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December 3, 2008 - 10:20pm
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Plinius 8150 (or MF A1) - what do I get?
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Well, I'm sure you already know my opinion.
The 8150 is still one of the best SS integrateds out there, despite its age, no caveats needed. At first, my plan was similar to yours, to get the 8150 as a budget piece which I can sell later. But that's totally not the case, as I'm going to hold on to it for a long time. I've sent mine to Vince Galbo, who's with MSB Technology now, but used to be the Plinius distributor. He's also an engineer, although I forget right now what kind... materials? (You'll sometimes read JM or ST mention him in their Stereophile reviews, as they frequently heed to his recommendations on electrical & cabling matters.) Anyhow, Vince told me that Plinius skimped on the power stage & certain parts to save costs, and he replaces the power stage & mods the crucial parts to make the Plinius 8150 into a pretty much no compromise amp. Depending on mods, it costs $450-650. Anyhow, I'm getting mine back in about 2 weeks or so, will post some thoughts here. Can't wait.
But if you are thinking of selling the gear anyway in 2-3 years, and your listening room is small, then why not go for a top-notch headphone system instead of 2 channel? That way, you won't have to sell your equipment when you move to a bigger place, b/c you'll most likely keep a headphone system anyway. And with your budget you can pretty much do a no-compromises headphone-only system that will require no excuses.
Sorry to throw another wrench in the machine!
Hi Selfdivider-
Well, this is sound advice, but I do need some amplifier and speakers, as I expect that at least one other person would like to listen with me some of the time (:wife
). So many things are a two-body problem actually! If I was going to be 100% selfish, I'd just do what you say of course...
So this time round, it's got to be one or the other. So I'd tend to favour the amp+speakers option, for the above reason. Which speakers would I pair up with the Plinius? Keep in mind, it's a small listening room, an appartment and I'm heavily into classical and jazz.
What's your budget for speakers again?
I want to keep it below $1,000. And if I can keep it below $500, even better
. The volume is always going to be set low, so the important issues are quality-related not quantity. One thing I am really keen on is soundstaging. Have been listening to a fair deal of internet radio on my laptop (shock-horror!) and one thing that it seems to be lacking is exactly that: the music is stereo for sure (or should I say it's certainly not mono?), but it is all over the place. In my car the TOYOTA CD player is better, but the music is still over here and over there, and I don't know where it is really!
http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/907para/index2.html
I use my Plinius with Harbeth speakers. They have a terrific synergy, so I'm thinking if you go with Brit monitors that have similar sonic characteristics as the Harbeths (i.e. ProAc, Spendor, etc.), you'd do very well. There are some monitors at Audiogon for sale, look them up, there should be reviews, user opinions online that could be readily dug up for each model.
Since you say you'll be listening in a small space, and not at loud volume, I'd be curious to try the Tannoy Autograph Minis.
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrmoni&1231692808&/Tannoy-Autograph-Mini-mint-spe
It's listed just under $1K, but since it has the "o.b.o." designation, you might be able to shave some dollars off that price. One thing that makes me hesitate is that the seller is new, and has no feedback. Ask if he has some rating at ebay or talk to him to determine in any way if he's reliable & trustworthy. There's another guy selling the Autograph Minis on 'Gon, and he has a good feedback, but he's selling them for $1500.
If you see a used pair of FJ Minis come up online, snatch them up. They retail for $1300, but they should be perfect for your needs. I saw one pop up on 'Gon months ago, for $500(!) but they were snatched up pretty quickly. Soundstages & images like motherF&*&ers, and oh yeah, plays music with great pace and musicality. For such small things, I couldn't believe they can do bass like that, too. At that MSRP, they are devils, very hard to beat.