Quote Originally Posted by Enochrome View Post
Maybe:

1. Integrated Amp or Power Amp (can be controlled by DAC-11)
2. Grant Fidelity DAC-11 or DacMagic
3. Clearaudio Nano, Musical Surrounding Phenomena, or Phono Box Se 2, Cambridge 640p

and you still might have money left over if $1500 is your budget...can you say speakers because from what I looked up your speakers are active only and so all this amp choosing won't matter unless you use it as just a preamp.

You need to decide whether you want to build your system around your speakers or vice versa.

Maybe the most rational approach if you like your speakers for the time being is to go with seperates.
Buy a good preamp and great phono stage, and you are still way south of a thousand. After awhile you decide to get new speakers you will have to buy the power amp for them and that can be tubed or solid state.

Let me know if I am wrong about your speakers, but if I am right, no need to discuss integrateds or the like. I would not personally buy an integrated as a preamp unless you are sold on the power amp it has as well, so you can just get new speakers in the future.
I actually don't plan on using my Behringers. I have been eyeballing Magnepan MMGs all day -- some great reviews for them, and they're not bank-breakers.

Looking at the Nova, its manual says it can drive a pair of speakers between 4 Ohms and 8 Ohms -- so is that total or per speaker? The MMGs, for example, are 4 Ohms each, so their total resistance is lower than 4 Ohms. Looking at the Azur, it can only drive 8 Ohm loads, so the MMGs wouldn't match it.

My plan:
1) Select separate (tube!) phono preamp stage -- either the Bellari or the Pro-Ject Tube Box II (maybe the SE)
2) Select pair of speakers -- either the Magnepans or a nice bookshelf pair on stands
3) Select an amp that can drive the speakers; hopefully it has a DAC, too, but no big deal if it doesn't.

Now the amp seems to be the lowest driver in my aural hunt. For my situation, picking the amp seems to be an exercise in finding one to drive the speakers properly.

Yeah?

-m