• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Poll: Best Looking Stereo Integrated Amp

Which of the following amps will look best with the rest of my system?

  • Devialet Expert 400 (current amp)

    Votes: 15 14.7%
  • Luxman L509X

    Votes: 32 31.4%
  • McIntosh MA8900

    Votes: 9 8.8%
  • Technics SU R1000

    Votes: 24 23.5%
  • Yamaha AS 3200

    Votes: 22 21.6%

  • Total voters
    102
  • Poll closed .
Add Thrax Enyo for cool factor, sub 10K though but again can probably get it under 10K with discount. Auditioned these with Thrax Lyra Speakers and were pretty good. Tons of detail like a good Solid-State amp but with great holography because it is a Tube amp. Digital module with Roon-Ready and Phono module as options. This is the most forward-thinking and modern looking TUBE amp IMHO. 50 watts push-pull.

27DCC767-F023-4540-B316-2B26A889130C.jpeg
 
Add Thrax Enyo for cool factor, sub 10K though but again can probably get it under 10K with discount. Auditioned these with Thrax Lyra Speakers and were pretty good. Tons of detail like a good Solid-State amp but with great holography because it is a Tube amp. Digital module with Roon-Ready and Phono module as options. This is the most forward-thinking and modern looking TUBE amp IMHO. 50 watts push-pull.

View attachment 97553
I think the cool factor is missing but it appears to be a nice unit.
Thrax_Enyo-0016.jpg

DcsVob5WAAAhBtb
 
Nice unit indeed. Thrax pays homage to Western Electric as source of inspiration among others: http://thrax.bg/Philosophy.php

The cool factor for me is the very modern minimalist exterior and modern features but with an all tube and somewhat “old-school” inspired circuitry.
 
Jeff Rowland Design Group, Continuum S2. Optional DAC, optional phono and optional headphone amp. Twin ultra-high efficiency power conversion modules yield 400 Watts per channel into 8 Ohms, doubling over 4 Ohms, and a peak current of 40 Amps.
continuum11-e1607134706128.jpg

continuum-s2-rear.jpg

Actually second the Rowland. Sucker for the striped metal.
 
When it comes to cool factor, nothing beats huge VU meters IMHO. So with your budget, McIntosh is an obvious choice.



Also interesting the Yamaha A-S3000 (also available in black):


Advance Acoustic:



And right on budget, the Luxman L-509X:

gb1.jpg

Each picture is clickable ;)
 
Add Thrax Enyo for cool factor, sub 10K though but again can probably get it under 10K with discount. Auditioned these with Thrax Lyra Speakers and were pretty good. Tons of detail like a good Solid-State amp but with great holography because it is a Tube amp. Digital module with Roon-Ready and Phono module as options. This is the most forward-thinking and modern looking TUBE amp IMHO. 50 watts push-pull.

View attachment 97553

That looks like a power amp....it's an integrated?
 
When it comes to cool factor, nothing beats huge VU meters IMHO. So with your budget, McIntosh is an obvious choice.



Also interesting the Yamaha A-S3000 (also available in black):


Advance Acoustic:



And right on budget, the Luxman L-509X:

View attachment 97567

Each picture is clickable ;)

I think the catalog photo doesn't do the Luxman justice

412c2222b09c44d0cd5d0296b73f4854_XL.jpg


WEB-Case-close.jpg
 
The AS3000 Yamaha would get my vote, bit it might be too understated?
 
I have seen one McIntosh but I would go up to something along these lines... 200w should be plenty of power that you would ever need.View attachment 97580
I have an earlier version of this (MA6900). It is a beast. I run it at 20 w sustained sometimes more (parties) for extended periods and it barely gets warm. I would never go less that 200 wpc (this peaks at 385 as tested) if you have a decent sized room. Remember, you need 10x power headroom for dynamics/transients. Full featured remote. Nearly 20 years old, Looks perfectly new, could sell it for same as I paid for it.
 
Last edited:
I have an earlier version of this (MA6900). It is a beast. I run it at 20 w sustained sometimes more (parties) for extended periods and it barely gets warm. I would never go less that 200 wpc (this peaks at 385 as tested) if you have a decent sized room. Full featured remote. Nearly 20 years old, Looks perfectly new, could sell it for same as I paid for it.
I had the MA7900 and really liked it. Ended up selling it so I could easier add subwoofer and room eq. Some day McIntosh needs to do an integrated with subwoofer/crossover out, and roomperfect built in...
 
I had the MA7900 and really liked it. Ended up selling it so I could easier add subwoofer and room eq. Some day McIntosh needs to do an integrated with subwoofer/crossover out, and roomperfect built in...
Subs not a big deal, you can use the Pre-out and loop back or choose a sub that takes speaker-level inputs and run off the same speaker taps. I use the second output for that but you can use the same tap as the main speakers too.
 
Subs not a big deal, you can use the Pre-out and loop back or choose a sub that takes speaker-level inputs and run off the same speaker taps. I use the second output for that but you can use the same tap as the main speakers too.
Yes, that certainly is a valid way to do it. I still would rather have a sub out with crossover in the integrated amp. I actually used a DDRC24 via the preouts/loop back in to add dirac/sub crossover to the MA7900. Worked pretty well. Lots of ways to get things to work for sure.
 
I like the one built into my KEF wireless speakers.
 
Back
Top Bottom