Thank you Taylor, a beautiful piece that has much more 'heft' than I imagined Thanks Tony, Christmas did come early for me The Amp definitely has that Cary 'meat on the bone' signature that I enjoy One of the advantages of being old and retired is, it's Xmas Break every day
First of all congrats on your amp she's a beaut! Also I very much dig replacing break-in with ripen it just sounds more appealing. Also I personally love the GL KT-77 have fun tube rolling!
I’ve grown up with power amps; I’ve always had those since I was 15. I don’t think I would be able to settle with an integrated as an endgame component.
The Michi S5 is one of the finest amplifiers I have ever heard... in many ways better than D'Agostino and VAC top of the line stuff. Possibly the blackest backgrounds and best image separation of any amp ever. The matching preamp is not nearly as good, sadly.
An endgame amplifier could be just one with superior quality, well built and user friendly, that allows us to build a system around it. It has to be stable, balanced, well equipped, and powerful. It has to look and feel nice. All that... to stand the test of time and will to upgrade. All this could be, for some betting on great value, the Vincent SV-237MKII hybrid integrated. I am using the SV-237MK (identical to the MKII without the Bluetooth) and am loving it...it simply extracts the best of every speaker in my system, to a new level. The build quality makes some pricier amps look like a toy. It takes time to burn - at least 500 hours - so have this in mind. In the end, it not a wrong thing if it is affordable
Probably not ready to call it an end game integrated at this point, but after bringing home a Boulder 866 on a whim to demo I fell in love and just placed an order for one. The demo piece in the pick had to go to the next guy, now the wait…
At some point in time will probably go to Yamaha AS3200 from my Yamaha AS2200 but right now no need still very very satisfied with it. But someday Love these amps
End game integrated amp for me is something that doesn't have to be crazy expensive, something that give me musical joy, I won't obsess over it, and won't worry much if something bad were to happen to it.
Just now it's Sugden A21 I'm listening to "happily" for many days every kind of musics. Not end game amp. (maybe) but I feel it is this one .
I've never had tubes or class A so I'm thinking a Line Magnetic 518IA or Audio Note OTO SE for tubes and a Luxman L550AXII or Accuphase E-280 for solid state. I've got Cornwalls so I don't need lots of watts. Since I've already got an AB solid state I'd want to try a tube amp first. That way it's less likely to be a sideways move in terms of sound. At my age whatever I choose next could my endgame amp. Ha!
That LS550AXII looks mighty nice. Maybe someday. I bet even though it says 20 watts Class A .. I bet the total Class AB watts once it goes there is more like 100. The first 20 watts are class A and then it probably puts out a lot more after that. It’s built like a brick house !
i keep a couple smaller integrateds around for bedroom system or testing speakers etc. and to get a different taste than my usual separates system: Almarro A205A Red Wine Audio Signature 15 probably my end game integrateds? i dunno. But both quite enjoyable in their ways and affordable on the used market
Unison Unico Nuovo is where I get off the integrated merry-go-round. It'll be either this or separates for me.
It is an integrated amp, see: SoundStage! Equipment Review - Esoteric A-100 Integrated Amplifier (6/2008)
Not sure but I’m guessing something made in Japan with 300B tubes and lots of silver that costs over 100k. Always a good recipe!
You are, of course, correct. When I searched the first thing I saw was a review of the Esoteric A-100 power amplifier, probably an error in my search term. It's very nice but not as gorgeous as my MOON Simaudio 700i.
Back in the 50’s when I lived at home with my parents we had a Clairtone console all in one that I thought was real nifty. If you were to have asked me then I would have picked I as my “end game” unit for music. Strange but somehow I wouldn’t make the same choice today.
