I respect your opinion of component and speaker sound profiles and enjoy reading your shared insights into their sound characteristics. I'm not sorry I followed your praise of the ART9XI. Hell, you just saved me $40k! Too bad indeed. That's a design aesthetic I think my wife might even endorse.
No plans to get rid of my 19-year-old Bel Canto eVo2 Gen II until it croaks. No problem driving my speakers, and i have an outboard DAC and phono preamp, so nothing to go wrong there. I don’t even touch the tone or balance controls, just input selector and volume. $3,200 street price. I paid $600 six years ago.
I started a thread about this very topic recently. A step down transformer is all you need to make the Japanese version work in the USA. A competent technician should be able to also do the conversion internally of you prefer. Both void the warranty. I’m not sure what the AC math is for Hong Kong.
I forget the name but it's a very rare Line Magnetic amp that costs about $15K. There's one for sale in Australia and I need buckets to contain my drool. Here's what the seller stated; "Single ended 805 tubes with a chassis/transformers combined weight of around 75kg (165 pounds). These units are not made anymore and I was only able to purchase this after waiting 18 months for a special production run."
Cheers. Yeah, defo end game as I’m replacing 30year old Mission Cyrus combo with my retirement gift to myself. Itching to break in to the new goodies and it did feel good to update my profile. I love the features on the amp and will make a change from the Cyrus minimalism. Good luck on your upgrade journey.
I feel the same way. My Croft Phono Integrated is the only component I've ever regretted selling. That said, I'm running an LFD NCSE MkII and absolutely love it, but I'm eying the latest version - the NCSE HR. Dunno if that's the end-game integrated for me, but I also can't imagine wanting more.
The writer means the Luxman is an excellent place to start your search. As in, try it first; you may not have to look further.
The industrial design is by Oliver Raymond Industrial Design, which has done work for Porsche Design and Mercedes-Benz. I've not heard a Rossi, but based on everything I've read and heard from others, his amplifiers have a reputation for excellent sound. I've considered his earlier integrateds - the L2i and, before that, the Lio - but have never found one in a configuration (the Lio) that met my needs or a price (L2i) I could afford, so I've never auditioned one. That said, I'd love to. Each subsequent Rossi integrated has seen a significant jump in price, and the Bramma runs $38,000.
Since I have never taken a step down that path past selecting and buying what I have, I must plead ignorance. If I had the money to buy an end game integrated, presumably I could afford to update my other components as well. So pairing well, especially with the demands of the speakers, would narrow the menu. With that tortured disclaimer, I would love to try some of the well known UK products like Naim, Rega, Sugden, etc. paired with various BBCs, ATCs, Proacs, etc.
that said, after my 1990 PIONEER VSX-D1S A/V Receiver finally called it quits, i jumped at the excuse to try the 2001/2002 VSX-47TX out for cheap, a $3000-some AVR that caught my interest back in it's day, when i was just fresh into Hi-Fi. not bad at all. much better built than the D1S, and so much like an AVR/Int. Amp hybrid that it takes the edge off of lusting after the A-91D rather nicely;
Mine drives a pair of Spendor D7 floorstanders and to my ears it sounds wonderful. I’ve heard similar things about Harbeth speakers.
Somethinng in silver - Luxman, Accuphase, a big Sugden or Yamaha 3000 series would all do it. The Primare i30 will need to suffice for now.
I’m currently very satisfied with my modest Naim Nait5si, but eventually I’d like to move up to a SuperNait3.
Many of my endgame listed amplifiers are Class A, and I have been trying to understand what is the power consumption when working and when in stand by, because: - electricity’s cost is high - they sound the best when left on But sadly it is rare for a manufacturer to publish that precise information. For exemple the Musical Fidelity M6si500 consumes up to 2000w!! Ouch... What is the experience of all you Class A users?
I certainly do not leave my amp powered 24/7. My L-550A ll uses about 0.68 amps x 230v which equates to about 156 watts. The first reading is x 1 and the second reading is x 10 for better accuracy. The readings seemed low to me so I checked it against a fan heater which confirmed I am using the meter correctly. NB. I don't usually connect my amp up using an extension cable and an AC line splitter.