Good amp for Spendor A5

[Anonymous]

dim_span:
I still maintain that if I had spendor A5's ... and £1500 to spend on an amp, I would not hesitate to buy the krell KAV-400Xi ...

the spendors need an amp with lots of power to perform at their best ... the Krell delivers 200 watts at 8 ohms and gets very good reviews (search google)

Yes it would be amazing but it's waaaay out of my budget. it costs 2500 euros!!! I can only spend around 800-1000 on an amp, leaning more towards the 800 than the 1000. Unless I get the RX-8s.

 

[Frank Harvey]

SlickenSmooth: Frank,David

First off thanks for all the insightful information that you've been putting in this topic 🙂.Pleasure.

I'd like to know if a Marantz PM7000 KI could drive 'em or is it too weak?It'd drive them to an extent, but not to their best. I used to like the PM7200 a lot - I always thought it was one of the best amps under £500 along with the Rotel RA04 - if these 2 amps couldn't make a speaker sound good, nothing else could.

Your comment about how important the amp is made me reconsider, maybe I should get some Monitor Audio RX-8, which I auditioned today on a Marantz PM8003 and it sounded nice but was lacking bass and body, then the shopowner hooked it up with a Advance Acoustic MAP 305 DA II (although only 2 stars for What Hifi) and they sounded amazing. Also they gave me the impression that they're friendly with a lot of types of music. That gives me around 1000-1200 quid for a good amp. What do you recommend for these RX-8's?Not sure how the RX8's lacked bass, that's usually the one thing Monitor Audio speakers don't lack! Were they positioned correctly?

The RX8 is a livelier speaker than the A5, but real instruments will sound more like real instruments on the A5's. If you want to spend £1k on the speakers, I'd buy the ATC SCM11's which is easily the best speaker under £1k (ProAc Tablettes a clos second or equal depending on individual taste), and that'll leave you a little towards some good peaker stands speaker stands.

dim_span:I still maintain that if I had spendor A5's ... and £1500 to spend on an amp, I would not hesitate to buy the krell KAV-400Xi ...I'd recommend people try out Krell rather than buying it blind. I made that mistake, but luckily gt back what I paid. I thought the Krell would easily drive and control the KEF References I had at the time, but i just didn't work. The bass was loose, there was no 'snap', and it just didn't sound anything like what I'd come to expect from Krell after everything I'd read. I'd much prefer Bryston as I've achieved much better results from what I've tried and owned in the past.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry David 🙂,

ATC SCM11 seems like great speakers but my room is 5x7 so I think I'll need at least floorstanders. I'm so in love with looks of the Spendors. I'll have a listen tomorrow to see wether I can say the same about the sound. Any other amp suggestion for the Spendors? As Naim and Audiolab seem very hard to come by over here! I can spend up to 1000 for the amp. The CD player will have to wait then...

 

[Frank Harvey]

Normally in a room like that I'd be recommending A6's, but that's another story....

It's hard to recommend stuff really as I don't know what you have access to. Have you considered second hand? That will probably give you access to amps and pre/powers normally up to about £2k. That should give you access to the likes of Audiolab 8000c and 8000m monoblocks, Cyrus PreVS and X Power, Quad 99/909 etc.

 

[Anonymous]

FrankHarveyHiFi:
Normally in a room like that I'd be recommending A6's, but that's another story....

It's hard to recommend stuff really as I don't know what you have access to. Have you considered second hand? That will probably give you access to amps and pre/powers normally up to about £2k. That should give you access to the likes of Audiolab 8000c and 8000m monoblocks, Cyrus PreVS and X Power, Quad 99/909 etc.

Heh I hear ya. But I'll be buying my own house soon (still living with my mums and dads) and it'll probably end up a little bit smaller than this room. I'll look into the second hand stuff right now..

 

[Anonymous]

David,

Did some research and I can get 2x 8000m monoblocks for 650 euros. I'm not familliar with Audiolab so what pre amp do I need to buy with these?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Ideally an 8000c (with high quality tone controls), but there was also the 8000q, which was arguably much better. Bear in mind though that there are new ones avalable now from when IAG took them over, which many argue that they aren't quite the same as the original ones from Audiolab which were available up to 1994 if I recall correctly. The black versions, which look the best, were available between 1991 and 1994. The original 8000m's were bombproof - try and get an audition if you can.

