Hello Everyone,
I have been mostly into tube audio for the last decade or so and it’s been an absolutely enriching and learning experience. My main system is almost setup to my heart’s content now and a big credit to that goes to Viren Sir of Lyrita Audio. Can’t thank him enough for the support he has provided me along this journey. He is a fantastic human being and an astute audio wizard.
Anyway, with the primary system now set, I can now focus to give some time and energy to my second system. Since the main setup is tubes and horn speaker based, it excels at giving me a rich, natural and texture-rich sound. Vocals, Jazz, Strings, sound excellent on it. However, since I listen to a wide variety of music including progressive house, electronic, dub, ambient, etc., which comprise of a lot of synthesised bass and other elements, I am putting together this second system so I can get a tight sound which is P.R.A.T. oriented, if that makes any sense. The rationale is to have two systems which have their strengths in absolutely different domains and they don't try to invade in each other’s territories.
I have taken the first step to recently acquire a pair of Monitor Audio Platinum 200 FS speakers for this setup. This is an NOS pair of the previous version of the PL200. I already had bought a Monarchy Audio DAC with a DIP combo so that’s gonna do the DA duty.
I would like to hear suggestions from you guys regarding which amplifier should I be looking at to pair with my MA speakers so I can get an open, transparent, fast and yet non-fatiguing sound. My preference is to go for a solid state integrated amp which has enough juice to drive these 4ohm loads. My room is not big and initial experiments indicate that anything around the 150 watts mark with good current delivery should be a more than ample choice. That much wattage also just so that there is good headroom. The amp should have nice control over the bass frequencies. Id like a taught bass delivery.
Basis my research so far, I have been looking at options from LFD, Belles (their Aria integrated seems nice), Odyssey, Primare, Sugden, Usher (not sure if there was any good integrated from these guys), Quad 909 (liked this amp when paired with Magnepan LRS, but not sure how the sound will be when paired with MA. Also, again its just a power amp), Symphonic Line, Accuphase. Also, the Acoustic Portrait’s Thiyaga amp had good power specs, think 180 watts. But having never auditioned any of these amps apart from the 909, I won’t be really sure about which one to go for. Or to look at any other brand as well.
This is a confusing list as the amps cover a wide price range. I agree, however, since I haven’t been in the market for such offerings in a long time, I’d like to get to know the best choice possible for my speakers. I am very happy to go the pre-owned route as well and have opened a thread in the ‘Wanted’ section.
I have also gotten impressions from some folks I speak to about all things audio/hifi, that MA wasn’t a good choice in the first place, but it seemed like a good choice for the kind of sound I was intending to attain. Early impressions have not certainly been bad, rather it is playing electronic music like a boss!!
Happy to get your thoughts around this please. Thanks in advance.
Cheers
Kartick
I have been mostly into tube audio for the last decade or so and it’s been an absolutely enriching and learning experience. My main system is almost setup to my heart’s content now and a big credit to that goes to Viren Sir of Lyrita Audio. Can’t thank him enough for the support he has provided me along this journey. He is a fantastic human being and an astute audio wizard.
Anyway, with the primary system now set, I can now focus to give some time and energy to my second system. Since the main setup is tubes and horn speaker based, it excels at giving me a rich, natural and texture-rich sound. Vocals, Jazz, Strings, sound excellent on it. However, since I listen to a wide variety of music including progressive house, electronic, dub, ambient, etc., which comprise of a lot of synthesised bass and other elements, I am putting together this second system so I can get a tight sound which is P.R.A.T. oriented, if that makes any sense. The rationale is to have two systems which have their strengths in absolutely different domains and they don't try to invade in each other’s territories.
I have taken the first step to recently acquire a pair of Monitor Audio Platinum 200 FS speakers for this setup. This is an NOS pair of the previous version of the PL200. I already had bought a Monarchy Audio DAC with a DIP combo so that’s gonna do the DA duty.
I would like to hear suggestions from you guys regarding which amplifier should I be looking at to pair with my MA speakers so I can get an open, transparent, fast and yet non-fatiguing sound. My preference is to go for a solid state integrated amp which has enough juice to drive these 4ohm loads. My room is not big and initial experiments indicate that anything around the 150 watts mark with good current delivery should be a more than ample choice. That much wattage also just so that there is good headroom. The amp should have nice control over the bass frequencies. Id like a taught bass delivery.
Basis my research so far, I have been looking at options from LFD, Belles (their Aria integrated seems nice), Odyssey, Primare, Sugden, Usher (not sure if there was any good integrated from these guys), Quad 909 (liked this amp when paired with Magnepan LRS, but not sure how the sound will be when paired with MA. Also, again its just a power amp), Symphonic Line, Accuphase. Also, the Acoustic Portrait’s Thiyaga amp had good power specs, think 180 watts. But having never auditioned any of these amps apart from the 909, I won’t be really sure about which one to go for. Or to look at any other brand as well.
This is a confusing list as the amps cover a wide price range. I agree, however, since I haven’t been in the market for such offerings in a long time, I’d like to get to know the best choice possible for my speakers. I am very happy to go the pre-owned route as well and have opened a thread in the ‘Wanted’ section.
I have also gotten impressions from some folks I speak to about all things audio/hifi, that MA wasn’t a good choice in the first place, but it seemed like a good choice for the kind of sound I was intending to attain. Early impressions have not certainly been bad, rather it is playing electronic music like a boss!!
Happy to get your thoughts around this please. Thanks in advance.
Cheers
Kartick
