Amp recommendation 600 - 1000 euros

[TimoK14]

Hi All! Newbie here,

I've been very happy with the setup i've collected in my recent audiophile journey but always had feeling the comete's could give me more. Especially in stereo listening they lean on sounding a bit thin and missing that last bit of body and sound stage depth.

My current setup:

• Fronts: Triangle comete ez's
• Center: Triangle Voce ez
• Rears: KEF Cresta's
• AVR: Marantz Cinema 60
• Turntable: Audio Technica-LP5X
• I currently don't own a subwoofer seeing the comete's deliver pretty impressive bass, but might add one later down te line.
• Room is about 28m2
• Mainly use Spotify connect and the LP5 for music

My plan is took look for an amp with HT bypass so i can connect it to my cinema 60 and power the comete's. Preferably with a good phono stage(the cinema 60 has one, but i think the one in a dedicated stereo amp might be better?)

I auditioned a NAD C 368 and audiolab 6000a a while back, and while i did hear a good amount of improvement they didn't really blow me away enough to buy either of them for the asking price back then (around 700 euros). Seeing most of the more expensive models back then have dropped in price, I'm now back on the hunt.

My current shortlist (budget is around a 700 - 1000 euros max(living in the netherlands, europe)):

• Arcam A15
• Audiolab 7000a
• Musical Fidelity M3si
• NAD c 379
• Emotiva BasX A2 or A3(bit of a wildcard)

Any recommendations?

 

[voodooless]

Any recommendations?

If the Marantz offers enough power, there isn't really much to gain with a different amp. Rather, you lose all kinds of features, like bass management and room correction, which influence sound quality much more than any new amp will. So save the money, or get a sub after all.

Potentially, you could benefit from a separate photo stage. Several have been tested here at ASR, so you might want to look at some reviews:

Search results for query: phono

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[JeremyFife]

Hi, and welcome

It's an interesting question and, as @voodooless says, the answer is probably not to change your amp, not without more thought anyway. You've already tried a couple of decent amps and found that they didn't make enough of a difference.

Your Marantz is designed to integrate a sub/subs - seems like a sensible option to try

I don't know your speakers, and haven't seen measurements, but that is often the best place to look for an improvement.

 

[somebodyelse]

Potentially, you could benefit from a separate photo stage. Several have been tested here at ASR, so you might want to look at some reviews:

'Potentially' being the operative word because we've not seen measurements of the phono stages in the LP5X or Cinema 60 to compare with the external ones.

 

[TimoK14]

Like I said in the post i did notice the improvement in sound on these "lower level" amps, so it seems like having this dedicated power for stereo does make a difference. Im just curious if a higher level integrated or even just a power amp would improve this even further? Besides this I do think the phono stage on a stereo amp would be a upgrade from the "all in one" cinema 60 right?

Thanks for all the replies!

 

[voodooless]

Like I said in the post i did notice the improvement in sound on these "lower level" amps, so it seems like having this dedicated power for stereo does make a difference.

How did you test that? Probably you did not do this properly.

 

[TimoK14]

How did you test that? Probably you did not do this properly.

No, you're right i definitely didn't have the proper setup. I ran the NAD in power amp mode, the audiolab in poweramp mode and trough its streamer and dac(it was the play version), picked a couple of tracks i know and changed the amps from track to track. But even then i was pretty able to distinguish the sound of the 3(/4) amps.

 

[voodooless]

But even then i was pretty able to distinguish the sound of the 3(/4) amps.

If you actually watched the video, you would understand that this can’t work reliably.

 

[digitalfrost]

These are not the exact same speakers, but if the measurements are anything to go by, I am not surprised by

Especially in stereo listening they lean on sounding a bit thin and missing that last bit of body and sound stage depth.

Triangle Esprit Comete Ex loudspeaker Measurements | Stereophile.com

Sidebar 3: Measurements The Triangle Esprit Comete Ex is significantly more sensitive than the norm, my estimate of its voltage sensitivity coming in at 91dB(B)/2.83V/m. While its impedance magnitude drops below 5 ohms in the lower midrange and mid-treble (fig.1, solid trace), and the electrical...

www.stereophile.com

A company that delivers this, which is much too hot treble and a fake bass is sure to produce sound like that.

Looking further I found measurements of the Comete EZ here: https://www.i-fidelity.net/testberichte/hifi/triangle-comete-ez/seite-5.html

On axis:

In Room:

You have a rising frequency response above 3khz and you have no bass. Do you have the ability to EQ? Seeing that the box is tuned to 60hz, try the first filter at 60-65hz, Q 1.41 and just raise the gain until you like the bass. Start with like 3dB. For the high frequency, try 8500hz, -2.5dB, Q 1.2, alternatively if you can do high shelves, try 5000hz -2.5dB.

I am pretty sure this will go into the direction you want to go. If you cannot EQ, tell me a song that you like and I will EQ it for you, so you can hear if the changes go into the right direction.

Also, to open up the soundstage use an EQ at 3khz, Q 1.41 and just slowly raise the gain until the sound stage opens up, even 0.5dB will go a long way.

Buying a new amplifier will not fix this.

 

[voodooless]

Do you have the ability to EQ?

He has access to Audyssey by default, Dirac Live optional.

@TimoK14, do you actually use one of the two?

 

[TimoK14]

These are not the exact same speakers, but if the measurements are anything to go by, I am not surprised by




View attachment 488163

Triangle Esprit Comete Ex loudspeaker Measurements | Stereophile.com

Sidebar 3: Measurements The Triangle Esprit Comete Ex is significantly more sensitive than the norm, my estimate of its voltage sensitivity coming in at 91dB(B)/2.83V/m. While its impedance magnitude drops below 5 ohms in the lower midrange and mid-treble (fig.1, solid trace), and the electrical...

www.stereophile.com

A company that delivers this, which is much too hot treble and a fake bass is sure to produce sound like that.

Looking further I found measurements of the Comete EZ here: https://www.i-fidelity.net/testberichte/hifi/triangle-comete-ez/seite-5.html

On axis:

View attachment 488174

In Room:
View attachment 488167

You have a rising frequency response above 3khz and you have no bass. Do you have the ability to EQ? Seeing that the box is tuned to 60hz, try the first filter at 60-65hz, Q 1.41 and just raise the gain until you like the bass. Start with like 3dB. For the high frequency, try 8500hz, -2.5dB, Q 1.2, alternatively if you can do high shelves, try 5000hz -2.5dB.

I am pretty sure this will go into the direction you want to go. If you cannot EQ, tell me a song that you like and I will EQ it for you, so you can hear if the changes go into the right direction.

Also, to open up the soundstage use an EQ at 3khz, Q 1.41 and just slowly raise the gain until the sound stage opens up, even 0.5dB will go a long way.

Buying a new amplifier will not fix this.

& @voodooless: I do use MultEQ XT 32 and getting myself more familiar with using the umik-1 for calibration but im far from an expert. Aside from the curve editor in the MultEQ app, is there a other way to try your filters? Ive been looking at this video from Obsessive Compulsive Audiophile, but this gets fairly complicated pretty quick.

Thanks for the help so far!