Student_Driver
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2009
- Posts
- 62
- Likes
- 13
As an introduction, I'm a long time audiophile having explored the high end 20 years ago with my first Maggy/Conrad Johnson/Audible Illusion 3A/Audio Note system. Have taken a hiatus with the obligations of raising children, a career etc.
Am not temporarily away from the family for a year, in Europe and have decided to get back into music listening once again. My current setup is my MacBookPro with some 16/44, 24/88, 24/96 music feeding my Apogee Duet. Have on order an upgraded Breakout cable with RCAs which I found on eBay and am using Van Den Hul speaker cables. Listening room, approx 15' by 22' wood floors, small area carpet, and listening levels will be very moderate as I do not want to get into problems with the neighbors. Listen to everything. Baroque, opera, jazz, haight ashbury classic rock, etc.
Have just purchased Monitor Audio 'Gold' GS-20s and have on loan a Rotel -04 SE while I evaluate the Amp situation.
My choices are as follows. Purchase a fully integrated amp and feed line out from the Duet or use the Duet (and/or Pure Music) to control a stereo Amp feeding the line level inputs.
At the shop where I bough the MA GS20s, they had a Quad 909 (for EUR 680, demo) which sounded great but at moderate playback levels one of the channels failed.... Not sure what happened but the salesperson mentioned that the fuse is inside the unit and they have to take it apart to check. Unit sounded great, reviews have been favorable... but reliability... wonder..
The rotel at 40wpc/8ohms sounds surprisingly good. Keeping it is a possibility (EUR 400).
Alternatives in the market place include, a VTL 75/75 (used EUR 800), Primare i-21 (demo EUR 800) and an Electrocompaniet ECI-3 (personal classified EUR 1000). Have been looking on AudioMarkt.com (many dealers, sellers will not ship internationally) and AudioGon (but it does not really make sense to ship to Europe from USA, and there are voltage issues).
In an ideal world, the amp would be switchable from 110/220V, but not critical. I can always sell the amp before returning to the USA.
Idea is to balance cost/performance and buy used or demo if that gets me the best outcome.
Any thots?
Am not temporarily away from the family for a year, in Europe and have decided to get back into music listening once again. My current setup is my MacBookPro with some 16/44, 24/88, 24/96 music feeding my Apogee Duet. Have on order an upgraded Breakout cable with RCAs which I found on eBay and am using Van Den Hul speaker cables. Listening room, approx 15' by 22' wood floors, small area carpet, and listening levels will be very moderate as I do not want to get into problems with the neighbors. Listen to everything. Baroque, opera, jazz, haight ashbury classic rock, etc.
Have just purchased Monitor Audio 'Gold' GS-20s and have on loan a Rotel -04 SE while I evaluate the Amp situation.
My choices are as follows. Purchase a fully integrated amp and feed line out from the Duet or use the Duet (and/or Pure Music) to control a stereo Amp feeding the line level inputs.
At the shop where I bough the MA GS20s, they had a Quad 909 (for EUR 680, demo) which sounded great but at moderate playback levels one of the channels failed.... Not sure what happened but the salesperson mentioned that the fuse is inside the unit and they have to take it apart to check. Unit sounded great, reviews have been favorable... but reliability... wonder..
The rotel at 40wpc/8ohms sounds surprisingly good. Keeping it is a possibility (EUR 400).
Alternatives in the market place include, a VTL 75/75 (used EUR 800), Primare i-21 (demo EUR 800) and an Electrocompaniet ECI-3 (personal classified EUR 1000). Have been looking on AudioMarkt.com (many dealers, sellers will not ship internationally) and AudioGon (but it does not really make sense to ship to Europe from USA, and there are voltage issues).
In an ideal world, the amp would be switchable from 110/220V, but not critical. I can always sell the amp before returning to the USA.
Idea is to balance cost/performance and buy used or demo if that gets me the best outcome.
Any thots?