 

[Anonymous]

SlickenSmooth:

Frank,

First off thanks for all the insightful information that you've been putting in this topic 🙂.

I'd like to know if a Marantz PM7000 KI could drive 'em or is it too weak?

Also..

Your comment about how important the amp is made me reconsider, maybe I should get some Monitor Audio RX-8, which I auditioned today on a Marantz PM8003 and it sounded nice but was lacking bass and body, then the shopowner hooked it up with a Advance Acoustic MAP 305 DA II (although only 2 stars for What Hifi) and they sounded amazing. Also they gave me the impression that they're friendly with a lot of types of music. That gives me around 1000-1200 quid for a good amp. What do you recommend for these RX-8's?

Tomorrow I will audition the A5s and likely I will have to make a choice between the A5 or RX-8.

I had tried PM7001 amp with A5s a few months ago, didn't find them gelling well. As good as this amp is, with these speakers I didn't enjoy the sound. I can't recall all the detailed feedback i had - it is in some thread here. Kandy K2 runs A5s perfectly.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok listened to the Spendors today, paired to a pre- and power amp plus 2 monoblocks of Rega (not sure which ones but they were all above the 1000 euros). First CD was some uptempo funk kind of music, very nice drums, very tight and spot on sound, bass was nice and weighty. The high was too bright for me and at higher volumes you could hear it was starting to lose it's composure. The shopowner then told me that these speakers were quite honest ones and if the recording on the CD is suboptimal it will show. So I tried E-Funk and Everbody loves the sunshine by Roy Ayers... MAN I was blown away by the realness of the instruments, sounded really really good. Again the drums and timing are incredible, but this time the high was just beautiful.

Then tried to match em with a Quad 909/99/CD player. Lots of power with this amp but not that musical imo, it filters out a lot of the details in the music. Compared to the Rega this wasn't sounding nice at alll.

Then the shopowner told me to listen to the Spendors to some Sugden amp (never heard of it? me neither until today). He told me this amp only has 25 watts per per channel but the current is enough to start a truck. So I listened. Man that changed my vision totally about amplifiers. Incredible. As powerful as the quad (or almost) I'd say and more dynamics and musical than the Rega. Check these amps out if you have the chance.

Tomorrow I'll go back to the other store and listen to the RX-8's again and I'll make my choice. But I might just pair it with a Sugden Amp.

 

[Anonymous]

I know that matthewpiano is very keen on the sudgen gear ... good luck and keep us informed!

 

[Anonymous]

FrankHarveyHiFi:Normally in a room like that I'd be recommending A6's, but that's another story....

Hi David, I pray thee, please tell me the story about the A6's as I plan to audition them vis-a-vis the ATC SCM40s and PMC FB1i's.

Which integrated amp would be good for the A6's?

 

[caddyhound]

Try a second hand AVI Lab Series Integrated or even better the Lab Series Pre and V2 Power.Both have plenty of power and current and they should sound great with A6's.

 

[Anonymous]

When I was looking for a new amp recently I seriously considered the AVI Lab Series Integrated. Great reviews and owner opinions everywhere you look (and as the previous poster said - a lot of grunt). They tend to get snapped up when they appear on the classified sections of other forums or on ebay. The going rate seems to be £750-850

 

[Anonymous]

SlickenSmooth:Then the shopowner told me to listen to the Spendors to some Sugden amp (never heard of it? me neither until today). He told me this amp only has 25 watts per per channel but the current is enough to start a truck. So I listened. Man that changed my vision totally about amplifiers. Incredible. As powerful as the quad (or almost) I'd say and more dynamics and musical than the Rega. Check these amps out if you have the chance.

No wonder the Spendor dealer in my country only carries Spendor, Sugden and one other brand, Densen, if I remember correctly.

 

[Frank Harvey]

jtein:Hi David, I pray thee, please tell me the story about the A6's as I plan to audition them vis-a-vis the ATC SCM40s and PMC FB1i's.

Which integrated amp would be good for the A6's?The A6's will suit a larger room. They use a more capable, larger bass driver in comparison the the A5's, whose smaller drive units shifting less air would suit small-average size room. They have a cleaner midrange with better bass extension, sounding a little faster too. Even thought the HF is the same, the change in mid/bass arrangement which extends the top end a bit, giving them a more airy and open presentation.

