change an old amp?

[jimdonnelly]

I currently use my old beloved Rotel 931 amp. Is there anything to be gained in changing this for the Marantz 5004 or 6004 or any other amp in the £350 and below price range?

 

[the record spot]

I suppose it depends what you're looking to try and achieve Jim; is there anything in what you have in the Rotel just now that isn't floating your boat? Only thing I might go for is more power and you could do that with several new or secondhand amps for sensible money. The Rotels were always decent though, so probably best to do plenty of reading up before you part with anything; money, amp, etc!

 

[jonomd]

I had the rotel 931 in my original system for about 12 years and still have it. Very good wee amp. I compared it with several amps in this range. Marantz PM 6003, Yamaha s500, rega Brio 3 ond onkyo 8050. Used it with a Marantz cd48 and tannoy M1 speaker.

There were some improvements to be made detail and precision in the music to be made but i would say that the rotel still held its own. Now using an amplifier that was 5 times its price at the time circa 1996 ( bought used).

Generally the gains will be modest at best. Musical enjoyment it is hard to beat. For me the marantz amplifier made it a worse listen. Rega brio3 being my favorite of the others.

The rotel does well with a good source.

 

[MajorFubar]

The Rotels were always decent though, so probably best to do plenty of reading up before you part with anything; money, amp, etc!

In theory that's excellent advice but in practise it's difficult to follow. When you said "do plenty of reading up" you probably didn't just mean magazine reviews, but magazine reviews are without doubt a staple source of information for anyone considering upgrading, and I've never yet come across a magazine review which explicitly recommended that you didn't upgrade. What I'm saying is that without doing a lot of research it's difficult to get factual advice with regards to upgrading well-respected discontinued products.

 

[Blackdawn]

You could always audition the Rotel RA-10 and take along your older model to compare. The new one has pretty decent reviews and is a little more powerful.