Amp upgrade

[jonathanRD]

My next planned purchase is an amp around your budget, and I've been researching and reading for quite some time now (about a year). Over that period I have seen quite a few conflicting reports on various amps and there seems to be 'flavours of the month' on this forum. When I am ready, I will make sure that I listen to any amps available within a reasonable distance of where I live, as circa £1000 is a lot of money to spend based on just reviews or demos in a dealers room. It's likely that I will only commit after having a home demo. I know who my nearest dealers are, and what they stock, so I have a good idea of what brands will be on my demo list. I'm not prepared to travel 100's of miles to try everything as that would be impractical for home demo and in my location I think there is enough choice reasonably close. So do you know who your nearest dealers are and what they stock? Arranging demo sessions in your nearest dealers may provide enough choice for your situation.
The other issue for me is where I am headed regarding the rest of my system - so my choice of amp is affected by my longer terms plans regarding system matching, and not just what is the best match for my current kit. I mention this as many might comment that matching a £1000 amp with the Dali's might be a little overkill - so have you thought about upgrading your speakers in the future and to what?

 

[Blacksabbath25]

ok went for a demo today and had a blast of some amps ... they were arcam a19 , arcam a32 roksan k3 , cambridge amp the £750 one all tested with my marantz cd6005 + my dali's 3s now the roksan k3 sounded rubbish on the dali's even when the salesman put the same amp on a pair of floor standing speakers from monitor audio bronze the £750 pair still did not cut it with me then moved onto the arcams the a19 was ok but nothing to ride home about but tested on the dali 's again but i guess the amp would have sounded good on the monitor audios anyway moved onto the arcam a32 sounded much better then the a19 did on the dali's but not so good for me to part with £900 and then last the cambridge amp well that sounded nice and liked it but put of by bulid as they seem to have lots of issues on that side of things . then i was about to walk away without buying anything and then the saleman said have you thought about changing your dac ? no i thought never thought about it so he shows me arcams dac ir dac £400 well he got my amp of the shelf the marantz pm 6005 amp and connected it all up with the matching cd play and my speakers and wow loads better even with my dalis that cost £300 the sound was amazing so i handed £400 and went home hooked it up and its what i was after sound wise . so for me anyway you do not have to spend big money on getting the sound you want . and i know maybe if i changed the speakers that i have i would make the top amps sound just as good but just did not want to go that far in blowing loads of money .

 

[Covenanter]

ok went for a demo today and had a blast of some amps ... they were arcam a19 , arcam a32 roksan k3 , cambridge amp the £750 one all tested with my marantz cd6005 + my dali's 3s now the roksan k3 sounded rubbish on the dali's even when the salesman put the same amp on a pair of floor standing speakers from monitor audio bronze the £750 pair still did not cut it with me then moved onto the arcams the a19 was ok but nothing to ride home about but tested on the dali 's again but i guess the amp would have sounded good on the monitor audios anyway moved onto the arcam a32 sounded much better then the a19 did on the dali's but not so good for me to part with £900 and then last the cambridge amp well that sounded nice and liked it but put of by bulid as they seem to have lots of issues on that side of things . then i was about to walk away without buying anything and then the saleman said have you thought about changing your dac ? no i thought never thought about it so he shows me arcams dac ir dac £400 well he got my amp of the shelf the marantz pm 6005 amp and connected it all up with the matching cd play and my speakers and wow loads better even with my dalis that cost £300 the sound was amazing so i handed £400 and went home hooked it up and its what i was after sound wise . so for me anyway you do not have to spend big money on getting the sound you want . and i know maybe if i changed the speakers that i have i would make the top amps sound just as good but just did not want to go that far in blowing loads of money .

Well done! You listened, found something you liked and saved some money. Great outcome IMO.

Chris

 

[rainsoothe]

Awesome. Enjoy

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

Great news.the ir dac can mix it up with my cd5i mk2 in s/q performance no problem.Be safe in the knowledge that it'll handle an amp and speaker upgrade if you ever do decide to go up that path.A perfect example of the amp and speakers are only as good as the source that feeds them.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_664715932]

Ir dac is a cracking bit of kit. I have 1 to use whenever i am listening from my istuff and it does a very good jog.

Well done.

 

[Al ears]

Cheers guys, yes if I dare say we offer UK support. Abrahamsen supply parts. I would be happy to ship you one up for you to try if you can get in touch with me via website. Burnsie is in Scotland also i know its a big place but might be near.

Ill hunt down the magnetic spelling, cheers.

Wasn't having a go boggit but it occurs on a couple of pages (oh, and Ebony is mis-spelt in one instance to).

No, I didn't used to be a proof reader.