Magnepan 3.7?

[RGA]

Okay, okay...tubes then, how's about the Vincent TubeLine SV-236MK integrated amplifier...both TAS and Sterophile seem to approve (never heard it myself). Lota rave reviews for $2k.

Vincent amps are made by the same company that makes some of Grant Fidelity's amps - the difference is Grant Fidelity admits it while Vincent seems shy to. Not a big deal but the Vincent monoblocks are very likely made by Shengya which I reviewed. So if this is the case and I believe it is then Vincent will be very very good value. The PM 150 monoblocks sound a lot better than the GF Rita which is already one of the best deals out there for a very powerful tube integrated.

Tube Fan - I think my problem with Valin is kind of alluded to by audiofederation in that he doesn't seem to have a clear idea of what he likes and therefore likes too much stuff IMO. The problem with being a reviewer is that we usually have to choose stuff we like and the more we like the more we get to review and the more we review the more polific we are and the bigger name we get for ourselves. When you hate most stuff and like very little then you can't be prolific and therefore you don't get a "big name" or seen all over the web. And I'm sorry but there just isn't that much stuff that is very good that is out there.

Audiofederation kind of reviews John Valin here http://audiofederation.com/blog/archives/778 and like them I do agree with Valin some of the time but for me anyway on the really important sounding rooms IMO he's off base from my take on it.

PS Tube fan - they may have finally made a CD player that will trump "most" turntables - Mike has a good ear - I met him at CES and mostly we agreed across the board. AN digital was already the best out there IME by a significant margin and if this raises the bar exponentially over their other cd players then I hope to hear it once it is broken in and set-up properly - it wasn't at last CES but should be for next show - although a CD player for $185,000.00 is not exactly cheap. http://audiofederation.com/blog/cate...io/audio-note/