Integrated amp

[admin_exported]

Hi

Please could you suggest an integrated amp for my vinyl based set up? My budget is a rather broad £1500 - £2500.

Townshend Rock 7, RB300, Lyra Delos, EAR 834P Deluxe, Linn Classik, Monitor Audio S1

The parts I'm looking to upgrade are the Linn and the MA speakers, at some point.

Occassionally DVDs get played through the amp ("watching films in big sound" as my wife calls it). Any CDs would get played through the DVD player.

I am however a little unsure whether to carry along the valve route or get a solid state.

An integrated isn't essential, but would save space.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Cheers

Steve

 

[audioaffair]

Hi Steve, welcome to the forum

The new Primare I32 is within budget and offers a wide range of abilities. The Primare I30 it replaces was in production for several years and one of our favourite amps - very smooth (and almost valve like) but with the transient attack of solid state. The I32 by comparison sounds even better to my ears and offers a very open sound that should match with your current set-up (possibly with 800 series Focal speakers as a future upgrade to the MA?)

If you hadn't mentioned valve, I would have recommended the Musical Fidelity M6i which is also quite stunning but errs on the brighter side compared to the warmer sound of the Primare I32. If you really want the warmth of a valve amp, one of the finest within budget is the Pure Sound 2A3. Either this or the I32 would leave a little money left over for an upgrade in speaker cables should you decide.

I'd recommend listening to both at the same dealer if possible to really compare the differences between (possibly two) solid state and valve at this level. Happy listening

 

[gregory]

If space is not an issue then the new Croft range is hard to beat, valves all the way for me especially with vinyl although there are some good solid staters out there but i just feel after valves why go solid state, saying that Sugden is nice.