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Power Amps - Recommendations?

D

Dongle

pfm Member
I am looking at setting up a 3rd system with a Linn Majik DSM and (likely) Dynaudio speakers. I plan to use the Linn as a preamp only so am after a decent power amp to drive the Dyns properly.

I have looked at a couple of Cyrus X's and Audiolab 8200p's but have never owned either brand so wondered if anyone can steer me in the right direction; with either of these or other recommendations, please?

I also considered an Exposure but can't find one at the moment.

The only caveat is that it has to be silver.

Thank you!
 
Budget £750 absolute max and preferably £500 ish. I listen to all sorts - rock, jazz, ambient, classical.

Essentially it's something that will do the Dynaudios greater justice than the Linn's onboard amp.

Any thoughts very welcome. Thank you.
 
Depends what you’re looking to achieve. The Quad mentioned above would give a bit more volume but not necessarily any better quality. Jason Kennedy had the DSM driving B&W CM10 and PMC Fact8 speakers in his review.
 
HAS to be silver rules out many options... Otherwise avoid the Cyrus (reliability issues), Quad good, Audiolab good, Krell good and many others.
 
I'd recommend Densen. They have a wide range of power amps, which comes in a choice of silver or black. You should be able to find used B-300 within your budget. I recall they offer 100W into 8-ohms and double down to 200W into 4-ohms. So, they should be plenty for your Dynaudios. Danish amp for Danish loudspeakers. What's not to like?
 
I'd avoid Cyrus kit. I had a DAC XP (dac/pre) which just stopped working one day when it was only about 4 years old. Cyrus were able to repair it but that's shoddy. The Cyrus power amp I used with it for a while just sounded thin. The kit was moved on and not missed.
 
It would bust my budget but am very tempted to go for one of the Nord Hypex Amps - they are monsters power wise and get absolutely rave reviews.
 
Linn Klout - great powerful amp. Will fit Linn, drives most of the speakers and sounded great with my Naim pre.
 
Someone was selling an XTZ power amp on the ‘Wam. Allegedly better than its integrated sibling and that is a blinder of an amp. Class A loveliness...
 
The Musical Fidelity A5cr power amplifier works very well with Dynaudio speakers IME. It worked very well with both the Dyn Contour 1.8 MK2's and the Dyn Contour S3.4's I owned previously. It should be doable, within your budget, on the used market.
 
mesak said:
Linn Klout - great powerful amp. Will fit Linn, drives most of the speakers and sounded great with my Naim pre.
Click to expand...

The majority seem to be black, so a Klout would probably also need a re-spray. (Radiatior heat-resistant aerosol paint? :))

Having said that, trying to decide recently what to dispose of and what to keep, I hooked up my Klout to a pair of Majik 140s and was really surprised at how good the combination sounds. I had never got on with either before, but (with 20/20 hindsight) had clearly not been giving either a fair crack of the whip. (A Roksan or a Cyrus Pre-amp would have been in the mix somewhere, iirc.)

So the (belatedly) obvious conclusion is that synergy is crucial. Box-swapping may be indicated if you're upgrading incrementally from a low initial budget, but mixing and matching can be something of a lottery. It seems logical to pair a DSM with a Klout.
 
I had an Exposure amp once, really liked it. Was very stable on my Quads. Would get another. In fact just the other day I thought if I were starting from scratch I'd get a pair of Spendors and an Exposure amp and call it a day.
 
Jodet said:
I had an Exposure amp once, really liked it. Was very stable on my Quads. Would get another. In fact just the other day I thought if I were starting from scratch I'd get a pair of Spendors and an Exposure amp and call it a day.
Click to expand...

To be honest it's probably down to an Exposure 3010S2 or a Nord Nord One SE UP NC500DM .
 
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