Ivan, in your case everything ($, watts, sq.ft., ...) is a few decimal points to the right -- but somehow I think you'll manage just fine :thumbsup:.

Alberto

Alberto...congrats my friend. It's another step closer to the delicious sound of live music. With the addition of the Shindo interconnects, A23 speaker cables & Mr.T you'll never leave your home.

Good Listening,

Dave

Sent from my iPhone using A.Aficionado

Dave, don't say that "you'll never leave your home." I am already dangerously close to that :D ... I get home from work and zip to my listening room. Emerge for dinner. Finish eating ... and zoom back into my listening room. Wake up on week-end and zoom into the listening room.

I think my wife would prefer I had a proper, old-fashion, affair at this point :D.

Alberto

Alberto,

Thanks very much for the advice. Your words are gold.
This is what I sent to the Greek importer :

"Dear Mr Batjakis,

Just to give you more informations about my system and motivations.
My aim is probably to keep the 2301's and have the choice to switch between them and the Shindo amp(s) depending on my mood / type of music played and so on.
My preamp is the McIntosh C1000P. It has 3 or 4 outputs for power amps. So the 2301's and the Shindo amps would stay connected all the time to the preamp. And I will only switch the speaker cables depending on which amp I want to listen to.
My speakers have a 4 ohm nominal impedance and 89 dB efficiency.
I don't want to change them because I love them.
I also love very much the 2301's : they are the best amps I ever heard, no matter the price. But of course, I did not hear everything.
I want to try Shindo amps because they are supposed to be very different than many amps and this would give my system some "fresh air".
I would prefer monoblocks but I'm also opened for a stereo power amp. "

What is strange is we had a couple of mails since this morning and since I mentionned the 2301's, he did not say a word :scratch2:

Of course, I won't buy a Shindo amp if I can't listen to a system who uses it.
But I'm confident I will like this kind of sound. I think that we have similar tastes.
There is a small Shindo club on the french hifi forum. The guys look pretty cool and open minded. I will try a "trade listening" if they want to : go to listen to a Shindo amp and have one or two of them come to hear the 2301's if they want to. That should be easy.

About cutoms finally, no problem. The dealer reminded me that, opposite to what we could think, Greece is in the EEC ( :D )and therefore, no customs control will be made in France !

BTW, I wish we could have in France the same customs as greeks.... :D

You'll be the first informed with Stephen of what's going on here !
Cheers,

No regrets here...

http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/ear0295l.jpg

:lmao:

:roflmao:

Alberto...you are now in the Green Waters.

Dave

Sent from my iPhone using A.Aficionado

Great news about customs. I had thought about the EEC rules, but figured you knew something I didn't. That makes it a lot easier!

Getting in touch with the local Shindo club sounds like a great idea. I am sure they are a passionate bunch and would love to share their system.

Alberto

PS Your idea of using your preamp to drive two different amps is great. I am a believer in flexible systems (you might recall I used 2 preamps to change to the sound based on the quality of the source material.)

If you do that, you can afford to go to extremes and go for the full SET sound without being concerned that it would be too rich or smooth - since, if the recording (or the mood) calls for it, you can switch back to the more neutral sounding MC2301s.

Sounds like a great plan!

Alberto

Thanks Alberto,

Yes I like also the idea to tweak the sound depending on the recording / mood / time of day and so on. I will even keep the ARC 100.2 for ambiance music and my son's parties...
Moreover, collecting tube amps is a funny hobby :D !
The greek importer told me that the Lafon GM70 could be not enough for my speakers because he said that the power of 20 W is for 16 ohms only. At 8 ohms, it goes down to 10 W. He suggested Corton Charlemagne, but I 'm not looking for an other push pull of KT88.... : I have the King of them !
So I will wait for his other suggestions...

I would definitely not go for another push-pull KT88. It would not sound different enough. On the other hand, it might be difficult to find a really high-power SET amp.

I would not rule out the Lafon entirely or quite yet. You mention that you rarely go above 3W. While 10W will not be enough for big symphonic music played at realistic volume (or rock played quite loud) I believe it would be more than adequate for more intimate and quiet listening sessions. I would also add that class-A/SET watts "sound more powerful" than your typical watts. Don't ask me how or why, but it seems to be the case.

In other words, you can use the Lafons for some sessions where the music and the target volume are suitable - and you have the "big guns" MC2301 if you want hear Mahler with full volume and dynamics.

I did this quite a bit when I had my MC501s. Sometimes I would plug in the Bottlehead SET (2W/ch) and still have a great (if lower volume) listening session.

Alberto