Best integrated amp for PSB Goldi's

[Huck]

Hi: First post here, and I am looking for suggestions for which integrated amp would work well with my PSB Goldi's. I listen to good rock and rather loud, I have a fair size room,which is 12'widex 26'long x8'high closed with one door. Right now I am using a Yammie a/v receiver@80x5. This receiver does not do the Goldi's justice and find it annoying to play loud, as the sound seems very bright, although I have the treble at the lowest position! Due to rack space and lack of receptacles I am really looking for a one box set-up, I would prefer s.s. and 3k$ tops! Any help? Thanks, Huck:confused5:

[Feanor]

Hi: First post here, and I am looking for suggestions for which integrated amp would work well with my PSB Goldi's. I listen to good rock and rather loud, I have a fair size room,which is 12'widex 26'long x8'high closed with one door. Right now I am using a Yammie a/v receiver@80x5. This receiver does not do the Goldi's justice and find it annoying to play loud, as the sound seems very bright, although I have the treble at the lowest position! Due to rack space and lack of receptacles I am really looking for a one box set-up, I would prefer s.s. and 3k$ tops! Any help? Thanks, Huck:confused5:

What's best for you. That depends on your ear and pocketbook.


Personnally I like my Bel Canto eVo2i integrated, but it's been discontinued, replaced by the PRe3/S300 pre/power combo. For your $3k budget, I'd look at that combo very seriously. Also I'd certainly check out the PS Audio GCC-100. There are myriad other possibilities that others might suggest. :D
http://www.belcantodesign.com/products.html

http://www.psaudio.com/products/gcc_control_amplifiers.asp

[Huck]

Thanks Feanor for the comments! What are some audio components( integrated amps) that are considered" bright", as I want to stay away from these. I hear NAD gear is somewhat"dark". That's what I may look into. Nad has a new integrated amp(M-3) which has 175x2@8 ohm.Not available here in Canada as yet! Bel Canto has a new integrated(300i) also not available yet. Maybe I wait till all the "bugs" are out, then look around! Thanks, Huck

[Glen B]

Thanks Feanor for the comments! What are some audio components( integrated amps) that are considered" bright", as I want to stay away from these. I hear NAD gear is somewhat"dark". That's what I may look into. Nad has a new integrated amp(M-3) which has 175x2@8 ohm.Not available here in Canada as yet! Bel Canto has a new integrated(300i) also not available yet. Maybe I wait till all the "bugs" are out, then look around! Thanks, Huck

How about a used Classé CAP-150 or CAP-151 ? These come up on Audiogon and Ebay once in a while and are within your budget range. I use Goldi s with Classé amplification.

[Feanor]

Thanks Feanor for the comments! What are some audio components( integrated amps) that are considered" bright", as I want to stay away from these. I hear NAD gear is somewhat"dark". That's what I may look into. Nad has a new integrated amp(M-3) which has 175x2@8 ohm.Not available here in Canada as yet! Bel Canto has a new integrated(300i) also not available yet. Maybe I wait till all the "bugs" are out, then look around! Thanks, Huck

I'm in Canada too, of course. There aren't may Bel Canto dealers in Canada: one in Toronto, one in Calgary, and one in Regina who does mail order ...
http://www.everestaudio.com/price-pages/Bel-Canto-Design-S300-Stereo-Amplifier.htm

Neither the 300i nor the PRe3 are available anywhere yet except to reviewers ...
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/eone3/prepower.html

Note that integrateds are less flexible than separates. I would say avoid them unless you are quite financially constrained.

[Huck]

Thanks Feanor: I have dealt with Everest Audio before! The one dealer in Toronto has a trial period for Bel-Canto gear. I am looking into integrateds only due to lack of rack space. Later, Huck

[superpanavision70mm]

As a fellow PSB user and lover I can only recommend some of the mixes that I have heard before. First, NAD is an obvious choice for PSB..they seem to balance each other out very well. I recently began using PARASOUND for my Image towers and I am loving the result. Marantz also makes some decent stuff that the PSB line take well to. Keep in mind that you want some flexibility...I like that you are thinking 'integrated' amp. Are you currently using any type of receiver unit?

