I've tried them with a wide variety of amps, and they will change accordingly, to reflect the amp (+equipment down the chain).
Your Gryphon was a good match, for its warm, punchy sound.
If you're looking at integrateds, the darTZeel CTH/LHC are great matches, as well as the D'Agostinos. Another fantastic piece was the Luxman L-509. Great extension, clarity, and plenty of power of tap for the fast transients.
At shows, I've heard the Nagras do incredibly well too, and this year in Munich, I've heard a SimAudio Moon integrated handling a Hailey very capably.
If it's tubes you want, you'll have to take into consideration the size of your room. In a small room, even a REF75SE will do fine, but of course, a brand new 160S (or a GS150 stereo, a bargain at the current used prices) are fantastic too. Those are stereo amps, though, so you'll need a preamp.
We have actually shown Carmel 2 a few years ago, at THE Show here in California, with a GS150 and a REF6 preamp, in a small-ish hotel room. The room next door had Sonja with D'Agostino Progression Monos and a REF10 preamp
cheers,
Alex
I read somewhere that dartzeel sounds on analytical side. But I haven’t listened one before. What is you view on this?
I have a Formula xHD coming. How does it pair?
Similar to what asiufy mentioned, I haven’t heard a dartzeel that I would classify as analytical. Warm, almost tube like midrange. Your Carmels will go nicely with it, although they really would like a amp that can really grip the drivers.
I’m a happy vitus pre power user, and I heard great things about the new integrated sia030. Waiting for the demo to arrive, but heard it will be during the next production run.
One of the nicest match I heard with carmels was a full nagra setup, so may be food for thought as well? Also liked it when matched with VAC amps.
On a side note, did you give the new msb DACs a try? It’s pretty impressive and quite a different sound from the ones you currently have. Would love the chance to hear the aqua formula, but there’s no local dealer here.
Wow...what other speakers have you auditioned/owned that were in anywhere near this league? What drew you to this set? I have read great things about them. What is the rest of your system? Are you the Chuck who owns Boulder 3000 series?I wonder how many YG Acoustics speaker owners there are on this forum. I have owned YG Sonja XV for about a year now.
I wonder how many YG Acoustics speaker owners there are on this forum. I have owned YG Sonja XV for about a year now.
Wow...what other speakers have you auditioned/owned that were in anywhere near this league? What drew you to this set? I have read great things about them. What is the rest of your system? Are you the Chuck who owns Boulder 3000 series?
Would love to read more about the Sonja XV. I believe you can drive the entire 4-tower speaker from your Boulder 3060 stereo? ie, the bass towers are passive?
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