eattoride
eattoride's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 months 2 weeks ago
Joined: Sep 7 2009 - 5:52pm
Cremono speakers - want to upgrade from integrated to separates
commsysman
commsysman's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 3 months ago
Joined: Apr 4 2006 - 11:33am

You are not saying what price range you are considering, but since those are not cheap speakers, I assume that $10,000 or so is not unreasonable.

I think that the preamp that I have is hard to beat, and also the amplifier. I have been listening and improving my system for 30 years, and am extremely happy with the superb sound of this equipment.

They are the Audio Research LS-26($6000) and the Bryston 3BSST2 $3500). If you want even more power, you could go up to the 4BSST2($4500).

Given the efficiency rating of your speakers, however, I am sure that the 3B has more than enough power. Yours are more efficient than mine, and I have far more power than I need in a VERY large room.

Audio Advisor has the specs and info on the amplifier, as does the Bryston website.

ncdrawl
ncdrawl's picture
Offline
Last seen: 12 years 11 months ago
Joined: Oct 18 2008 - 9:18am

http://www.lebenhifi.com/products/rs28cx.html

id go with this and
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1263834597

the above..

.

my top 3 would be krell, plinius, and pass labs.

dcstep
dcstep's picture
Offline
Last seen: Never ago
Joined: Sep 16 2007 - 4:59pm

Think hard about staying with integrated, but moving up in power and quality. The Rowland Continuum 500 will give you all the power you're likely need, combined with a SOTA pre-amp section. There are several other choices, like the Conrad Johnson CA200, Krell units, PS Audio, etc.

Separates open up a world of issues with extra interconnects, power cords and isolation devices. Take a quality intergrated, add a top end PC and use high quality ICs to the sources, high quality speaker cable and put the amp on a high quality isolation device, like the HRS M3 and you'll have a superior system for much less investent. Don't think only of the cost of the amp(s) and pre-amp, but also include isolation, ICs and PCs.

Dave

struts
struts's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 10 months ago
Joined: Feb 1 2007 - 12:02pm

+1 for Dave's recommendation of a quality integrated. I haven't heard the Rowland myself but I would strongly recommend the Boulder 865 of which I have a great deal of experience. It sounds SUPERB, costs $12,000, and as WP put it "It's simple, and it's darn near perfect." Amen.

Log in or register to post comments
-->
  • X