Hunting for the right integrated amp. I would appreciate your opinions and biases

Apologies for a longer post. I have read so many posts similar to this here and I see the more educated community asking the OPs the same questions over and over, so I tried to be more thorough.

I recently got a new turntable and speakers. Now I am looking to upgrade my Amp.

My current equipment:

I have an upgraded Rega Planar 2. It has an Elys 2 Cart and Tone Arm rewiring and upgraded RCA Plugs from Brit Audio. See Here: Tonearm Rewire Service

I have Human 81 Speakers. See here: Model 81

My Amp is a Cambridge Audio Topaz SR10. I do not like it. I never have. It's clunky. The Knobs don't work well. It just feels cheap. I paid $200 for it new at Crutchfield 5+ years ago. It replaced a very nice sounding 1970 Kenwood amp. That sound warm, detailed and as the volume increased, the sound never deteriorated.
I loved it... but it died.

My room is fairly small at 15 feet wide and 35 feet long. Set up is decent, but not optimal.

My hearing isn't what it was. I am 50ish. My ear isn't well trained. I just want warm, rich, full sound like I used to have.

So, Despite spending $2000+ to upgrade my system, it feels like it is missing muscle and soul.

I have been looking for an integrated amp for 2-3 months, but have not pulled the trigger.

The Rega Brio ($900) and Arcam SA20 ($1000 B Stock) are at the higher end of the price spectrum, but doable. I have heard the BRIO on better equipment than mine and it sounded great.

I have also been looking at the Rotel A12 ($650-$799) and the Rotel A14. ($899 B Stock)

I have looked at the Yamaha 810. $799-$850

...and lastly, I have been looking at the PS Audio Sprout ($699).

I really do not have confidence trying to buy used or vintage equipment. I don't want the hassle of doing it online and there really aren't any stores in my area that specialize in it.

I am open to other brands than those I have listed. I am just not terribly familiar with them. That's the problem. I haven't heard any of these and it's tough to imagine what they might sound like.

I really want the Sprout to work because it has so many bells and whistles... it's small. I like the company...
I can take it if I move to Europe next year or the year after... but I am afraid it may leave me wanting.

I would have bought the Brio already, but it has no bells or whistles and I have been distracted by other amplifiers.

I will primarily use the Amp to play my Vinyl LPs. I will also use it to stream music from my phone/computer. I may or may not use it for my TV or Xbox...

Am I leaving anything out?

So, It would be great if any of you have these components and like them or if you could tell me which would be an upgrade from my Cambridge Topaz SR 10.

By upgrade I mean, richer, fuller more detailed sound... and doesn't seem cheaply made.

Thanks, G

 

Is your hearing diminished evenly, across the board, at all frequencies, or is it mostly the highs? If it's mostly high frequencies, you'd be much better off with a treble knob and/or a loudness button.

 

I usually find myself turning the treble down and turning that base up. I sometimes get a foggy muffled sensation in my left ear like when your ears need to pop or it has water in it. I have been to the doctor. He drained my ear. I go for check ups. My students can play ringtones on their phone I can't hear, but they can.

 

But those ringtones are high frequencies, right? Either way, I'd think you'd want the flexibility that tone controls will give you.

 

From your list alone, I think the Yamaha A-S801 is a great match to drive your Human 81 speakers. If you’re looking for a lovely embrace that can show plenty of muscle too when needed, the A-S801 will do it with your speakers.

 

I forget ... how efficient are the Human 81's? You might also consider the Rega Io at $500-ish(?) ... rich, detailed sound, but it strikes me you may desire tone controls.

I owned a pair of 81's once, a great audio bargain. Wish I'd kept them, probably be perfectly happy ...

 

If you want warm I'd go with the Rega Brio. Love mine.

 

When you've lost high frequency hearing, everything is warm.

 

The 801, the SA20 or a pre-owned Elex-R would be my top choices.

The Elex-R is on the warm side of neutral with excellent timing.

 

The Yamaha bluetooth adapter recommended is discontinued. What else would be recommended?

 

Not familiar with your speaker, but I would say CROFT.

 

I recently bought a Rega Elex-R and used it for awhile in a 'just vinyl' system. It was great.

My go-to amp in this price range is the Hegel H95, but if you want an amp with a built-in phono you can't go wrong with the Rega.

 

Buy it from somewhere with a reasonable return policy and just try it! Now a fuller richer sound at low volumes, that might be better served by a Yamaha with variable loudness.

On a different note, careful that most 2-channel equipment does not have highpass filters for bass management if you want to add a sub later. If your 8" Humans put out all the bass you need, then don't worry about this. If they strain at high volume, then eventually you'd want a sub AND a highpass filter (because without it your mains will just keep straining...mainly on the plain with the rain in Spain? )

 

Hi!

I bought a new Marantz PM 6006 about three month ago for 350€.

I do also have a small room and do not push the volume beyond 80dB. The best thing for me is that it has a loudness botton. It's always on.

I had much more expensive gear (1,500€) in the past, but this Marantz is just fine. It is not flawless but overall more than fine.

