Hattor is a lovely guy called Arek in Poland. He must have a people helping. He specialised in making stepped attenuators for years, sold through trade suppliers under his Khozmo brand. They are high quality, popular and you will find them in his Hattor brand.
Schiit has proven very popular the EU as well as the USA. Never heard of any reliability issues. They were one of the first brands to do direct selling of a new brand really well, giving great value for money as no dealers. Company both with products at least double the price.
Incidentally, I’ve heard your A&K device. A guy came round to buy my Quad ESL63 speakers (they are one of the most resolving speakers ever made) and he tested the speakers with the A&K and a Townshend passive pre-amp he brought with. I was very impressed and I agree that you are wasting money buying another DAC.
For what it’s worth, I owned a Rogue Magnum 99 for years. Had it upgraded to super magnum. I sold it a couple years ago to buy a Cary pre-amp. The Rogue was awesome. Great company, great service and great products. I even got a decent resale price for the 99 after years of service. Highly recommend company!
I mentioned earlier the hugely popular and successful active ELAC Navis (speakers and amplifiers combined. You need a pre-amp and Darko reviewed them here using the Schiit Freya.
The Freya has three operating options, with and without gain and with tubes in the signal path (which usually warm the sound).
So put this on your list. It will work directly with your A&K cable. The ELAC speakers are designed by one of the world’s most respected speaker designers.
This is the Hattor passive pre-amp I owned. It’s $1,000 balanced. It’s very good indeed.
There is no power on the signal path, the power supply is only for the 1970’s style digital display. My model had non-stick paint, I trust Arek’s fixed that.
I see the distributor also sells the Khozmo range of components.
This piece from the Music Room should fit your needs and leave you with a lot more to invest in speakers. These same guys might have similar deals on speakers that would interest you. They are just down the road from PSA and are the ones that deal with the PSA demos and trade in gear.
Of interest to me were I looking through this group would be the LSA-10 Signature and the Fritz Carbon 7 SE.
I used the previous version of the I30 (called the A30.2) for 12 years, at $999 it’s a perfect solution. It’s a traditional design with a tremendous pedigree and built to a very high quality finish.
Having just bought a pair of speakers with a 4" mid/bass driver, I tried to avoid conventional aluminium drivers because they cause resonance issues that screw up the treble and generally do not sound very natural. It is very difficult to make a relatively cheap and effective driver in the “4 - 6” range. Harbeth’s 5" Radial2 driver uses a propietary polymer that is quite remarkable, as I the 8" version in all their speakers other than the P3ESR. Paper just doesn’t have the guts. I was lucky to find a pair of speakers that use a 4" composite aluminium driver that pushes the resonance issues outside of the audible band.
I got these speakers mint used for £2,000 ($2,500) plus £500 for the stands. They need a sub even in a small room. The P3ESR are fine in a small/medium room, but perhaps a larger ATC is better.
Very interesting setup for me! Previously, I thought there was just a few options I have. But now you guys help me with so many choices. Appreciate it. Let me spend some time on it to review all these recommendations from you and others.
On the other hand, I’m living in a normal apartment with living room about 13ft*16ft on the top floor. Do you think there would be some issue like the speakers are too loud so it may annoy my neighbors? Fortunately, I only share one wall with others, and that wall is away from my living room.
And also, connecting the TV RCA output to the preamp should work, right? I know in this setup I won’t expect great sound experience. As long as it sounds, it should be fine with me. So I’m expecting I may have two modes, one is going with my DAC to enjoy the high fidelity, and the other is going with TV to make it sound through speakers (the only requirement I need in this setup.)
One idea for you, if you have a little more spare cash, is the Marantz PM-10 which is $7999 retail. I have a brand new one you could have for $4400. 200 wpc into 8 ohms and 400 wpc into 4 ohms. It has 2 pairs of XLR inputs and no DAC.
Personally I would go for the Primare I30 and bargain it down for the marks on the top. It’s a classic Class A/B amp with real pedigree. I loved mine, as I said 12 years of use.
Speakers - I used Dynaudio Contour 1.1 with my Primare. That was 20 years ago.
The modern version is the Special 40. It has excellent reviews. For example:
It will have a refined and detailed sound and will not annoy the neighbours unduly.
Dynaudio have a magnificent reputation, in pro audio, consumer audio and automotive. Their speakers are in Bentley and other marques. They all use proprietary high class drivers.
You will remain in budget and have a nice new pair of speakers!
Incorrect Steve, the PM-12 has half the power and it does not have XLR inputs (because it is not run in differencial mode) which explains why it is half the price. They have it here under the PM-KI Rudy name for half the price as well.
All the above mentioned integrateds are great, I personally would go with the PSA Strata, Musical Fidelity M6SI, or Schitt Ragnarok. I would pair them with the Wharfedale EVO 4.4’s and then sub to taste… Wharfedale - EVO 4.4 Tower Speakers (Pair) (musicdirect.com)
Dude, I’m just offering some suggestions, none of which were ridiculously over his stated budget. Wharfedale EVO 4.2’s (which I own) are $1000 a pr as well. I am ASSUMING that the OP will make his own choices and research and come to his own conclusion. Thanks for policing the thread tho…
Everyone likes to talk up what they own, but I recently just got a rogue sphinx V3, and I am really, really impressed for $1600.
Class D, but with a tube output stage. I’m running Magnepan .7’s, which like a bit of current. It is the most un-class-D class-D amp I have ever heard. (Which is to say, it isn’t thin and brittle. It is rich and full and warm and clear. I’m really happy with it.)