Thinking..........

lmao!!!! good point.

i just did the downsizing. sold off my amps and preamp over the last spring and brought in some temp amps and a solid phonostage, then i was shopping around for a new pre and phonostage, when i decided i love this phonostage and also decided to sell off the monos and just buy a good solid integrated which has everything i like in a single box. so table, phonostage,integrated and speakers is where im at now. once its delivered i will be happy for awhile and get back to my main focus which is -what speakers do i want. lol. trickle down technology most companies are now putting into their integrateds is why there has been such a rage over integrateds lately, its a good way to get a way better sounding system and a way better price than buying separates.
separates are for the people who like to look at lots of gear sitting around. i was one of them. not anymore, sell the separates buy the integrated and a couple sources and be happy.
hmmmm i been eyeballing a sweet vintage thorens lately to add my present tonearm to and then get a new arm for my table.


Steve, In the bold above you are saying you have found the new integrates to be superior sounding to the equivalent level separates????
 
Steve, In the bold above you are saying you have found the new integrates to be superior sounding to the equivalent level separates????
no, i was saying you get a better sound for your buck than separates. the integrateds sounding better than the separates is a matter of what the person likes. i thought my t1500 integrated was 95% as good as the separate l3000 and a5000(not dht's) which would be $6900 as compared to about $30k in separates.
 
lmao!!!! good point.

i just did the downsizing. sold off my amps and preamp over the last spring and brought in some temp amps and a solid phonostage, then i was shopping around for a new pre and phonostage, when i decided i love this phonostage and also decided to sell off the monos and just buy a good solid integrated which has everything i like in a single box. so table, phonostage,integrated and speakers is where im at now. once its delivered i will be happy for awhile and get back to my main focus which is -what speakers do i want. lol. trickle down technology most companies are now putting into their integrateds is why there has been such a rage over integrateds lately, its a good way to get a way better sounding system and a way better price than buying separates.
separates are for the people who like to look at lots of gear sitting around. i was one of them. not anymore, sell the separates buy the integrated and a couple sources and be happy.
hmmmm i been eyeballing a sweet vintage thorens lately to add my present tonearm to and then get a new arm for my table.

I can relate to everything you said. I wish the ate 2001 i just bought had power amp built in. Then it would be perfect. I have often wondered if the vitus ri100 would be the ultimate unit since it is integrated and I believe has slots for dac and phono modules.
 
That guy should take a look at the Peach Tree Nova 125, its a nice compact piece of kit. An integrated high powered amp (200wpc at 4 ohms) with a built in tube buffer and a high quality Sabre DAC with a small foot print.


I am rather lucky. My wife conceded the family room to me. I have a pair of Maggies (and a pair of Def Techs with a center channel for HT use) with my system on a six tier rack and a sub along with a 55" TV. She bought me my first pair of Maggies years ago and suggested that I buy a pair of 3.6's instead of my 1.6's. I regret not buying the 3.6's at the time.

If she ever tires of you send her my way please. Bought u your first pair of Maggies and then encouraged you to buy the. 3.6. A modern day saint.
 
no, i was saying you get a better sound for your buck than separates. the integrateds sounding better than the separates is a matter of what the person likes. i thought my t1500 integrated was 95% as good as the separate l3000 and a5000(not dht's) which would be $6900 as compared to about $30k in separates.

Gotcha Steve, thanks. I agree, much more value in integrated.
 
Toobs-I just noticed the other components that make up your system and I think I have discovered the reason for your "itch"-you don't have any analog in your system. Cripes! No wonder you are breaking out in hives and looking for some salve to relief your "itch." :D

No analog in his system probably is just like me can't stand noise.:)
 
:hey:Guys
Been doing some thinking lately about simplifying my system and here's what I've come up with:

Trade in my Mac Mc275VI amp and my Mac c220 preamp for the Audio Research vsi75 integrated amp.

What you Guys think:disbelief::disbelief:


Well Toobs here is what i think i agree with the change BUT wrong integrated you should have chosen this one.:)

McIntosh MA-8000.jpg
 
:blush:

Toobs-I just noticed the other components that make up your system and I think I have discovered the reason for your "itch"-you don't have any analog in your system. Cripes! No wonder you are breaking out in hives and looking for some salve to relief your "itch." :D

No analog? SHAME! And I agree!
 
I think you need to quit thinking if these are the ideas you come up with. :P Seriously, unless you are under duress from your wife, I wouldn't consider giving up separates for an integrated amp. If you are bored with your McIntosh gear and you are casting an eye/ear towards ARC, I would go with some ARC separates. If you can't swing getting into ARC Ref gear, think about another ARC used line stage and something like an ARC VS-115 amp. Just don't buy an ARC LS17 because they suck.

BTW I'm not married. Also, I had ARC separates but moved to the Mac gear because of the prohibitive cost of retubing the ARC VT100(8 6550's vs 4 kt88/6550's for the MC275.
 
BTW I'm not married. Also, I had ARC separates but moved to the Mac gear because of the prohibitive cost of retubing the ARC VT100(8 6550's vs 4 kt88/6550's for the MC275.

I had a VT-100MKII and dumped it not because it uses 8 6550s (although that is a good reason) but because of the wacky bias scheme. Kevin Deal won't even sell tubes for any ARC VT-100 series amp because of the impossible bias scheme.

Part of what drew me to the ARC Ref 75 is that it only uses a single pair of KT-120 tubes which makes tube matching much, much easier than trying to match a quad or octet. I think push-pull amps that use a single pair of output tubes per channel sound better as well because of the better matching between a single pair of tubes. Plus, the Ref 75 has built in meters and bias pots that are accessible from the front panel. And none of that would matter if it didn't sound great, but it does.
 
Happy you love the Ref 75. Seems like a great amp.

I think it is a great amp and obviously I'm not alone. I'm looking forward to hearing it with the KT-150s as I liked them very much in the Raven amps.
 
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