Champagne amps for beer money needed!

[Diapason]

Or to give this thread another title: Talk me out of buying a Parasound A21.

Late last year I picked up a pair of Sonus Faber Elipsa Reds, and very beautiful they are too. I knew when I bought them that my amps probably wouldn't work (OTL, not really ideal for the SF impedance curve) but as it turned out they did a better job than I was expecting. However, I'm now approaching the point where it's time for a change as the mismatch is starting to make itself known and it's beginning to bother me.

Now here's the kicker: my budget is virtually zero, since I'm in the process of commissioning a pipe organ for the nerdcave and that's going to suck up all of my disposable income for the foreseeable future. I could sell my GRAAFs and release roughly 4,000 Euro or so. I *might* be able to cobble together a few thousand Euro on top of that, but even that might be asking too much as things stand. As you can see, my options are a bit limited, even in my preferred used market.

My long-suffering local dealer is great and lets me take home and demo anything interesting that wanders into the shop, but in Ireland we don't often have a wide array of options. He recently loaned me a Parasound Halo A21, and it really lifted the performance of the speakers to a new level. I liked it immediately and it was continuing to improve when I had to give it back. Still, I had one or two misgivings in terms of a lack of soundstage depth, a lack of sparkle, and *maybe* a slight lack of control in the bass. That said, it's the front runner in terms of things I've heard.

My friend then kindly loaned me a Krell FPB300 (c? x? I can't remember) and that gave another convincing performance. The bass wasn't maybe quite as deep as the Parasound (surprisingly!) but it was punchier and better controlled, and there was a bit more clarity all round. There was, however, a little bit of SS glare in the upper-mid which I find very off-putting. Despite the fact that the Krell was "better" in many hifi ways than the A21, I was slightly less inclined to listen and didn't race to turn on the system every spare moment. Not a great sign.

The same friend then loaned me his Jadis JA80s (with KT120s) so I could see what quality valve amps could do if the impedance mismatch was taken away. These were superior in the midrange, bringing back the sparkle and palpability that the SS amps somewhat lacked, and they had a certain rightness that was very beguiling. However, I missed the control and drive of the SS amps, and all told I think the valves were too much of a good thing with the Elipsas. Sweetness on top of sweetness perhaps. Apart from that I'm a bit over the valve thing for a while, and would love a hassle-free amp that I can just switch on and listen to with a minimum of fuss.

Along the way I also borrowed a Musical Fidelity NuVista M3 from my dealer that wasn't at the races. Early on I borrowed a Devialet 200 and didn't fancy it. Tomorrow night another friend is bringing over a pair of Cary 500w monos (I assume the SA 500.1) so that will be another test.

In terms of other interesting things that my dealer has on hand there's a Krell KSA80, a Lavardin IS reference, and that's about it. I'm not expecting the Lavardin to work, but they've surprised me before. I'll borrow the Krell at some stage too to see if that could tide me over, but I'm a bit worried about the age.

So, in many ways I should probably just buy the Parasound, shut my ears to its failings and enjoy what it does well. The problem is that I can't shake the feeling that we're being had with Parasound pricing over here, and even though I think the RRP of roughly €3,600 is fair value, it just galls me to see the prices in the US. Ideally I'd like to hear JC1 monos, but at €12k-€14k new that's not going to happen, and they never seem to pop up used.

Of course, the real problem is that bar something ideal just landing at the local dealer, anything else will have to be purchased without the chance to demo it. As such, anything I buy will need to be marketable in case I have to move it on again.

So, good people of AA, what would you do? Are there any other amps in the €3k-7k arena (new or used) that you think would be a match made in heaven with the SFs? Realistically, I won't have budget for a pre any time soon either, so the amp will have to work ok with a direct connection from my Wadia. (At least the output there is adjustable in steps from 0.4V to 4.5V or something, so that gives some flexibility). In terms of sonic preferences, I'm looking for openness and ease, but if I have to choose I'll take warmth over etch.

Any advice gratefully received!

PS Today I got it in my head to see how much Burmester stuff sells for over here, and it seems that a 911 mkIII could be had on the used market for roughly 9k Euro. Now, that's a bit away from where I am, but I'm wondering if I should be thinking in that direction instead? Again, there'd be no chance of hearing one in my system, but I have a feeling a stereo 911 mk3 would be a step up from the kind of amps I'm talking about in this post. As you can see, my mind is all over the place here...

