Stereo integrated amp to pair with Dynaudio Special XXVs

[AllCourtGuy]

Hello all,
I inherited a pair of Special 25s when I purchased a house and am looking for a nice amp to use with them. They are rated at 4 ohms. Something around $1,500?

 

[Guddu]

Hi,
You have said "integrated amp" in subject, but I guess you could have a better "Pre + power" separates for $1500.
I thought of something like this some time back (trying to put within 1500$ bracket, not in particular order but some of the best measured here at ASR):

Pre amp (with SS and/or tube option): Schiit "Saga+", 400$ + tax/shipping
Power amp:
a) VTV AMPLIFIER Stereo Purifi Audio 1ET400A Amplifier (2 x 400 WPC) - 1000$ + tax
b) VTV AMPLIFIER NC500 Hypex NCore Stereo (2 x 500 WPC) - 900$ + tax
c) March Audio - P502 500 Watt Stereo Power Amplifier - 970$ + shipping

 

[AllCourtGuy]

I had not been thinking of seperates but I like the idea! I will research your suggestions. Does anyone else have any recommendations for a pre amp and amp for around $1,500? Your help is greatly appreciated!

 

[TimW]

I use a miniDSP SHD as my preamp and I really like it for integrating subwoofers and the excellent room correction it includes. Room correction is a must for any speaker system in my opinion, and the SHD has excellent measured performance. The SHD would have to be paired with an inexpensive amplifier to meet your budget but you could instead get the SHD Power for a compact integrated amp with decent performance.

 

[voodooless]

What features do you actually need in a pre-amp? What sources, how many? Need addition pre-outs? Subwoofer situation?

 

[AllCourtGuy]

Please bear with me as I have no where near the expertise of the folks in his forum. As I said before, the house purchased (in Portugal) included an old system from the previous owner. This included an Arcam Solo from back in the day and a pair of Special 25s. I have been using this combination since but am not impressed with the 25s in combination with the Arcam (40 watts).

So originally I was thinking of buying an integrated amp with higher wattage to see if I could be happier with the speakers. In the States I used a pair of Polk SDA SRS2s that I had forever and loved, but could not ship here. Of course bookshelf speakers will never sound like the Polks, but I have very limited space here and want to make the best of them.

Looking at sources for the preamp, I would need for turntable, DVD/CD, tuner, IPTV box (hdmi) and another internet connection from a second router which I also use for TV. I would like to also run a subwoofer.

I want to thank you all for your kind assistance.

Allcourtguy

 

[voodooless]

Looking at sources for the preamp, I would need for turntable, DVD/CD, tuner, IPTV box (hdmi) and another internet connection from a second router which I also use for TV. I would like to also run a subwoofer.

That already makes stuff a whole lot more complicated! Does your turntable have a build-in photo pre-amp, or do you expect the integrated amp to cover this? How well in quality does it (photo pre) need to be? HDMI is also not a very standard feature that you can find in most stereo devices. How do you connect the CD/DVD player? Analogue or digital? Do you expect the integrated amp to also include a DAC (mandatory if HDMI is needed)

An AV receiver might be the quickest way to get all you need. It might have too many channels but will deliver on all the other needs. Or have a look at Denon DRA-800H.

 

[watchnerd]

Hello all,
I inherited a pair of Special 25s when I purchased a house and am looking for a nice amp to use with them. They are rated at 4 ohms. Something around $1,500?

According to the Stereophile review, they're not hard to drive, from an impedance POV.

They're also more sensitive (89 dB) than most current production Dynaudio 2 ways.

So just pick whatever amp has the features and performance you like.

 

[Matias]

A little more expensive than your budget, but does it all and is going to be available in Europe.

https://www.buchardtaudio.com/shop/i150

 

[voodooless]

A little more expensive than your budget, but does it all and is going to be available in Europe.

https://www.buchardtaudio.com/shop/i150

A lot of money and still no phono or HDMI inputs. Nice features otherwise though.

