Ebay has not been good to me.

ABM78

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I have patiently sat here for months looking for second hand amps to pair with my Nad545bee and Dynaudio Excite X-12's for music duties as find the Sony AV amp a little bright. I won a Marantz PM-54, voices were great, lacked a bit of bounce and amongst many problems to begin with it then stopped working within 6 weeks, it cost me $300AUD I got over it, then I won a bid on a NAD C-370, I was so happy....until the buyer although listed as accepting paypal, emailed me stating he would only accept direct debit, I argued with myself but refused to pay in that method. We do not have the same second hand market here in Australia as you guys in UK. I am done waiting, I am expecting a tax cheque in a couple of weeks and I am going to buy a new amp via ebay but from a UK "power seller". What you think? Prices are so so much cheaper there than here.

Roksan Kandy 2 or Creek Evo 2? Will either these run my excites, I want a sound that is fun but not bright, plays all types of music well. Only amp considering locally is a Jungson JA-88D, as not getting ripped off like a lot of the other hi-profile brands!
 
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Anonymous

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Funny you should say that, I've done similar work like this for a customer in Turkey Who wanted an MF integrated.

As for running the Dynaudio's, I'd maybe avoid the Roksan, especially if you were finding previous amps to be bright. Roksan tend to me (imo) brighter than most, very clinical and brittle. I think your best bet would be an Arcam FMJ A18, if you can stretch your budget to that. Arcam are known for a very smooth, enjoyable and musical delivery.
 
Mmmm, interesting coments about the Kandy being bright.

From personal experience of Kandys, LIII in particular, is fairly neutral. The K2 has a slightly warmer presentation which may not be a great match for Dynaudio. Likewise Creek has a similar tonal balance to Arcam, abeit it has a punchier sound.

If it were me I'd be looking at Nait Nait 5i, Rotel 1520 or even Leema Pulse.

Dyns have always been a great match with Cyrus, but size as well as presentation may not be to everyones taste.
 
Mmmm, interesting coments about the Kandy being bright. From personal experience of Kandys, LIII in particular, is fairly neutral. The K2 has a slightly warmer presentation which may not be a great match for Dynaudio. Likewise Creek has a similar tonal balance to Arcam, abeit it has a punchier sound.

If it were me I'd be looking at Naim Nait 5i, Rotel 1520 or even Leema Pulse.

Dyns have always been a great match with Cyrus, but size as well as presentation may not be to everyones taste.
 
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Anonymous

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I agree with the Leema Pulse or Rotel RA1520 amps to consider; both superb and will drive your Dynaudios well

Maybe consider the NAD C355BEE or C356BEE integrated amps also; will gel superbly with your NAD CDP and again will drive the Dyns with aplomb
smiley-cool.gif
 

ABM78

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Very interesting that you have recommended the Rotel, it is on sale 30 percent off on a couple of online stores, I did strongly consider the amp, would get a local warranty etc so now you have me really thinking, I mean if I buy an amp from UK and have problems then how much of a pain in the A$$ will that be! I think it could be the wisest choice, and a nice looking piece too. Honey....where's the credit card :)

PS- the Rotel is reasonably priced here, the Leema out of my budget I can get the Rotel for 1K AUD (with current special) the Leema is 3K!!!!
 
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Anonymous

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I have a Creek Evo 2 and think its a superb amplifier, one of the most transparent integrated I've heard and for me not at all bright. It does have a dry presentation though which can be a little matter of fact, but despite this it manages to sound fluid, if sound staging is your thing its a taste of high end. This coming from someone that used two own and Audio Analogue Bellini Pre-amp with x2 Donizetti power amps bi amping a pair of Harbeth's. As always audition before you buy if possible.
 
Spectre said:
I have a Creek Evo 2 and think its a superb amplifier, one of the most transparent integrated I've heard and for me not at all bright. It does have a dry presentation though which can be a little matter of fact, but despite this it manages to sound fluid, if sound staging is your thing its a taste of high end. This coming from someone that used two own and Audio Analogue Bellini Pre-amp with x2 Donizetti power amps bi amping a pair of Harbeth's. As always audition before you buy if possible.

I really like the Creek Evo 2, but it'll be responsive with a MA or Epos or Focal rather than a speaker, like Dynaudio, which is better suited to brands such as Cyrus or Leema.
 
ABM78 said:
Very interesting that you have recommended the Rotel, it is on sale 30 percent off on a couple of online stores, I did strongly consider the amp, would get a local warranty etc so now you have me really thinking, I mean if I buy an amp from UK and have problems then how much of a pain in the A$$ will that be! I think it could be the wisest choice, and a nice looking piece too. Honey....where's the credit card :)

PS- the Rotel is reasonably priced here, the Leema out of my budget I can get the Rotel for 1K AUD (with current special) the Leema is 3K!!!!

There is a company in the UK that's still selling the Pulse for about £750.

Edit - just seen, it's gone down to £699 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Leema-Acoustics-Pulse-Integrated-Amplifier-Silver-NEW-/200620510934?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Amplifiers&hash=item2eb5ea0ed6
 

Dougal1331

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Sorry to hear about your bad experiences. Ebay sellers MUST accept Paypal over anything else- refusal probably warrants grounds to complain to ebay.

