Amplifier Upgrade Advice

[itai]

I am in the process of an upgrade to the stereo setup and I am looking for assistance on selecting the right amplifier.

• Room dimensions - about 14'10" wide x 20' long x 9' high
• Room square footage - 312 Square Feet
• Speakers - Kef Blade 1 Meta
  • Impedance 4Ohm with a 2.8Ohm min
  • 88dB sensitivity

I am debating between the Purifi ET400A or the ET7040 based modules. I am open to both stereo or mono (I kind of like the idea of mono but not sure it matters).

Does the Blade Meta with the 4-2.8Ohm impedance count as a hard to drive speaker and benefit from the 7040 instead of the original purifi module?

With either purifi amp modules, are there any real differences between a stereo and monoblock amplifiers?

I am open to other amplifier options as well like the Hypex based options.

thank
Itai

 

[JayGilb]

What is your current amplifier and what seems to be lacking ?
Edit: What is your budget ?

 

[steve59]

I went from a 301/575 wpc stereo amp to Mcintosh Mc611's and the difference at low and moderate volumes was stunning. If you listen over 90 db most of the time any suitably rated amp should do, but if you want all the dynamics and nuances of music at volumes that only pull 5 or less watts(most of my listening) you would be doing yourself a disservice to at least not compare them to anything else you're interested in.

 

[itai]

Good question. I am getting new speakers and other components so my current amplifier is a Sherwood Newcastle amplifier. I think the 125watts that I have from an amplifier that is 20 years old is likely not the best match.

 

[pogo]

That should answer your question:

So far our tests have been with resistive loads of 4 and 8 ohm. Let's add reactive (capacitive/inductive) load into the equation including going down to 2 ohms:

Wow, this thing is so load independent! I don't think I have tested an amplifier this good so far.

It depends not only on the Purifi module used, but also on the implementation in the target device (PSU, thermal management, ...). The M23 can also deliver up to 800W at 2 Ohms.

 

[radix]

if you want to listen at 95 dB SPL @ 3m (about 10') with 88 dB sensitivity speakers, and have 10 dB headroom, you need 451 wpc. That's almost 105 dB SPL @ 1m. So a 500 wpc or 600 wpc amp would not be out of place. I'm not sure what the distortion is like at that level, but KEF says up to 117 db SPL @ 1m.

 

[Overseas]

What preamp?

 

[itai]

Old pre-amp was sold and I am planning to use a DAC with volume control as I only have digital sources (realistically just streaming 99% of the time). I was thinking about the Holo Audio Spring 3 with the volume control or the EverSolo DMP-A6.

 

[pogo]

Better choices are:
NAD M66 + M23
NAD M33

That's all you really need these days.
Dirac Live Active Room Treatment should come next year and represents the top end.
That is the front end ENDGAME

 

[steve59]

Lumin makes some reasonably priced dac and dac streamers. If you were a measurement matters only guy you would have likely bought a pair of Revel f208 or Kef r11's, or genelec's, but you bought the Blade 1 meta's so have some fun and take some demo gear home and listen to your system to hear if the speakers can let you hear if amplifiers react to the varying load challenges your speakers present. I was ready to sell my Blades b4 listening to them with the mac's driving them. Now I have the best sounding system I've ever heard.