Second hand amp recommendations

darreny · 31 Oct 2014 at 09:16

I'm looking for something up to £200, needs to have the HD audio formats and hdmi. I have a yamaha DspA1 atm with mission 780se front and rear and think it's a 77c centre with REL Strata 3 sub. Sony 1200es seems to fit what I want but what else is there?

lucid · 31 Oct 2014 at 14:34

Pretty much any decent AV receiver with HDMIs made in the 6 years ticks those boxes. That means a lot of receivers. Have you thought about reading some of the reviews at AVForums and What Hi-Fi to get a feel for makes and models?

Perhaps just trawl the for sale threads at AVForums too. You'll soon learn to spot the usual suspects.

darreny · 31 Oct 2014 at 18:34

Yeah it's just model numbers I want so I know which to look out for, not bothered about anything except sound quality, love the yamaha and I'd get a decoder for HD formats if one exists

TALON1973 · 31 Oct 2014 at 18:59

wow ... someone that still has mission 780se ....thought I was the only one

shadow_boxer · 31 Oct 2014 at 19:12

lucid said:
Pretty much any decent AV receiver with HDMIs made in the 6 years ticks those boxes. That means a lot of receivers. Have you thought about reading some of the reviews at AVForums and What Hi-Fi to get a feel for makes and models?

Perhaps just trawl the for sale threads at AVForums too. You'll soon learn to spot the usual suspects.

Pretty much this, I'd say anything from the last few years in the low to midrange area which was sold new around the £500 mark. Far to many to list but definitely checkout AVForums classifieds.

darreny · 31 Oct 2014 at 19:13

They're still great sounding speakers. Had them from new and still perfect

kidloco · 31 Oct 2014 at 23:21

When my denon amp started playing a while ago I had roughly the same budget to replace it I with a second hand unit as a temp fix until I saved for a new amp. I picked up a denon 2809ci for under £200 off the bay. Does all the latest codecs, plus some quite fancy mic setup and room eq. Granted it isn't quite as nice with music as the Arcam, but for movies it is head and shoulders above it. Had it around 8 months now and have no intention of replacing it until it breaks.

tom_nieto · 1 Nov 2014 at 09:31

Big fan of the 78 series here! Years down the line I sort of regret getting rid of my 78c as they seem quite rare these days. 780se's are probably way overkill for rears as they're seriously good! Perhaps would be well suited for surround sound music.

Edit- although I did have to replace both midrange drivers due to a known fault

darreny · 1 Nov 2014 at 14:06

I got the rear pair second hand so it was more seamless for front to rear sounds, speaker technology hasn't really improved that much or amplification for that matter

TALON1973 · 1 Nov 2014 at 16:35

tom_nieto said:
Big fan of the 78 series here! Years down the line I sort of regret getting rid of my 78c as they seem quite rare these days. 780se's are probably way overkill for rears as they're seriously good! Perhaps would be well suited for surround sound music.

Edit- although I did have to replace both midrange drivers due to a known fault

I think there was a resin problem with them. Took mine into the shop I bought them from. Had it fixed free of charge.

darreny · 2 Nov 2014 at 14:36

Is it right the sony 1200es doesn't do HD audio through hdmi or have I read it wrong

tom_nieto · 2 Nov 2014 at 17:02

TALON1973 said:
I think there was a resin problem with them. Took mine into the shop I bought them from. Had it fixed free of charge.

I fitted replacement drivers myself at a cost of about £40-50.