Sweet system. From the right dealer, for 40k you could get a set of Magico A5s (24,800), Pass Labs 260.8 monos (13,500), and a Pass XP-12 Pre (5,800). List price is about 4K over your budget, but … This would remove any weak links in your system … Pass gives you the tube like sound w/o tubes.
hmmm. the poster is asking about new amps and you are advising him to buy sealed A5 Magico speakers in preference to his JBL's. the sound could not be any different. JBL is full of life and his JBL 4367's certainly is not his weak link. ...
Moreover, I somewhat agreed with Nicoff who stated...
Yeah, me 2. Fun spending other peoples' money, hey.
Respectfully, he is speaking of upgrading both his amps and preamps; "... Im in the market for to upgrade my amplification ... i will be upgrading the tube preamp as well..." From what I understood he has a budget of 40K for just the amps; "Budget $40k for amplification." So apparently there's another budget for a preamp.
Moreover, I somewhat agreed with Nicoff who stated, "A contrarian view for sure, but if I were in your shoes, I would consider putting the $40k on the speakers. That is where you are going to get the most bang for your buck." Since IMO Magicos sound better than JBLs, I made a suggestion on new speakers and amps that would somewhat fit Nicoff's suggestion.
Magico sounds better than JBL is a matter of opinion and it's a fool's opinion to spend $40k on speakers with afraction of that on the electronics. Seems I remember you using some pretty expensive Pass with $20k speakers not hardly what you are preaching someone else to do.
Of course, I was stating an opinion. That’s what we do on forums. And I didn’t suggest spending 40k on speakers. Reread my post (#8) I suggested Magico A5s which cost $24,800.
Memory??? For the record, I own Pass Labs 260.8 monos which cost $13,500.00. My speakers - Magico A3s - cost $15,950.00 with grills and feet. But the speakers are due for an upgrade.
Moreover, I somewhat agreed with Nicoff who stated, "A contrarian view for sure, but if I were in your shoes, I would consider putting the $40k on the speakers. That is where you are going to get the most bang for your buck." Since IMO Magicos sound better than JBLs, I made a suggestion on new speakers and amps that would somewhat fit Nicoff's suggestion.
You did suggest A5 but then you said yu agreed with Nicoff who did suggest $40k be spent on speakers
Interesting thread. Agree, if one likes their JBL's, doubt that Magico's are going to be to their taste. The JBL's are rated at 94dB; I doubt the monoblocks are going to offer a big performance increase to the stereo. If you are interested in the Essence, you should listen to some of Jay's Audio Lab podcasts.
I own the Essence Stereo. I feel its strengths are 3D imaging, and a nice balance of speed and midrange "palpability and liquidity", if that makes any sense.
I can't comment on Classe. VAC is intriguing to me...
While i tend to agree with this i tried the classe pre by itself and it was very good. I love the features including app control. When i added in the freya tube pre as a buffer stage i gained quite a bit of that “tube magic” warm bloom , air and shall i say naturalness around voices and instruments are the 2 big things i was able to deduce immediately. I really want to try a vac preamp with the classe amps i think that will be a winner. Or the classe pre with the doshi monos. I have to have tubes somewhere.
VAC Master with Classe Monos is incredible. Tubey goodness and Class A.