Bye Andrea

 

Just a heads-up on the Marantz; a new model has been released: PM6007,

Depending on the type of music you normally listen to, the Rotel models may or may not do it for you. I've demoed the A11, A12 & A14 and wasn't thrilled by them. A couple of years ago, I purchased a Rotel RA-1572 integrated and, at first, was very pleased. However... as time went on, I noticed it didn't handle fast / busy music particularly well and it is now looking for a new home having been replaced by a pre amp / power amp setup in Nov 2019. The RA-1572 has been boxed since then, save a brief A/B test, and will eventually be moved on.

 

I'm on the hunt for a decent integrated amp as well and am curious by what people think of this one...
The IOTAVX SA3...

 

Bench tests here:

IOTAVX SA3 Stereo Amplifier Review

FWIW apparently this company is just using an OEM called "Tonewinner" for their amps. Performance seems respectable but not state of the art of course.

If it were my money I'd buy a decent Yamaha instead.

 

The Topaz line was CA's budget line. It has since been discontinued.

Have you talked to your speaker manufacturer about a new integrated yet? If not I would talk to them. Ask them what they recommend, which will at least give you a starting point for a possible home audition...

And that bring us to the next point. Are you willing to home audition any of these? That's what I'd probably try to do if you are not sure about what you want. At least try to get them in groups of 2 or 3 and see what sounds best with your speakers, in your home, and return whatever you don't like. This is probably the best approach to avoid ending up with something you're not happy with. Even if you like the sound of a particular amp, practical features and usability issues may cause you to prefer one over the other.

Are there any dealers you can work with locally? Sometimes you get a dealer to let you take a demo unit home with a deposit. If not, you'll have to play the "buy and return" game most on here do.

 

This is not a small room.

 

Few people on Earth know anything about IOTAVX or IOTA Enterprises. It's a startup-ish company that is selling direct. The integrated amp is inexpensive though - US$499 - and ships from the UK. Curiously however - and I checked the rear panel photo carefully on the IOTA Enterprises web site - there's no country of origin or country of manufacture listed. The interior photos of the integrated amp also don't inspire confidence because it looks like a Chinese cheap parts bin. Such low cost for this kind of component screams very low quality. Lack of an origin stamp also sometimes screams drop-shipper - somebody who orders cheap from an off-shore catalogue and slaps his own brand badges on it. I also note that there's no Underwriters Laboratories (UL) stamp or certification either, so no guarantee of electrical safety.

Initial sound quality might actually be respectable. Then, a few weeks or months later, the cheap caps start to drift way out of spec and/or die, a couple of diodes blow, and the unit is dead. That's how this sort of stuff goes. Believing or just hoping otherwise - the repetitive history of this sort of stuff seems to strongly show - is just wishful thinking. Unless someone has money to quite likely waste on an audio component experiment, look elsewhere.

To enter the audiophile marketplace with something reliable and long lasting that doesn't quickly drift out of spec or fail requires prototyping, beta testing and a bona fide engineering group in-house (as opposed to just lip service about engineering), a well designed board, and at least average quality parts. I don't aee any of that at all. The "best" people, as IOTA boasts, don't come cheap so who are they? IOTA doesn't say, at least not on their web site. That's another clue that the company might be nothing more than drop-shippers, all of the Zero Fidelity yak about "four years in development" notwithstanding. The historical association with the Nakamichi name as a licensee deal that fell apart smacks loudly of the Nak trademark owner finding out that the (IOTA) people were putting together a drop-ship operation on a larger than normal scale and pulled out/cancelled the licensing deal. Think about that for a moment. Can any of us imagine the Nakamichi name on one of these boxes full of cheap Chinese parts?

Still, I'll be happy to be proven wrong. How about a couple of photos of the busy UK factory or design offices if they exist?

 

See my post upthread. IOTA stuff is made in China and uses an OEM design from "Tonewinner". Basically a branding/marketing company AFAIK, like many others in the hi-fi business.

 

. . . which means that Zero Fidelity's regurgitation of "four years in development" was inadvertent B.S. Mr. ZF should be a bit more careful in future.

I particularly love 'new' audio components that include the word "audiophile" in their descriptor.

 

The "four years" was probably things like financing, branding, shopping for factory/OEM designs, etc. Not actual ground-up design.

ZF is a marketing guy too if you look into his background. That's basically what his channel does - it provides a marketing service to different brands that send him products. Many channels operate this way and few put things through torture tests or measure anything. They are basically useless to me.

 

I would believe any of the solid-state amplifiers would be better than your present amplifier. However, I never heard a solid-state amp sound as good as a tube amp. Tube amps need NOS preamp tubes to play their best. The speaker specs do not state your speaker efficiency, but 60 watts should drive them well. You do not need an expensive tube amp to sound good. I recommend the Yaqin MC-100B tube amp. It needs a phono amp for the turntable. The Yaqin needs Sylvania 6SN7GTA and Mullard 12AX7 long plate replacement tubes is sound best. I believe a $3K+ solid-state amplifier would be required to approach the tube sound.

 

I still think it's a bad idea for someone with diminished hearing to take equipment advice from folks with good hearing.