 

[Sugarbubble]

in the USA you can purchase a denon 4500 for about 100o dollars. It has a ton of inputs and decent low distortion amplification of around 125 watts into 8 ohms. I use one to drive dynaudio special 40s at my beach house and the combination works well. It is cheap and it is full featured and quite good.


many people worship the 25s. Worth spending some money on.

 

[Dj7675]

Please bear with me as I have no where near the expertise of the folks in his forum. As I said before, the house purchased (in Portugal) included an old system from the previous owner. This included an Arcam Solo from back in the day and a pair of Special 25s. I have been using this combination since but am not impressed with the 25s in combination with the Arcam (40 watts).

So originally I was thinking of buying an integrated amp with higher wattage to see if I could be happier with the speakers. In the States I used a pair of Polk SDA SRS2s that I had forever and loved, but could not ship here. Of course bookshelf speakers will never sound like the Polks, but I have very limited space here and want to make the best of them.

Looking at sources for the preamp, I would need for turntable, DVD/CD, tuner, IPTV box (hdmi) and another internet connection from a second router which I also use for TV. I would like to also run a subwoofer.

I want to thank you all for your kind assistance.

Allcourtguy

Bit over budget but NAD M10. I got an open box for around $2k. Or a receiver like a Denon X3500/3600/3700.

 

[UCrazyKid]

Musical Fidelity, Hegel and Sim Audio Moon are popular choices with Dynaudio speakers. Pick the most powerful one in your price range, you will get more if you purchase pre-owned. If you want something more like a home theater AVR, I would look at Rotes or Anthem.
Shop for pre-owned here: www.hifishark.com

 

[Septentrio]

Please bear with me as I have no where near the expertise of the folks in his forum. As I said before, the house purchased (in Portugal) included an old system from the previous owner. This included an Arcam Solo from back in the day and a pair of Special 25s. I have been using this combination since but am not impressed with the 25s in combination with the Arcam (40 watts).

So originally I was thinking of buying an integrated amp with higher wattage to see if I could be happier with the speakers. In the States I used a pair of Polk SDA SRS2s that I had forever and loved, but could not ship here. Of course bookshelf speakers will never sound like the Polks, but I have very limited space here and want to make the best of them.

Looking at sources for the preamp, I would need for turntable, DVD/CD, tuner, IPTV box (hdmi) and another internet connection from a second router which I also use for TV. I would like to also run a subwoofer.

I want to thank you all for your kind assistance.

Allcourtguy

Yamaha A-S801?

It has a phono stage, coax, optical and USB inputs. It sell around 900€ here in Portugal.

It doesn't have a HDMI input, as with most integrated amps, but perhaps you can just use an optical out from your TV.

 

[pjug]

NAD D-3045? This is just a 60W amplifier but they claim 150W dynamic power into 4 ohms.
https://nadelectronics.com/product/d-3045-hybrid-digital-dac-amplifier/

 

[AllCourtGuy]

Thanks all for the very helpful suggestions! After much deliberation I ended up deciding on a Denon AVR-X3700H. It is being delivered tomorrow. I am now hoping to get to at least a 5.1 configuration in the future. Thanks again for taking the time to help me out.

 

[Hon]

Could I have the 25s when you go shopping for the rest of your 5.1 kit? Please!?

 

[AllCourtGuy]

Could I have the 25s when you go shopping for the rest of your 5.1 kit? Please!?

. I am hoping to keep them, but if I don't you will be the first to know.

 

[UCrazyKid]

Odd choice, but OK. Those Special 25’s are in a completely different league of performance that what a AVR like that can produce. You may be better off selling the 25’s and buying your whole 5.1 speakers with the proceeds.

 

[TimW]

Odd choice, but OK. Those Special 25’s are in a completely different league of performance that what a AVR like that can produce. You may be better off selling the 25’s and buying your whole 5.1 speakers with the proceeds.

What makes you think th Denon is not adequate for driving the Dynaudios? Take a look at the measurements. Surely it has lower distortion then what is produced by the speaker, and noise isn't excessive. It produces 114 watts into 8 ohms, do you think that will not be enough? It has a good room correction system and subwoofer outputs which will further improve sound quality.