Amps for Aerial 7T

[Car commander]

Lol

[clpetersen]

Well my closet won't fit the 7T's, but I do have the 6T's (very happy with them) in our listening-only room. I decided to try the Oppo HA-1 as a DAC/preamp, 30 day trial, and have kept it. Winning feature for the family was the Bluetooth app. I like the class A pre-amp and the Sabre DACs.

Also picked up a small Naim NAP 100 amp at the same time from our local (Boston) dealer, for another room (again not a closet) to drive some DynAudio bookshelf (Excite X14) speakers. At the moment, it is driving the 6T's surprisingly well, at 75 wpc into 4 ohms (the nominal impedance according to Michael Kelly/Aerial).

Looking for an amp for the 6T's, really need no more than 200 wpc; 100 wpc with ample headroom would be fine. (6T's have 90 dB sensitivity according to Aerial).

Recommendations? Prefer solid state, but will consider everything.

Also, the Oppo analog section is a fully balanced design, so balanced inputs at the amp is nice, not mandatory. Simaudio 330A is a contender, fyi.

[Forte 4A]

Originally Posted by clpetersen

Well my closet won't fit the 7T's, but I do have the 6T's (very happy with them) in our listening-only room. I decided to try the Oppo HA-1 as a DAC/preamp, 30 day trial, and have kept it. Winning feature for the family was the Bluetooth app. I like the class A pre-amp and the Sabre DACs.

Also picked up a small Naim NAP 100 amp at the same time from our local (Boston) dealer, for another room (again not a closet) to drive some DynAudio bookshelf (Excite X14) speakers. At the moment, it is driving the 6T's surprisingly well, at 75 wpc into 4 ohms (the nominal impedance according to Michael Kelly/Aerial).

Looking for an amp for the 6T's, really need no more than 200 wpc; 100 wpc with ample headroom would be fine. (6T's have 90 dB sensitivity according to Aerial).

Recommendations? Prefer solid state, but will consider everything.

Also, the Oppo analog section is a fully balanced design, so balanced inputs at the amp is nice, not mandatory. Simaudio 330A is a contender, fyi.

I would look at the new NAD M-22 amp. It will give you 250wpc at 8 ohms and up to 600wpc at 2ohms. Heard them hooked up to a pair of B&W 802's. Handled them very well. Should be a cake walk for 6T's.

[clpetersen]

Thx for the NAD recommendation. Will look into it.

[clpetersen]

Looked into the NAD. Very promising. Comparing to a more classic design, for example the Simaudio 330A - the Sim is fully balanced and has great reserves - power doubles from 8 to 4 ohms and nearly again into 2 ohms.

The NAD just has more raw power being a Hypex design.

But, the Sim draws 40W of power even in standby while the NAD draws 0.5W. I don't mind warming up a supply when I am using it, but in 2014, we light our entire kitchen with 40W (LED).

I actually spoke with Simaudio on this and they acknowledge it is becoming a customer issue, and are working on it.

On a very different note: what about a vintage McIntosh, say the MC7100? No autoformers. Perhaps the NAD is eclipsing these older designs (?).

[Yamaki]

I have a pair of Aerial Acoustic 8's and am seriously considering a pair of slightly used, well cared for MC501's. I like having a bit more power than my speakers will demand just to have the headroom and to protect them from distortion. There are times I drive my speakers hard and I don't want a particularly robust audio spike to kill a tweeter.

The MC7100, with a power rating of 150W @ 4 ohms and 100W @ 8 ohms seems a bit light to fully drive the 6T's, which Michael Kelly has spec'd out to run 50 - 250W @ 8 ohms.

If autoformers are desirable, and in my book they are a great feature, and to have sufficient power so as not to clip the speaker due to distortion, I'd look at a MC252 or MC302 vs. the MC7100.

[anakin]

I'm planning to upgrade my system from integrate jeff rowland continuum 500 to pre/power

my choices are
Karan s270+ jeff rowland synergy
pass labs x350.5+ audio research refference 3

any suggestion ?

I had heard power karan and love it as my first choice.

[PlanarSpeakerFan]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Bryston amps and Aerial have great synergy.

+1

Ivan is so right! I used to have Aerial 10T's with Bryston 4B amp, a phenomenal combination.

Ken

[jmw31]

Bryston 7BST with my 7T's. Love it!

[Ricjor1]

I ended up getting a Peachtree Grand Integrated X-1. It should arrive on 10/22/14. My next step is the source(CD Player) or sub. The sub is for 2.1 only for watching movies and television, not full surround sound. Any sub recommendations for the 7Ts?