[Alberto]

Originally Posted by C220MC275

Damn ! i am so furious.
Midnight yesterday, I was finishing my post and ipad shut down by no more battery ! Lost everything !
I wish Apple could have make a recover like what we have on PC's....

The news are not good for my Shindo wish.
I called the former french importer yesterday.
He told me that I was crazy.
He said
1/ you should listen to them on your speakers before buying
2/ I won't sell them for ypu if they don't fit because they will be like an illegal importation
3/ Shindo amps are very difficult to match with non Shindo preamps. And your Mc has an opposite sound signature to the Shindo sound. What you plan to do is a non sense. The opposite is true : you can match Shindo preamps with many different amps.( eh eh...maybe I could buy a Monbrison I 'm thinking now....: a bit too complicated to use 2 preamps in the same system...)
4/ after that, he talked to me around 20 minutes about Leben amps. He said they match more easily, they have more power and on the CS660P he suggested, I can try KT66, EL34.... according to my tastes and this way tuning the sound like I want to....)

Of course, he may not be 100% honest since his interest is to sell me something he carries, but this man was the first in France to sell real Hi Fi in a real auditorium. He has a reputation of extremely good service and all the systems I listened to in his shop were always extremely musical. He selects the gear with a great attention.
So I cannot pass away his advice.
The only thing I can say now is that probably, one day, I will really NEED a change of sound. This may be in 1 year or in 10 years or even more.... Who knows ? this day, I will think seriously about a complete Shindo set up, because you my friends, Alberto and Stephen, lighted a fire that will not stop.
But until that day, and you were right Alberto, I WILL STOP TO READ YOUR POSTS ABOUT SHINDO !

Jerome,

Your dealer may have some self-interest, but he's also right on many points. The funny thing is that I was going to write to you today suggesting - since you are looking a push-pull amps - a Leben integrated as a possible alternative which may be (I am not sure) ROHS compliant. Shindo and Leben are often discussed together. My Shindo dealer also sells Leben and they look fantastic. I have not auditioned them, but all the reviews I've read point to a sound signature that definitely qualifies as delicious.

When I started my new journey from the McIntosh + Sonus Faber system that gave me many years of pleasure. I had a clear objective of trying something very different - namely low-power, class-A/SET with high-efficiency single-driver (or coax) speakers. I wanted to learn a lot about something new, because I enjoy learning. But this also made a lot of sense for my smallish room and my growing appreciation of delicious over analytical sound. I was fully prepared for the chance that I would not like it and, at a cost of a few thousand $, go back to my previous set up.

I knew that to truly experience this new sound I would need to change pre, amp AND speakers. I also took advantage of fortuitous timing and opportunity to acquire the components at good prices and without much hassle.

Your situation is very different. You are planning to add just an amp to an existing system, and you would have to do it at full retail price and with a lot of hassles (i.e. getting the amp through a dealer in another country.)

Bottom line. If you have the desire to try something new, the Leben CS600 series might have enough power for your speakers - but I am not sure - and it's something you can try with lower risk. Can you get your dealer to arrange an at-home audition of the Leben?

Alberto