Edit: I just realised how long this is. If you read the whole thing, thank you!

[bart]

PM sent

[greekgod]

Before I even started reading your post, I jokingly thought to myself, it is too bad you can't get Burmester on a beer budget because those amps are just pure champagne.
But then I realized you are in Europe where they are a bit more affordable on the used market than they are over here in North America.

By the end of your post, you end up mentioning Burmester so my vote is for one of those without a doubt. There really is nothing better than a Burmester so you would never have to worry about needing to upgrade. I have no idea how well it would work with your Wadia though. Eventually, it would be ideal to also get a matching Burmester preamp.

[Randy Myers]

I would suggest looking into California manufactured amplifier... (not sure if Parasound is, I think they might still be made in California???)...

Check out Wyred 4 Sound... hand made in California by the people who used to build PS Audio OEM. Started their own company about 9-10 years ago now and have gotten editor's choice awards from Absolute Sound for past seven years or so.

They are also backed with full 5 year warranties...

[Superfrg]

For buying a great powerful amp on a budget, check out ATI.
Their reference 6000 series is great, and can also be specced for more channels if needed.
Its balanced and a fantastic bang for the buck.

I had a Parasound A21 before, and even though I have a sweetspot for Parasound the ATI is a better amp for me, by quite a bit.
I've tested out some amps 2-3 times more expensive since, but kept my ATI.
Its used with a Arc Ref 5SE pre.

Theres a new 4000 series which is also great and balanced, for lesser money.

You dont get any bells or whistles, the casing is somewhat bland, but its one of the more expensive parts of an amp and alot of money can be saved here.
7 years warranty, you get the manual in printed paper and nothing else - all the cash is in how it sounds.

ATI builds amps for Mark Levinson, along with many highend brands.
Some would say that the 6000 series looks a whole lot like the 532H Mark Levinson amp inside.

I bought mine from Lsound online in Norway, which had a return programme at the time.
Never used it obviously

[Randy Myers]

Another one to look into is Job. Job is manufactured by Goldmund, same assembly lines, same parts for the most part. Very industrial cases, none of the glitz of the Goldmund cases, same insides with basic outsides... NO ADVERTISING.... NO MARKETING, NO MIDDLE MAN... sold exclusively straight from the Goldmund factory. It took less than 10 days for mine to arrive from Switzerland... Yes, they are Switzerland built and oh do they sound good.

Job name plate, really inexpensive; Goldmund name plate and Glitz, 10x the price.... Yes the same amp with Goldmund name runs about 10x as much.

They now also offer very nice mono block versions...

By the way, very nicely packed in double boxes, etc. Obviously the same pride is put into the product!

Oh, the box says "Goldmund, model: Job 225"

[BlueFox]

Two Cambridge Audio 851W amps in bridged mono mode. The 840W models give my Pass amps a run for the money until we get into insane SPL territory.

https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/products/851/851w

--------------------------------------------

Lumin S1
Pass XP-20 pre, X600.5 amps
Magico S5 speakers

Shunyata Triton v2/Typhon for source, Cyclops v2 (2) for amps
Shunyata Z Anaconda XLR analog ICs, Z Anaconda speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Revelation Audio Passage Cryo-Silver Reference DB-25 umbilical power cable

Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits.

[Diapason]

Great responses so far, and some names I've never heard before too...

[Randy Myers]

Background on a couple of the names. Wyred 4 Sound came out of Cullen Circuits who were an OEM producer for several big names, including PS Audio. One of their top engineer started Wyred 4 Sound.

Goldmund is a very high end manufacture out of Switzerland. They are actually listed in the manufactures threads along with a couple others as Ultra High End... The Job models have been around for a while but not widely known because they do not promote them. Their are a some other manufactures who do similar things. The Job model gets very high ratings... compared with products several times their price. You could find reviews on 6moons, among others. The website is as basic as you get. Allows you to get the incredible Goldmund sound without the incredible price of the Goldmund name tagged equipment.

[Diapason]

I spent a *lot* of time yesterday (when I should really have been working) reading about those Job amps. Intriguing....