into as well. You should try and audition these (if you wanna upgrade), otherwise I don't think there's another sollution to your problem except for changing the speakers to some Q Acoustics maybe (which, of course, will be cheaper, but soundquality might not be enough for you after running the MLs). I, for one, would save up for a used Naim Nait XS or a Marantz PM8005/Creek Destiny 2 (for a more relaxing, but still awesome sound).

Another suggestion would be Croft Phono Integrated, but I don't know if it has the juice for 4 ohm speakers.

I just wonder which amplifier could have the most laid back & warm sound pairing with a little bright sounding speakers like Martin Logan 35xt if choosing among Rega Elex R, Roksan Kandy 2, Creek 50a, Naim 5si, Arcam FMJ a19. Or maybe the hybrid amplifiers like Audio Analogue or Unison Unico can have such a sound. I wished that my CD tracks could sound like vynil, I am just a fan of that sound...

 

[radiorog]

hm... The MLs are indeed great speakers, but reading around on your HK amp says that it can be a bit bright. Combine that with the ribbon tweeters, and you might get some harshness. I've seen a review of a guy that uses the HK only as a preamp into a tube amp - i forget the brand - so if you know your way around tubes or know someone who can help, this might be a sollution. Another is to look at 1k-ish amps that can handle 4ohm loads. The Roksan K2 is not a bad idea actually, AND it has great power. Another suggestion would be a 2nd hand Naim Nait XS (the first model, not the XS2). Peachtree, used Creek Destiny 2 and Marantz PM8005 might be worth looking into as well. You should try and audition these (if you wanna upgrade), otherwise I don't think there's another sollution to your problem except for changing the speakers to some Q Acoustics maybe (which, of course, will be cheaper, but soundquality might not be enough for you after running the MLs). I, for one, would save up for a used Naim Nait XS or a Marantz PM8005/Creek Destiny 2 (for a more relaxing, but still awesome sound).

Another suggestion would be Croft Phono Integrated, but I don't know if it has the juice for 4 ohm speakers.

I just wonder which amplifier could have the most laid back & warm sound pairing with a little bright sounding speakers like Martin Logan 35xt if choosing among Rega Elex R, Roksan Kandy 2, Creek 50a, Naim 5si, Arcam FMJ a19. Or maybe the hybrid amplifiers like Audio Analogue or Unison Unico can have such a sound. I wished that my CD tracks could sound like vynil, I am just a fan of that sound...

Almost certainly the most laid back and warm sounding with be the k2. Jumping from one extreme to another though can be the wrong thing to do. You might only want something a little less bright than you already have. I would also recommend a k3, spending that little bit more really makes sense for having something long-term, it sounds spot on!