A UK-based Power Seller should give you no problems, as they are registered sellers, which gives extra reassurance and protection for buyers. (see ebay's terms and conditions).

I have bought nearly all of my kit from ebay, and had no problems at all.
 

lindsayt

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With the Marantz PM-54, is it an easy or a difficult fix?

Is it just a case of replacing one of the fuses?

Or maybe a spray with some contact cleaner?

Or did it go up in smoke, taking out the transistors plus a number of other components?
 

ABM78

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Thanks guys,

Cyrus is out of budget here at about 2k just for the 6xp, did a leema pulse search on ebay and found one here up for sale for a great price, put in a bid, seems as I was the only bid the seller has just ended the sale with less than a day left on the sale, again got screwed on E-bay soooo over it!

Tahnks for the link Plastic Penguin, will email them to see if they will post it here. Really annoyed at latest turn of events, was so happy when saw one on sale on the local market.

Lindsayt, it had multiple things wrong with it, I have since discarded it its long gone.

ANy of you guys know much about Jungson JA-88D Class A amp?
 

ABM78

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Well I ended up buying one of those Leema Pulse amps that Plastic Penguin gave me the link to, it cost me less than half delivered to Australia than what it would have cost me to buy it brand new here! Thats at the top of my budget but still don't think I could have done better here! Seven Oaks was excellent, fast in responding and have advised it will be shipped tomorrow! Can't wait! Lets hope all goes well, I have been patient! Will report back on what I think once I get to play!

Thanks guys! Especially the Penguin man!
 

Inter_Voice

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ABM: When you receive your Leema Pulse I am sure you won't be disappointed. I got one as well from the same seller in e-Bay a year ago. The only possible problem is some time in future you may be thinking of changing your speakers :D
 

ABM78

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Yeah Intervoice I love my Dynaudio's but kind of wishing now that I went up to maybe the Focus range when I bought them. No way at the time did I think I would be buying an amp that cost 3k here I thought my budget would be around 1500 approx for each item. We have an apartment so should do for now, maybe if we upgrade to a house bigger better speakers might be in order. Its re-assuring to know others who have used the store with positive results. :)
 

johnnyblue

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Dougal1331 said:
Sorry to hear about your bad experiences. Ebay sellers MUST accept Paypal over anything else- refusal probably warrants grounds to complain to ebay.

A UK-based Power Seller should give you no problems, as they are registered sellers, which gives extra reassurance and protection for buyers. (see ebay's terms and conditions).

I have bought nearly all of my kit from ebay, and had no problems at all.

I could not agree less with your post as I had a bad experience with Paypal and lost 300 quid from a seller who never sent the items and Paypal refused to refund my money.I would never use them again and when I've bought stuff since using ebay I've always sought out sellers who accept personal cheques or postal orders.

Paypal already use extremely dubious banking practices that most people would not accept from their high street bank - your way would give them a monopoly to do what they liked (not that they mostly don't already).Maybe you should check out the site paypalsucks.
 
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Anonymous

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Certainly if I were ever to sell somethng expensive via Ebay/paypal, I would transfer the money from my paypal account to my bank account pronto. I have heard stories of the buyer disputing something about the transaction and paypal refunding the money from the sellers paypal account - but they can't refund money that is no longer in your paypal account.
 

BenLaw

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I've only recently starting selling on eBay, does it work like this? If you buy something with PayPal, there is a debit in your PayPal account which is then paid from your linked account / credit card. I assumed they'd do the same with a refund, pay it from your PayPal account and then recoup it from your linked account?
 

johnnyblue

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I haven't used Paypal for a few years, but when I did to get a refund you did it online and filled out several pages of a lengthy form.In my case when I got to a drop down menu for reasons I wanted the refund I (thought I ) clicked on something like "buyer did not dispatch" but actually clicked on the next reason down, which was something like "I didn't like item" or whatever.I didn't notice until I went to the next page and it said refund refused because they didn't refund for the reason I'd chosen.I couldn't go back and correct the mistake and I couldn't start again,because you're only allowed one claim per item, but when you think about it why include invalid reasons for a refund on a list? Why not just state state clearly that you don't refund for that reason?

Anyway, I phoned them and explained what had happened and they flat out refused a refund. I just can't imagine that happening in any other bank "Oh, I'm sorry,you've ticked the wrong box so we're keeping your money."

Like I say, check out paypalsucks and other sites.They might have millions of satisfied customers, but they also seem to have thousands of very unhappy ones,too.Unfortunately for me, I was one of the latter.I use Amazon now for buying and selling.I once got an email from them saying I'd sold something,money in my account,dispatch now, so I did and then got an email saying don't dispatch because buyer hadn't paid.I just emailed back to say it was too late and Amazon paid me anyway.Whether they got the money from the buyer I don't know, but at least I wasn't penalised for their mistake
 

SteveR750

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Always pay paypal with a credit card, then you have the same protection and insurance as any CC transaction. Paypal is convenient, perosnally never had any issue with it, and am wary of sellers who don't use it. That said, am happy to go offline and use BACS or good old cash which I prefer then you are not buying totally blind.
 

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