TomicTime Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 the LiL Naim 40 wpc amp i have is a mule kicker w Treo CT....and engineered easy load. i have a $200 low negative feedback CC-2 that is amazing....and an adjustable 3 levels of Nfb Music Reference RM-9 that is sublime. ....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctsooner Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 Love the Lil Naim unit. I"m a fan of some of their gear, but not all of it. I still remember hearing it for the first time in the early 90's in VA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwgreene Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 I'm using a Parasound a23+ amp with a brand new Audible Illusions 3b Modulus tube preamp. It sounds fantastic in my 14by 20 foot room. I'm persuaded that, at this point, class A/B amps are well understood and, dare I say it, perfected.....particularly when John Curl designed it. I really like the sound of a great tube preamp and a very solid, bulletproof solid state amp. Can you spend more? Sure, but you already have a fire breathing preamp....so, please consider what I'm saying. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huang Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 On 2/12/2021 at 11:02 PM, davo said: Wow! Thanks for all the great tips. So far, the consensus seems to be that there are better alternatives at this price than the Nakamichi Stasis amps. Mentioned so far: McCormack, Ayre, Threshold, Pass Labs, Belles, Aesthetix. Of those, SS amps at about the price of the Nakamichi ($1300) seem limited to perhaps Belles, or possibly McCormack, if I could find one. I did find expired ads for Belles on hifishark in this range, and that gives me hope. The reviews seemed positive, and the review I found of the 150a Reference V2 was positively glowing. My tech made dismissive comments about certain amps with low internal energy storage. For example, he thinks the 36,000 uF in the Ayre V-5xe a joke, compared to the 132,000 uF of the Nakamichi. My concern would be a potential loss of resolution in loud, complex symphonies, and a lack of large-scale dynamics. Is that really a concern with the Treos? Perhaps raw capacitance isn't that important. Are there any specs you would consider important? I did notice that Richard Vandersteen recommends zero feedback amps. I read that the Belles is not a zero feedback design. Anyone know how much feedback is used? I believe the Stasis amps are zero global feedback. My ARC SD135 was 7 dB, while my D130 is 21 dB. I don't know whether this is coincidence, but I'm really surprised that I'm not enjoying the D130 as much as I used to. It doesn't sound that good to me. The Nak receiver sounds better to me. Does that surprise any of you? I'm intrigued by Nelson Pass designs, but I don't see much chance of finding something there for under $2000. I have only one experience with stasis amps. When I was in the military I bought a pair of Infinity RS3bs (loved those speakers). While auditioning amps to drive them in the BX the choice came down to a Yamaha M60 and a Nakamichi Stasis. The 3Bs are a a challenging load I guess. I wanted the stasis bad, but it kept gong into protection mode. We thought it was a bad amp so the guy pulled one from stock. Same thing, not even extreme levels, needless to say I went with the Yamaha, still have it somewhere around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davo Posted February 26, 2021 Author Share Posted February 26, 2021 Interesting. Well, I liked my little Nakamichi Stasis receiver so much that I picked up the PA-7A II amp. I really like the way it sounds in the system. My plan was to get this to tide me over, and if I find a really great deal on something like an Ayre V-5xe, I might jump on it and keep the winner of a play-off between them. I also need to box my SD135 and send it out for repair. Too bad ARC can't do anything for me. There are a bajillion amps out there, so I've focused on the ones that stood out to me because of past personal experience or strong urging from trusted advisors. Parasound would be interesting. I was pretty interested in the Belles SA-100, but I just didn't feel comfortable with my interaction with the seller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomicTime Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 (edited) Brother runs his 3A-Sig w big Stasis amp and ARC pre, Lampizator tube DAC, lovely sound...... sorry to hear of your struggles a ARC, is this the on-trac semiconductors issue , audiogon thread ? Edited February 26, 2021 by TomicTime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davo Posted February 26, 2021 Author Share Posted February 26, 2021 16 minutes ago, TomicTime said: sorry to hear of your struggles a ARC, is this the on-trac semiconductors issue , audiogon thread ? Right, ThermalTrak Transistors. Meanwhile, I'm nothing but smiles about my ARC LS 27. :-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomicTime Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 ya man, LS-27 is liquid sonic magic IMO....... enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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