Budget amp for Tannoy Arena

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I'll be purchasing the Tannoy Arena (not Lite) given the recent price drops. Which (budget) amp would do them justice; I was considering the Sony STR DG820. Our room measures 13ft * 10 ft, and 3 out of 4 walls have an aperture.
 
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Anonymous

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cmag:I'll be purchasing the Tannoy Arena (not Lite) given the recent price drops. Which (budget) amp would do them justice; I was considering the Sony STR DG820. Our room measures 13ft * 10 ft, and 3 out of 4 walls have an aperture.

I'l rephrase the question and would appreciate some advice from the boffins out there!

Which AV amp, in your opinion, represents an accepted entry-level which will do justice to the Tannoy Arenas?
 

kinda

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Hello,

I've tried to put all the reasoning behind my comments a couple of times, from demos, discussions, and owning the Arena, but it ended up too long winded.

The Arena will sound OK on amps at about £400, but I found I got loads more from the sound, especially in terms of clarity and detail, moving up to something like the Marantz SR6001 from amps like the Onkyo 605.

I run my Arena with the SR6001, (about £700 or so when new), and I think it sounds great.

The Arena will keep up with more expensive amps, but I think there are diminishing returns for your money with amps once you break a certain price point.

So I'd say aim for an amp at maybe £700 - 800, or maybe slightly more, and you would probably have the balance point right of doing the speakers justice for the lowest cost.

Though I haven't heard the DG820, I think it is probably a bit too budget for the Arena which was expensive when it first came out.

I'd do some demoing of amps if you can and see what you think.

Hope this helps.
 
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Anonymous

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Many thanks for your advice, kinda. Having such a frank opinion has been very helpful.

Unfortunately the Tannoy Arenas are being sold without speaker grilles, which I feel is a significant omission. I'm now starting to consider whether to go for the KEF 2005.3 or the Q-Acoustics QAV 5.1, to keep within budget. The reason is that the main alternative for me, the Tannoy Arena Lites, have had a star dropped off in view of the weaker bass, and I'd like to keep within budget!

Having auditioned both the KEF 2005.3 and the Q-Acoustics QAV 5.1 today, my impression is that the former are somewhat weightier, while the latter produce slightly clearer but more sibilant tones. Perhaps the difference might be due to the amps they were partnered with (Onkyo 605 and Marantz respectively). I'll keep mulling over this!
 
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Anonymous

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You might be tempted by Richer Sounds then. Arena Lite surrounds but with the TS500 sub, which was originally with the bigger Arena speakers. Very good price too.

I'm about to go for it. My thought is to add a pair of DC4T floorstanders in due course and turn it into a 7.1 system.

I should point out that (as far as I know) the only difference between the Lite and non-Lite Arena "owls" is the sub.
 
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Anonymous

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After much soul searching I decided to go for the Tannoy Arenas anyway (not Lites), and to purchase the grilles separately or to simply fashion lintless cloth hoods for each individual speaker. All the retailers I'd contacted had emphasized that the Arenas did not come with the grilles. The deciding factor was the sound quality, which really was a class apart from the other 2 systems.

In my opinion, while the KEF 2005.3 produced a "weightier" sound, I thought that clarity was significantly lacking. It's a good system if you like noisy booms I suppose. Not my cup of tea though. The QAV is really a good system, slightly bright, but the inevitably close spacing of the front LCR speakers is obvious at the listening position, and cannot compare as favourably as more widely spaced fronts.

Twist of fate and guess what? The Arenas arrived, and the grilles were included in the package!!! Why the retailers did not check the clearly-labelled box beats me! So now I have my system of choice, at a good price, and with a welcome surprise :)

So now I'll be waiting for the new AV recievers to hit the market. I don't want to pre-order before the systems are reviewed and I've had a chance to audition them. Again, I'm grateful to kinda for having put me in the picture.

Hope that helps. Morale --- the retailers are not necessarily right when they say that the Arenas come without grilles.
 

Qwalme

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Well the sob's took them out of my package lol.

Still I needed the stands anyway so they came with those. I'm just missing a centre grille but I'll be damned if I'm buying a bracket just for the grille.

They do sound great and they look fantastic enough to pass the missus test. Now...to just mentioned those floorstanders for the future....
 

kinda

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Hello,

Glad you fund something you were happy with, and I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the Arenas. Yes, the full Arena should always come with grilles. (It used to have 20 feet of speaker cable as well. In fact Tannoy still reckoned it did, but it wasn't in the manual I got with mine, only the old online manual, so I didn't push the retailer).

Good luck auditioning the amps. I bet the Marantz SR6300 at about £650 or less would be worht a listen.

Qwalme, I can't remember how it works with the centre grille, but I know the centre was different to the surrounds, which came with bookshelf stand / grille combos. I got the full Arena and bought a centre stand as well, so if I've got a duplicate grille knocking around I'll be happy to let you have it.
 

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