stereo receiver/amp recs?

[dnsacks]

anyone know the cheapest retailer to find one of these? as many people fluff these units, i bet someone has shopped around and can save me the legwork

A quick browsing for the str-da3000es on froogle.com found this -- http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=654377&store=ecost&source=ewbfroogle&adcampaign=email,ewbfroogle

A refurbished 3000es for $462.74 

Sound of the sony es series -- I find these units' best feature to be their amazing soundstage and imaging and WARM, natural sound.  I believe the digital nature of these beasts contributes to this -- if your primary listening material is digital (opposed to analog), then at a minimum, this deserves a listen.  I say this because all imputs are converted to digital and upsampled to dsd (the format used by sacd).  I believe that much of the sonic signature of these puppies is derived from this dsd upsampling.  Note -- you feed these amps a digital signal (spdif).  Thus, the cd player, dat deck, etc. merely serve as transports to feed the amp and you're in effect purchasing a d>a, receiver and amp all wrapped in 1 package.

Enough fluffing

[Nick in Edinboro]

How would you classify the "sound" of the ES line?

Is it warm? or... Analytical and un-colored? or... somewhat bright and shiney? etc.

The speakers in my potential playback rig are very flat and uncolored and I think would benefit from a little warmth. Somehow the digital nature of the sony doesn't seem like the right fit just from thinking of it but who knows.

What kind of budget do you have. The Jolida hybrid integrated amps are moderately priced, especially if you find one on Audiogon, and should add some nice warmth to your system. The preamp section of the amp is tube based which adds some nice warmth while the amp section is solid state to keep it affordable. I don't personally run one but a friend of mine has one (I forget the model) and I think it sounds very good for the money.

I could be arm twisted into spending around, eh, $500 or so at the most probably.  Although if I were to come in at something lower I'd feel better about myself

The speakers are a pair of Axiom M22's I'm going to be picking up from another board member here sometime soon.

[jbraveman]

I've been happy with the Outlaw 1050 which is discontinued. The new 950 looks pretty sweet.

Josh

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

What kind of budget do you have.  The Jolida hybrid integrated amps are moderately priced, especially if you find one on Audiogon, and should add some nice warmth to your system.  The preamp section of the amp is tube based which adds some nice warmth while the amp section is solid state to keep it affordable.  I don't personally run one but a friend of mine has one (I forget the model) and I think it sounds very good for the money.

Can you find out what model Jolida?  I've been considering a 1501 but I don't know anyone who has one and I'd like to ask some questions about it if that is what your friend has.

[Nick Culbreth]

What kind of budget do you have.  The Jolida hybrid integrated amps are moderately priced, especially if you find one on Audiogon, and should add some nice warmth to your system.  The preamp section of the amp is tube based which adds some nice warmth while the amp section is solid state to keep it affordable.  I don't personally run one but a friend of mine has one (I forget the model) and I think it sounds very good for the money.

Can you find out what model Jolida?  I've been considering a 1501 but I don't know anyone who has one and I'd like to ask some questions about it if that is what your friend has.

Sure, I'll find out and let you know.

[Craig T]

for <$300 you can get a Panasonic XR50.  I run the now discontinued XR45 and love it.  if you need HDMI, the XR70 is +$100.