Recommend a stereo amp..

ajf

ajf

ajf

Soldato
Joined
30 Oct 2006
Posts
3,067
Location
Worcestershire, UK
I am looking for a stereo amplifier to pair with a Marantz cd63 Ki and a pair of B&W 602 speakers.

Upto £200 budget. New or used - I had wondered about an original Audiolab amp but would a new NAD or Cambridge Audio be as good now?

Thanks
Andrew
 
ajf said:
I am looking for a stereo amplifier to pair with a Marantz cd63 Ki and a pair of B&W 602 speakers.

Upto £200 budget. New or used - I had wondered about an original Audiolab amp but would a new NAD or Cambridge Audio be as good now?

Thanks
Andrew
Click to expand...

Oddly enough, I have all three.

I started with a Cambridge Audio A5 then got a NAD 312 s/h for £20. That was nice. Then I got an Audiolab 8000A for £50 and replaced my NAD with it, relagating the NAD to PC use.

I find the NAD a little more, uh, 'lively' but good. I am not going to use pretentious terminology so I'll will just say I prefer the Audiolab more. I listen to a lot of stuff, such as electonica, blues, rock, acoustic and singer/songwriter. But not metal, thrash and that stuff where they wear capes and shout.

I was lucky getting them at the price. If you can find an Audiolab cheap, go for one as they are good enough.

Oh, I gave my A5 away to a mate.
 
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I have B&W 603 speakers, I went from a Cambridge A1 to Marantz to Nad. The cambridge I used with other Mission bookshelf speakers and did sound ok for a cheap setup.

(pretentious terminology mode on!)

The Marantz was warmer and slower, sounded nice but a bit relaxed for my music tastes. (explosive dance, metal) Great for listening to slower chilled out music but felt it couldnt really keep up with fast paced dance, metal and rock

The Nad, as Tom said, sounds more lively. If you like a warm sound look into the Marantz PM7200. I was going to get either the Marantz PM7200 or the one I currently have (A Nad C352)

I paid £220 for the Nad but it was only 3 months old and came with a 3 year on site warrenty. You can get them cheaper but im not a fan of buying second hand electronics as they have failed me in the past a few days after using them
 
Thanks for the comments and suggestions.
I thought 2nd hand might be a bit risky but I thought it might be worth the risk if they are cheap enough.

I am watching an A5, C312 and a8000 so see where they end up.

How does the A5 stand up these days?
I do not listen to a lot of music but want something that will partner the other items nicely.

Andrew
 
One thing that I wasnt too happy about when i tried an A5 was that i had to turn the volume to 12oclock to get any sort of good volume to speakers. Think the A5 is protected or something whereas the Cambridge A1 wasnt. (wish i had that feature last week when one of my drivers burnt out)

I found that both the A1 and A5 sounded quite cold, especially in comparison to the Marantz i had
 
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