Paige threw two categories at me today: five integrated amps you can buy right now, and five all-time favourites from a career on the floor. No homework, no spec sheets, just the ten I’d actually want to own. There’s more to pride of ownership than measurements.
Two parallel lists in one column. First, the showroom answer — the integrateds I’d be specifying this week if budget and brief lined up. Second, the pub-debate answer — the integrateds that have stuck with me from 25 years of selling, installing, and listening. Deliberate overlap between the two: a couple of the modern picks are already classics and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.
Part 1 — Five integrated amps to buy right now
1. Lyngdorf TDAI-1120
At the cheaper, more affordable end — the baby Lyngdorf. Feature-list-wise it’s pretty all-inclusive: all of the different streaming services on there, you’ve got Room Perfect, you’ve got all sorts of things going on there. From a value perspective — or what John Darko would call future-fi — I think it ticks all the boxes. For somebody looking for a one-stop-shop amplifier for a relatively simple system at home.
2. McIntosh MA352
Next most expensive. I love the look, style, feel, fit, finish — very purist design. Great for somebody looking for something simple, sculptural, appealing, sonically appealing, visually appealing, with no fuss or frills or things they don’t need. The downside might be that it’s not for everyone, because it might not have things that everybody needs.
3. Mola Mola Kula
Oh good question actually, what would come after that? The Mola Mola integrated. If you fit their phono stage and fit their DAC, it’s all things to all people — it’s everything you could ever possibly need, and if you want something purist and simple, it’s that as well. Beautifully detailed without being fatiguing. Beautifully designed, not overly large, powerful enough for most situations. Incredibly versatile, incredibly good-looking, incredibly desirable. A joy to live with and listen to.
4. McIntosh MA12000
Sculptural, iconic, incredible build quality, every feature you could ever want. Tone controls. Moving-magnet phono stage. Moving-coil phono stage. All the digital inputs you might need, analogue inputs you might need, outputs — pretty decent across the board. And it’s beautiful. A huge, ethereal sound. Lovely. There’s not a speaker I can’t drive with it. Just maybe a cabinet or two it won’t fit in or on — it’s a beast.
5. Gryphon Diablo 333
Top of the tree. Brutal but refined — and that goes for its sound and its looks. Just about every input you could need, with DAC and phono modules optional. The only thing it can’t really do is full DSP subwoofer integration — you get analogue pre-outs instead, which is fine for the purist, but the more modern hi-fi owner who wants to put a crossover in the chain will have to think about it differently. Especially if you’re running an old turntable. Everything else? Stunning.
So there you go — top five integrated amps you can buy right now.
Part 2 — Five all-time favourites
1. TAG McLaren 60i (and the Audiolab 8000A it was built on)
The amp I used to sell lots of when I first started. About £500 at the time, and I couldn’t find anything sub-£1500 that I preferred. Loads of amazing authority in the bottom end — drove speakers like a much, much bigger amp on paper. Just a great workhorse, and an entry-level into hi-fi that knocked the socks off the competition.
When you’re talking about the 60i, you can’t not mention the Audiolab 8000A that the TAG McLaren was based on. TAG picked up Audiolab in the late 90s and the 60i is essentially the 8000 series carried forward under new ownership. Two amps, one lineage, one entry on the list.
2. Chord Electronics CPM 3300
Owned one of those for many years. That was stunning — fast, transient, lush, beautiful. An electric presence without any fatigue. Really quick in the bottom end. Great build quality. One of those amps where the more you listen, the more you find.
3. McIntosh MA12000 (yes, again)
I’ve owned the McIntosh MA12000. That was stunning. The current MA12000 belongs in both lists — I can’t fault it for what it is now, just as I couldn’t fault it when I had one at home.
4. Gryphon Diablo 333 (the other crossover)
The Diablo 333 is the current one — and I can’t fault any of those Diablos for what they were at the time or what they are now. Earns its place in both lists the same way the McIntosh does.
5. Denon PMA-A1 (~2001–2002)
One more that’s been meaningful. The Denon PMA-A1 — I think it’s an A1, you can check it. Circa 2001–2002. Just a workhorse amplifier. Not crazy, crazy money. Beautifully built. Beautifully simple. Beautifully functional. Simple, no-nonsense, inoffensive sound. Just good. One of those things you’d buy if you wanted something that was really good but also looked and felt really good, and was going to last you. Built like it was never going to break. There was that sensation about it. Beautiful.
Why both lists in one Friday Five
The integrated amp is the most loaded category in hi-fi. Source + amp + speakers — pick any one of the three and the integrated is the one most people compromise on first, because separates feel like the proper answer. They’re not always. A great integrated done right outperforms a mediocre pre/power for less money, less rack space, and less cable run.
The current shelf is genuinely strong — probably stronger than at any point in the last decade. But the all-time list is here because some of those older amps did things current designs are still chasing.
If you want to hear any of the buy-now five, we have them on demonstration at our Basingstoke showroom — book a session and pick which one we set up against your speakers.
Friday Five is a weekly column. Paige picks the category, Dan gets 5 minutes to think, 5 minutes to deliver, no research allowed. The constraint is the entertainment.
