bad time to buy an amp?

[coolaboola]

Is any body else finding it difficult to buy an av amp?

First of all I,m in the market to buy an am between £400 and £600.It will be used only for movies as my much loved cambridge audio 840 amp will handle music.so the amp must have pre outs.

It will be feeding monitor audio rs1 fronts,m.a. silver centre and m.a. bronze rear fx.oh and a bk 200 sub.

I don't intend in upgrading for the the next 5 years(famous last words) so it should be as future proof as possible but sound is key not bells and whistles.I'm an hour out of glasgow so ideally i'd buy off the net but i could travel.

Ideally I'd have gone for the yamaha 863 but they are long gone.I went in to richersounds actually to buy a denon 2808 for £500 plus whatever i bargained them down for but the guy tried selling me an onkyo 607 by flinging mud at the denon so i left the shop empty handed.I do not want an onkyo.Nothing personal my dad loves his but i don't think it would partner my speakers too well.

I nearly bought a marantz sr6003 for £639 off simply electronics.com but after a little googleing found they had many unhappy customers,something to do with being based from hong kong.I would like to hear a marantz,really like spec and build quality but glasgow shops are way off on price and they can't be bought off the net.If I lived in newcastle I'd know where to go

I'm just about finished renovating my house,speaker cable wired in to the walls,hdmi for my projector hidden behind the new ceiling etc. and all i need is an amp.I never thought it would be so hard.Should i wait for the new yamaha's and pay full retail only for them to drop their prices by £200 in 6 months or is there a bargain out there that someone can enlighten me with.Thanks in advance,

Coolaboola

 

[TKratz]

One thing is for sure. If you wait, better amps will become available. As you noted they will probably be more expensive than the old models though. You could of course wait a while for the prices to go down. But then you will likely get close to the launch of even newer models. And then you can wait a little longer for those...

My advise to you is: Buy when you need the equipment for a budget you can afford.

Secondly: There is no such thing as future proof. New technology will always be developed outdating the old equipment. When I bought my last receiver in 2000 (prior to the introduction of HDMI) I thought I was home safe. This time I am not so naive. But I am definately planning on keeping my next receiver for at least 5 years like you

 

[Anonymous]

I would go for the onkyo 875 if there any still about or the 876, should be in your budget up to 600 quid. I got a refurb one and it has been fine no probs, from a reputable onkyo dealer (www.exceptional-av.co.uk).