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.