Hi, I just ordered my new Triton 5's which are supposed to come sometime in March/April. I'm now in the search or an integrated amp to drive them. My budget is $1000 +/- 100/200 (as I decided to spend a few extra bucks and get the T5's i/o the T7's). I will use my Rega RP3 and eventually would like to be able to stream music (so you know some times friends come over and want to hook the music they carry in their devices so although I'm not much into tt it's good to have it), but phono stage quality is the most relevant thing for me. So far have targeted, Arcam A19, Rega Brio-R (liked the elex-r but now out of my budget), Rotel RA12, Anthem 225 (is out of budget but might be able to get a good deal arnd 1500). So all in all I believe the arcam is the best in terms of budget, performance, sound, phono, and eventually add the bluetooth accessory could be practical. I've listened to it and sound was bold, natural, accurate. Rega is also great but listened to the brio-r and at a certain point struggled a bit (hooked to other speakers not the tritons) and when I heard the elex-r ($1700 so out of my budget) the difference was noticeable and also they do not offer such a practical streaming solution as arcam. Rotel is great price and has DAC built in but I've read the phono stage is not so great, and that is kind of a killer for me. Also read about the Roghe sphinx but I have doubts with the class D amp, plus again streaming might be a problem; on the other hand I understand it's phono stage is great. Anthem seems a great choice (if a get a good deal) in terms of sound and performance but will have to spend extra money if I want to strea and already starting from above my budget. So I'd like to learn from the community and moderator on how they see the T5's working with the Arcam a 19 which looks my best overall solution. Have you ever hooked the T7's or T5's to the A19? what where the results? I'm setting the system in a moderate large room (15 x 23 ft) and more interested in quality than ear blowing sound. Also how reliable are Arcam products? Heard a dealer saying he had returns and problems in the past but when I read forums everybody seems to be happy and no issues so far. Thank you guys and looking forward to your comments.

JMAR,

Do your best to listen to all of your options in person. Reviews are a great place to start but you know what they say about opinions... Also, don't count out the Rogue Sphinx or any class D amps. Rogue makes some fine products and there are some great class D amps. I believe Rotel is also using class D. Good luck and enjoy the hunt! Please let us know how you come out.

Cheers,

T Cobe

All good choices. We have used Arcam's big receiver for a trade show demo one year and it sounded excellent, so we can presume their integrated is every bit as good. We have heard the Anthem 225 driving various Triton models, probably the best choice if you really want to pound as it has oodles of power. We have heard from others the phono stage is ho-hum however, but no idea how it compares to the others in that regards. You might want to check out NAD too, as they are known for good performance and value.

Thank you! You kind of read my mind as I stayed until quite late last night reading about NAD's. The 356 is quite within budget just need to add the phono module -need to dig how good it is (though then I would not be able to have the DAC version so get an external DAC). I need to dig into it and try to listen to it but I'm in Miami and it's amazing how difficult is to find dealers with stuff in stock to be able to listen to, don't even think about taking a demo home. I will try to work it out anyway. Another question did you ever hook up the T7's or t5's to a brio-r or an elex-r rega amp?

JMAR wrote: Another question did you ever hook up the T7's or T5's to a brio-r or an elex-r rega amp?

Sorry, no experience with either of those, maybe someone else on the forum can help?