[Huck]

Hi Super: I am using a Yamaha a/v receiver for now! I bought this receiver to use to break-in a pair of Khorns which I was saving for, but never materialized, so I grabbed the Goldi's. I may start saving for a quality integrated, but I may try the new Bel-Canto, or maybe a PS Audio class "d" unit, just to see what class"D" sounds like. They may be too bright, class d being that way, is what I thought/read! Maybe something quality "used" will come up in the meantime? I also want to try the new NAD M-3 integrated (175x2 @8ohms), but a $3200. Can$ price tag is hard to swallow! later, Huck

[RGA]

Try and view the system as a whole rather than as individual componants - granted that's the way most stuff is sold because it's too expensive to drop large coin all at once but what happens is generally where you find yourself -- trying to "fix" the sound of the speakers and possibly the room with amplifiers that sound duller. And while it may indeed get rid of some brightness it may in a few months bring about something else you don't at all like but you missed it because you were so happy to get rid of the brightness.

I have only head one NAD sound lifeless or dull and that was the 320bee -- no doubt it gets rid of a lot of metal tweeter zing but it also has no balls to be able to drive the Stratus Gold. Unfortunately their big power NAD 370 while it has oodles of power (1Kw into 1ohms) it also sounds rather aggressive and may actually make the problem of brightness worse.

The Class D PS Audio that was brought to our session was easily trumped by some Odyssey amplifiers. The D amp does not have enough welly to be able to muster it up with inefficent loudspeakers -- no knock on the amp because many others will find inefficent speakers a chore.

Personally I would not be trying to buy an amp to fix the speaker -- I would sooner wait for the K-Horn or some other easy to drive speaker you like to come around again and sell off the Gold and let someone else deal with being on the "amp trap" road. With HE speakers you can pretty much drive any amplifier with it -- and then instead of buying amps based on power alone you can turn your attention to buying amps based on their sound quality. With the better HE speakers you will get a greater sense of scale impact and the physical pressure of the instruments in your room - which I never got with any PSB speaker I have heard. They play loud and fairly clear mind you with the top of the line Adcom Separates we ran with the Gold but I could not get past the cold sound. Though note that the measured response is quite good for these speakers -- it is a question of whether or not what is being measured is of use to your ear.

Go to the HE forum at audio asylum for possibly more available HE speakers -- there are other horns out there besides Klipsch and the there are other HE speakers out there besides horns. http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/hug/bbs.html

[Huck]

Thanks RGA: I think I want to stay with the Goldi's and I think that part(most) of my problem is my room,very hard(live), Thanks for everyone's comments! Huck

[jrflanne]

I have a pair of Stratus Bronze that I hooked up an old NAD T770 HT receiver and it sounded great. Bought a used Chiro 5-channel amp and they sounded really great. Got rid of the NAD and hooked up a Lexicon DC-2. Not so great. Awfully bright and harsh at high volumes. I'm thinking about trashing the whole system (or better yet, moving it into the bedroom) and get back to 2-channel.

[superpanavision70mm]

Ok, I asked around on this one a bit and I have heard great recommendations from other PSB owners. One guy in particular suggested that if you want to really give your PSB's some life than go with a big block amp from either Rotel or Krell. He is using that big sucker Krell makes that weighs 200lbs! Ha..

[Huck]

Hi Super: Thank, but I don't have room on my rack for an extra amp and pre-amp, that's why I am looking for integrated advice! Thanks, Huck

[Feanor]

Thanks Feanor: I have dealt with Everest Audio before! The one dealer in Toronto has a trial period for Bel-Canto gear. I am looking into integrateds only due to lack of rack space. Later, Huck

Huck, consider that the PRe3 and e300 together will take up less space than a typical integrated by itself, (such as my own eV02i).

[Huck]

Hi Feanor and everyone else: I may look into the new Bel-Canto PRe-3 pre-amp and the S-300. I didn't realize that the PRe-3 is only 8.5" wide. The S-300 is also 8.5" wide, so both will fit on my empty shelf. I owe the govment some tax money and then I will arrange to have a "home audition" of these two pieces. This will be my first class"D" amp, so I hope they work out with the Goldi's! Thanks, Huck :cornut: