Stereo amp recommendations

Smiley Man

Smiley Man

Smiley Man

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Hi guys

my current AV setup consists of

Technics SA-DX930 (basically an old 5.1 DD surround receiver)
SL-PG570A CD player
Mission 773es as A speakers
Mission 70s as B speakers
REL Q100E

Am i right in thinking the weak point of this setup is the amp? im only using stereo so no need for any 5.1 shizzle. the cd player isnt fantastic but its fine for now

has anyone got any recommendations for a decent stereo amp? willing to spend about £150 but it must have

Inbuilt phono stage
A and B speaker outputs

ideally want to get something second hand cos i reckon i could get something a lot better than spending £150 new

any advice guys?
 
The first thing I'd ask is why you want/need to run two sets of speakers?
If they're for different rooms, then I can almost see the point, otherwise you'd be better focusing on getting a single stereo pair to work well.
Selling the second pair would also help release funds for a better amp.

As for amp recommendations with a phono stage, s/h a Linn Majik is just about within reach, along with some of the older Cyrus and Rotel kit.
If you really need speaker switching, then maybe some Nad might do the trick. A few years ago I had a Kenwood 3030R which had two sets of outputs. For the money, was a good and fun little amp to listen to, though I'd expect the Linn to give it a good kicking.
 
i just picked up a Cyrus III amp off auction site for £120, original packaing, remote, mint condition

nothing new for that money would even come close


oh and im with Mr_Sukebe on the speaker issue, 2 sets will just destroy the stereo imging and make the sound muddled. dont bother. get 1 good set and set them up properly
 
Blurb off the web


Most source components (CD, Tuner, Tape etc) have output levels at what is broadly known as "line level". This, as far as I know, is a term originating in the "pro" field, but put simply, for hifi purposes, it means somewhere between about 100mv (a tenth of a volt) and 1V. This is what most most modern integrated amps (or preamps) are set up to work with on their various inputs.

A pick up cartridge, as a source, is very different. A Moving Magnet (MM) type typically gives only about 5mV (five thousandth of a volt), and a Moving Coil (MC) type is even worse, giving only about 300uV (less than a third of one thousandth of a volt). As you can see, both types of cartridge require enormous amounts of low-noise amplification to bring them up to a suitable level for a standard line-level input. Just to make it even harder, when records are cut, the treble is boosted in order to overcome surface noise on playback, and this has to be matched by a treble cut / bass boost on playback, to level the frequency response again - this is called equalisation.

So, a phono amp has the difficult job of providing massive amplification with low introduced noise, coupled with an inbuilt permanent tone control, the RIAA equalisation curve, all just to make your pickup cartridge look the same as a CD player etc, suitable for feeding a standard input.
 
yep, basically the signal from a turntable needs a huge amount of pre amplifacation and this is what a phono stage does.
 
kidloco said:
yep, basically the signal from a turntable needs a huge amount of pre amplifacation and this is what a phono stage does.
Click to expand...

Yep

If you want a very good phono stage the Audiolab 8000A is renowned with its MM and MC stage but you might not like the presentation

MB
 
i need 2 sets of speakers, one set are either side of my monitor the others are either side of my bed

i only use 1 at a time, hardly ever both :)

cyrus stuff sounds good, like to keep the manufacturers local :D

been looking at the 8000A which looks pretty nice too

ideally i would want to be able to upgrade to the manufacturers CD player etc at a later date
 
Smiley Man said:
i need 2 sets of speakers, one set are either side of my monitor the others are either side of my bed

i only use 1 at a time, hardly ever both :)

cyrus stuff sounds good, like to keep the manufacturers local :D

been looking at the 8000A which looks pretty nice too

ideally i would want to be able to upgrade to the manufacturers CD player etc at a later date
Click to expand...

Theres no real advantage to matching the manufacturer of the amp and the CD player, at this level its about getting the best you can for the money. I run a Rega Planet with my A8000 because the it was the best I could get at the time for what I wanted to pay.

MB
 
Matblack said:
Theres no real advantage to matching the manufacturer of the amp and the CD player, at this level its about getting the best you can for the money. I run a Rega Planet with my A8000 because the it was the best I could get at the time for what I wanted to pay.

MB
Click to expand...

OOH! Controversy ahoy!

System synergy is unbelievably important :) Accurately matched impedances etc tend to give you a "nicer" sound - Some manufacturers pay far more heed to this than others. For example, Naim go totally overboard making sure everything is as synergistic (is that even a word?) as possible. I believe Linn also go to reasonable lengths as well. Others just dont give a stuff.

With an eye on the budget and the brands he ought to have in mind, I would tend to agree that getting individual "best" components that fit in the budget is probably a good approach but if you take the time (and perhaps spend the extra) to balance a system well (as you have done yourself) then you will reap the rewards.
 
Mr_S said a Linn Majik, don't think you will get one for £150..... But the model before it, which was designed/released to take on the Audiolab 8000A, and similar in appearance being full width is the INTEK..... has great phono board, even has 2 speakers connection, one switched....... AND will give a 8000A a good kicking !!!! ;) :D
Plus there is one on auction if you want to "look" at a picture etc.....
We use to use one in the small demo room with a £600 Arcam 70.3 CD player and various speakers, very tight clean sound, a little on the dry side, but nice and Tuneful. ..... Can add a matching Powertek power amp if you like in the future.
 
9designs2 said:
Mr_S said a Linn Majik, don't think you will get one for £150..... But the model before it, which was designed/released to take on the Audiolab 8000A, and similar in appearance being full width is the INTEK..... has great phono board, even has 2 speakers connection, one switched....... AND will give a 8000A a good kicking !!!! ;) :D
Plus there is one on auction if you want to "look" at a picture etc.....
We use to use one in the small demo room with a £600 Arcam 70.3 CD player and various speakers, very tight clean sound, a little on the dry side, but nice and Tuneful. ..... Can add a matching Powertek power amp if you like in the future.
Click to expand...

found it :)

i will need to do a bit more research and justify whether or not i can spend this money which i should really be saving :p
 
right i have had interest in my old amp and a few bits, so its looking like i'll be getting a stereo amp

the audiolab 8000A still looks like the best bet, i listen to a lot of dance music so how well is the audiolab suited to that?
 
Smiley Man said:
right i have had interest in my old amp and a few bits, so its looking like i'll be getting a stereo amp

the audiolab 8000A still looks like the best bet, i listen to a lot of dance music so how well is the audiolab suited to that?
Click to expand...

You need to go and have a listen.
I tried an 8000, but that was a LONG time ago, but wasn't impressed at the time. More recently I heard a new audiolab pre-power combo, and wasn't impressesd with that either. Not that it's a bad amp, just that it doesn't suit my needs. You might well love it.
So don't rely on our comments, go try one out.
 
kidloco said:
i just picked up a Cyrus III amp off auction site for £120, original packaing, remote, mint condition

nothing new for that money would even come close


oh and im with Mr_Sukebe on the speaker issue, 2 sets will just destroy the stereo imging and make the sound muddled. dont bother. get 1 good set and set them up properly
Click to expand...


Absolute bargain price there! For that price you wouldn't get anything that even came close to sounding as good.
 
i have an 8000a and im very pleased with the sound ,some say its a 'bright' amp ,but im running it with silver speaker cable and the detail is awesome ,i dont listen to much 'boom boom' music tho, im also using it for sound from my dvd thro a meridian dac and tbh it sounds as good as my old marantz 5300 (which i dumped for a 2ch setup) surround /dolby is very overated imo when compared to a good quality stereo amp.
 
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