beware, question about cheap hifi...

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I used to be a HiFi buff, back when I had money and time and less responsibility. In fact the last bit of hifi I bought was a Mission DAD5/DAC5 combo back in '93/94(ish). Anyway, I digress... I'm looking for a cheap and cheerful amp to partner a pair of Mission E30 bookshelf speakers. This is for a small work room and the budget is... wait for it... £100!

I've been considering a couple of candidates: Cambridge Audio A1 (£69.99 from Richer Sounds) ; Pioneer A-109 (£86.99 Amazon). I'm finding it hard to find any decent online reviews of either of these amps and High Street HiFi shops are sadly non-existent these days.

Any opinions on the suitability of these amps for my needs, or any other suggestions would be warmly received. I know neither of these will give me a true HiFi experience, but a reasonably clear, warm sounding amp would be the goal.
 
I'd say stretch your budget by another £15 to £30 and you'll be able to get youself a decent example of a NAD C320BEE

Cracking amp for the money and sounds fantastic 🙂

It had been a What HiFi 5 star winner for a good length of time as well!
 
I have been looking on ebay and there are a couple that might be interesting. I'm just fearful of buying a box of bolts and ultimately losing what little money I have. A 'vintage' amp is always compelling, but 20 years of use compared with the advancements in technology present in a new amp is a tricky one to way up. In all honesty, I've lost touch with the world of HiFi for the last 10 years (or more) so for all I know, technological advancements might have had a negative affect on the cheaper end of the market.ÿ
 
Go for the NAD C320BEE...

I know im repeating myself but for your budget and not wanting an amp thats too old; IMO, you cant get better!
 
JohnDuncan:yeah, just searching...

I was going to search but just noticed I had a 15 percent off voucher on ebay that needs to be used by tomorrow, so bought me some 0.5m Chord Crimson cables (for my DAC) for £4.50 off 🙂

Sorry.

John will find something nice.
 
Right - this would be a good choice around the 100 quid mark. Wouldn't be my first choice (I'd probably be looking for a NAD), but was first I came across.

An alternative, since technology is such a fickle area, would be to buy a good musical AV amp, since their market value plummets as soon as the latest model comes out. You could probably find a yamaha DSP-A620 on ebay for fity quid, and it would beat the amps mentioned so far hands down (IMO, I have one and it's great at music).
 
d_a_n1979:Go for the NAD C320BEE...I know im repeating myself but for your budget and not wanting an amp thats too old; IMO, you cant get better!

I'm looking... I was also looking at the c315Bee as a New amp, but can't find that cheaper than £150 - and that's stretching too far (unless I don't feed the kids... hmmmm? lol)ÿ

ÿ

Thanks for the advice everyone, looks like I'll trawl the second-hand market. No one has even considered suggesting either of the two examples I initially gave, so I take the hint! 😉ÿ
 
I think it's just that people think you could get a far better sound 2nd hand.

...broken record time... don't discount the Rotel series. lots of decent stuff from around £50...
 
i would definitely trawl ebay. i got a nad c320bee there for just over £100 (sorry, i forget the precise figure).

Personally id say most hifi buffs want to resell at some point, so you're unlikely to get a bag o' bolts as people take good care of their their kit (so they can sell it, im going full circle, blah blah lol!).

Good luck.
 
Yep, it's gonna be ebay!! You've all convinced me. Just have to sit tight and wait for that bargain...
 
Patience is a virtue 🙂

TBH you could also take a look for an Arcam Alpha 8 integrated amp. Good little amp and can also be upgraded in the future by adding the matching Arcam Alpha 8P power amp or the 9P power amp 🙂
 
Or alternatively go to a v foums .com and go to their classified adverts if you trawl through those pages i am sure you will find the C320 BEE
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get the A1 from richers it's a cracking amp and you have the knowledge of knowing it's new. I've had many amps over the years and although not the best it certainly isn't the worst, don't have a problem with the suggestions of going 2nd hand but only for a much better amp than the ones mentioned.
 

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