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Looking for a speaker or integrated amp for a pair of Elac Solano BS 283 speakers

Jokse

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So after demoing some speakers with my better half, we kinda fell in love with the Elac Solano BS 283 (well she did for sure, so there's not much else to add here).

But now I am completely stuck looking for an amp for them. I was originally set on using the Powernode, but in the showroom I tried the Elacs with the Marantz PM7005N, which I thought sounded better (but honestly that just might be due to seeing the change and expecting it to sound better). In any case, the PM7005N is too deep for me anyway, as I am kinda limited to a depth of ~35cm.

In another store I did demo the Rega Brio and thought it sounded great with a pair of Dynaudio Emit 20s (sadly they didn't have the Elacs in store). But after looking at the measurements on stereophile, I kinda doubt that the Brio could handle the Solanos. The reviewer there does suggest that the Brio has trouble handling 4 ohm loads and the Solanos are rated for 4 ohms and 85 db sensitivity (measurements on a German review show 84db is more accurate, but that's still very close to spec).

So what are my other options? I do live in Lithuania (east Europe), so my options are a little bit inflated in price and limited.

I am considering the Bluesound Node + CX-A61, but can't find any measurements online for the life of me.

I would like to buy my gear from this site: https://www.audiovideo.lt/namu-garso-technika/namu-garso-stiprintuvai

(use google for translation as changing the language on the site itself seems to change what's available. You can also deduct about 100€ from everything as it's pretty standard to get discounts on everything when not shopping in large chain stores.)

My budget is around 1500€ for a streamer + amp. I don't care for tapes, CDs, vinyls or headphone amps. But I do want a hdmi arc port so we could easily use one remote when casually watching a show.

The room is roughly 5 x 6 meters with 2.85m ceilings. But I don't listen too loud on most occasions (doubt I could listen to 85db without a serious headache for longer than 10 minutes).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 

TimW

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Here are the ELAC Solano BS283 specs:
1680125074676.png


I would suggest getting something as robust as possible since the speakers are low impedance and low sensitivity. However the HDMI ARC requirement and 35cm depth restriction is going to significantly limit your options.
 
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Jokse

Jokse

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The review of this on this site seems to indicate that it's just a 5.1 amp with 3 amps missing and re-labelled to stereo. The measurements are awful as well. Unless I am misreading them (the heat it produces doesn't help)

Could probably haggle to get this in-range for my budget, but is it really worth it? Seems to have the same power as the powernode. Only difference I can see is the screen and what I assume is a better DAC (not that I would ever hear the difference anyway). Seems like I'd pay 750€ for a pretty screen compared to a powernode.

Seems sketchy. No info on what internals it actually uses. Can't find any measurements as well. Also not so keen on using Play-Fi to be honest.

Seems like the best way to go it seems. Powerful, has HDMi, has decent connectivity. The digital measurements seems very good. Only negative is - once it reaches end-of-life for support, there's likely no easy way to use it as a stand-alone power amp. On the other hand - the price seems decent for something that'll likely be viable for ~10 years anyway.

Seems like it has a lot of issues and the support just keeps redirecting people to.... support???
 

TimW

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The review of this on this site seems to indicate that it's just a 5.1 amp with 3 amps missing and re-labelled to stereo. The measurements are awful as well. Unless I am misreading them (the heat it produces doesn't help)
Yes that is an accurate description of the Denon. Although the measurements are poor it would probably sound just fine. I wouldn't want to own something like it though and I understand why you want better performance for your nice new speakers. I was just trying to find options with HDMI ARC to start since it is kind of rare, AVRs are the easiest thing to find with it and only the slimed down stereo versions are shallow enough to fit your requirements.
Could probably haggle to get this in-range for my budget, but is it really worth it? Seems to have the same power as the powernode. Only difference I can see is the screen and what I assume is a better DAC (not that I would ever hear the difference anyway). Seems like I'd pay 750€ for a pretty screen compared to a powernode.
The NAD C 700 does indeed have similar power output to the Bluesound PowerNode which is a moderate amount. However if you look at those measurements, the NAD has significantly less distortion (about 69dB vs 77dB SINAD 5W 4R).
Seems like the best way to go it seems. Powerful, has HDMi, has decent connectivity. The digital measurements seems very good. Only negative is - once it reaches end-of-life for support, there's likely no easy way to use it as a stand-alone power amp. On the other hand - the price seems decent for something that'll likely be viable for ~10 years anyway.
Yes the Sonos is pretty sweet with all that power in a small package from a well respected company. Personally I don't like walled garden style of products and have never used Sonos because of that, but I hear it's a polished and easy to use system.

I agree about the Harman Kardon and SVS amps, just threw those out since they met your requirements.
 
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