Topic: talkin' trash....latest gear thoughts (monitors, integrated amps..etc etc)

[Nick's Picks]

so iv'e gone through a few stereo pieces over the last two months.  What stayed..what went..where I went wrong, I'll lyk my opinion in case in helps anyone.

SPEAKERS
I picked up some Epos M12.2s, for under $500 on agon.  they were in perfect condition and just lovely over all.  I had a chance to put them up against some VR1s that were not yet broken in....and decided I liked the VRs better and then sold the Epos's and picked up a pair of VR1s for myself.
While i'm certainly not unhappy w/the VRs, the Epos were "more speaker" to me.  Better bass response, tighter imaging.  The VRs have a more 3D presentation in terms of depth / width of the sound stage.  They are also a lot smoother sounding which I attribute to a better mid range from that SEAS driver.

AMP
I was driving all of these above w/a Music Hall MAMBO, which is a class A 50wpc integrated amp w/a decent built in DAC.  thinking I needed some more power, I picked up a used Sony STR-DA2000ES.  Knowing full well how these sound, I figured it would be a good thing as I need everything it offers for two channels and DAC duties.  It was the power I was after.
what a DUD.
I set it all up and started to run it yesterday. I dialed it in how I always ran my 3000es and was ready to rock-n-roll....but the amp refused!  What shitty sound comparred to the rich, smooth presentation of the Mambo.  Wattage be damned', that 50wpc in class A easily rivaled the power of 120wpc of "s-master pro" output.  Plus, the mambo is just better sounding all around.
so, back in the box goes the Sony, and the thought of moving up to a Music Hall MAVERICK is going around my head.  Its the same thing as the mambo, only 100wpc of class A action.  I bet that sucker kicks ass.

If only there was a tube integrated w/an on-board DAC.  anyone?
I want to try one of those Shanling SP80 integrated amps.  They make this Music Hall amp, so I bet the more powerful tube version (sans DAC) would smoke, and  they go around a grand on agon used. 
that might be next on the list.