Amplifier decision time for Triangle Borea 08

[musiknewbie]

Hi everyone,

Greetings from Berlin. I am a complete newbie and I am in the process of building my first HiFi system. I recently got a great deal on Triangle Borea 08 during the Black Friday and bought them. Though I have never heard them, from the reviews, they come across as dynamic and forward. I am currently looking for a matching amp around the €1000 mark.

I am looking for an amplifier around the 800€ - 1000€ mark, that preferably also provides a DAC. Since I am mostly going to stream music, I would be ok with buying a Wiim or Bluesound Node later on, in case the amp does not have streaming capabilities. I would first want to focus on the sound quality and a good match for the Triangles. My wife and I listen to all music genres, with more focus on good vocals, pop music, some house music etc. (I cannot confidently talk about genres). Some of the artists and bands that we like are Cigarettes after Sex, Father John Misty, Weekend, Radiohead etc.. We will mostly stream, incl. Youtube, since my 2.5 year old son loves to listen to his rhymes. We might also watch some TV but not so much. Listening room size - 28 sqm.

I have put together a list of new and slightly used amplifiers (with some details around pricing and condition) after lots of research but I cannot seem to pull the trigger and I would greatly appreciate your help. Some of the amps would need a separate streamer and I would start with a 100€ Wiim mini and use the internal DAC (Marantz would need an external DAC though). Sorry for bombarding you with options. My personal preference keep changing but right now it is the Denon PMA 1600ne. I like the convenience of a NAD but not sure about the music quality.


Yamaha AS 801 -> 680€ / 2017. Never used.

Denon PMA-1600 NE -> 750€ / 2022. Used but good condition.

NAD C368 + BlueOS -> 899€ / 2023. New.

NAD 700C -> 900€ / 2022. Used.

Arcam SA20 -> 800€ / 2023. New.

Rotel A14 MKii -> 800€ / 2023. New.

Denon PMA-1700 NE -> 900€. 2022. Used but good condition.

Marantz PM 8006 -> 900€. 2023. New.

 

[Overseas]

I had dream moments with BR09 plus Yamaha rn803d in a 60 sqm living room.
Cant recomend Denon because of my bad listen8ng experience with PMA 600 NE, the model is measured here on ASR (not good).

 

[DVDdoug]

The "sound quality" of most amplifiers is fine as long as they aren't over-driven into clipping/distortion. Sometimes you can get noise (hum, hiss, or whine in the background). Noise is tricky because if you hear it or not (or how loud it is) depends on the sensitivity of the speakers and how close you are to them (and maybe how quiet your room is). And there's more than one way to measure it so you can't always compare specs, but you can compare the measurements in the ASR reviews here.

So you might want to focus on output power, cost, features, appearance, etc.

And typically, you get more bang-for-the buck with a receiver/AVR because they are more mass-produced & distributed and sold more "competitively" than separate amplifiers.

My wife and I listen to all music genres, with more focus on good vocals, pop music, some house music etc. (I cannot confidently talk about genres).

A "high fidelity" system is supposed to accurately reproduce the sound, no matter what it is. And the speakers (or headphones) are the most critical things. Highly-dynamic classical music might require a bigger amplifier (and speakers that can handle the power) for the "dynamic peaks", or you might want more power if you want dance-club loudness, etc.

 

[Raticosa]

Hi musiknewbie,

I own the Borea BR08 too, very happy of them, I think they are great "value-for-money" speakers, I use them for both Hi-Fi and HT setups (via a passive toggle switch I built by means of a very good - and expensive - "military-grade" switch APEM 12000X778), I drive them with a Marantz PM6007 (for the Hi-Fi) and a Denon X2800H (for the HT) and I can recommend the PM6007 amplifier, moreover the BR08 are quite efficient (around 90 dB/1W/1m) and impedance is more on the 4Ohm side rather than the 8Ohm one so the PM6007 delivers more than the declared 45W.
Instead, on the Denon X2800H, the performance is poorer (even if I can use the "room correction" capability of the Denon sw) but this is not due to the speakers themselves...
Hope this helps.
Best.
Gianluca