The next step up should be...? (Hi-fi chain needs upgrade)

[Iceberg13]

Tl;dr - looking for suggestions on a "warmer" sounding amp that will bring my hifi chain up to even levels.

Okay, so heres the deal. I have a uturn TT w/ a grado blue stylus&cart, acrylic platter, and cork mat running to my kenwood kvr 6080 receiver with audioquest evergreen cords. I got some half-a-step above basic OFC 14g speaker cables running into klipsch refference speakers (the 5 1/4" bookshelves, the dual 6 1/2" floorstandings, and the 5 1/4" dual center).

Its easy to see the stand out piece of the chain is the receiver, but when i begin looking into possible options i get a bit lost. I dont want something thats new but ends up being not much better, otherwise id just keep my vintage receiver.

I recently installed a marantz nr 1604 in my friends house, with the full setup of klipsch reference speakers on a project debut carbon and even after setting up the audessey microphone EQ, his setup sounds much to bright for my liking even with a 600w powered subwoofer in the mix. Im aware that a surround sound system is not by anymeans a "hi fi" system, but i dont want to plunge 700 into an amp and set it up just to dislike the sound.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a nice amp that wont break the bank? I prefer a warmer, bassier sound, but still want some highs to sing out of these horn tweeters.. Added plus if it has a phono option, as i dont own a preamp yet, but could easily pick one up if need be.

[Sidney Crosley]

I have a NAD C326BEE amp. Bought it used about 9 months ago for $300 CAD. Lots of inputs (no phono preamp) and a very warm sound. Powers my Wharfedale Diamond 10.1s perfectly and sounds great with records and digital audio (with and without a DAC). It may not outperform some heavier duty amps, but I found it to be very capable and read a lot of favourable reviews before buying (I also replaced a kenwood receiver). In part because it's a relatively popular modern amp, I've seen a few used go by over the last few months.

[necroking]

if you have an acrylic platter, then why are you using a mat?

[Tardcore]

keep in mind that the NR series Marantz amps aren't really comparable to the PM series integrateds.

[allenh]

if you have an acrylic platter, then why are you using a mat?

 

I was wondering that myself, one of the major upsides of an acrylic platter is that you don't use a mat of any sort.

 

As to your amp I can only really give suggestions on 2 channel hifi but if you want warm then go valve (tube in the US) for modern speakers or speakers that take a bit of driving you can use a valve pre amp and solid state power. You don't have to partner a valve phono stage with it but it would be a little silly not to.

 

Other than that, NAD as has been suggested although some can be a little flat, other than that if on a budget Cambridge Audio and if you can spring a bit more Musical Fidelity, Rega or Vincent.

 

All of the above are good used options as well and for used in the US you could try AMC as these were made in the same place as the NAD amps and with a similar design philosophy, they also made a hybrid integrated (valve pre and solid state power in the same box) as do Vincent.

 

If you are stuck with multi channel the more musical I have found are Arcam, Cambridge Audio, Rotel and Yamaha although I'm not certain Rotel are still in the AV game.