I'd say the main alternative to the SCM40's are the ProAc Response D18, so do try and hear these if you can. The difference you hear going from the ATC's to the ProAc's will be a similar difference when trying the PMC's, only the difference will be even more pronounced. The A6's sit nearer to the D18's in their presentation, but are a little more laid back.

 

[Anonymous]

SlickenSmooth:
Then tried to match em with a Quad 909/99/CD player. Lots of power with this amp but not that musical imo, it filters out a lot of the details in the music

...the Quad 99 preamp is a big weakness in this pairing, losing a fair amount of detail.

 

[Anonymous]

FrankHarveyHiFi:The A6's will suit a larger room. They use a more capable, larger bass driver in comparison the the A5's, whose smaller drive units shifting less air would suit small-average size room. They have a cleaner midrange with better bass extension, sounding a little faster too. Even thought the HF is the same, the change in mid/bass arrangement which extends the top end a bit, giving them a more airy and open presentation.

I'd say the main alternative to the SCM40's are the ProAc Response D18, so do try and hear these if you can. The difference you hear going from the ATC's to the ProAc's will be a similar difference when trying the PMC's, only the difference will be even more pronounced. The A6's sit nearer to the D18's in their presentation, but are a little more laid back.

Thanks David. In other words, I should partner the Spendor A6s with brighter sounding electronics like Cyrus CD 8 SE and 8XP amp?

 

[Frank Harvey]

I'd say that's more applicable to the A5's which are one of the smoothest speakers I've heard. The A6's are such that they can be used with either smoother or brighter electronics. We've used Cyrus many times on Spendor without any issues.

 

[RCduck7]

Sometimes reading forums can lead to more confusion??

I read the Spendors match well with sugden gear... Another poster on these forums mentioned that Sugden is great but a bit soft sounding, he ended up with Primare gear... and Spendor isn't a bright speaker so i also think it might match well with a bit brighter gear like the Cyrus mentioned here.

If there was a person here that had the ability to compare Sugden and Cyrus with a Spendor speaker were all good.

 

[Anonymous]

Slickensmooth, is the Sugden amp you listened to the A21aL Series 2 model? It got a 4-stars rating from Hi-Fi Choice.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Sugden compared to Cyrus is much warmer and laid back. But that doesn't mean the Sudgen sounds boring. I'm a big fan of the A21, and hold it in the same high regard I do as the Naim amps. It has the rare ability to sound like music rather than just make a noise and as far as I'm concerned would be an extremely good match for the Spendor speakers. Even though it's power rating seems quite low, it has more current and drive than many more powerful amplifiers on the market.

Before Cyrus brought out their current Xpd amplifiers (6vs2/8vs2 etc), their amplifiers were quite lean sounding, lacking in bass weight. Their presentation was quite a forward one, being detailed, but a little aggressive for some. The newer ones seem to have addressed the bass weight issue, and are now more on par with the competition, and have a bit more grunt to play with too.

So even thought Cyrus have improved their amplification, it's still quite different to Sugden. Sugden is more for the valve/class A lover, but there will be many that prefer their music much more up front and in your face, hence the forumer who chose Primare over the Sugden - it's all down to personal preferences.

If you're the sort of person who winces at the slightest sharpness of CD, then a Sugden/Spendor combination could be the sort of system you need.

 

[Anonymous]

You've been very helpful David. If only your shop's in Malaysia I could pop over and spend the whole day there. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the end of this month when I'll be giving the Spendors, Sugden, Cyrus, Naim, Primare, Roksan, PMCs, Bryston, ProAc, ATCs all a listen albeit at different dealers.

Just a thought, do you think partnering a Cyrus CD 8 SE with a Sugden amp to the Spendor A6 will work? Then I can have the best of both worlds - Class A warmth and Cyrus' precise and analytical sound.

 

[Frank Harvey]

It would be preferable to adding say a Rega Apollo or Saturn, which would make the system extremely laid back! The Cyrus will liven things up a little

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I like my music to be in-yer-face somewhat and not too laid back, but not to the extent of being harsh and bright too.

Have you listened to the Sugden Masterclass integrated amp?

 

[Anonymous]

jtein:Slickensmooth, is the Sugden amp you listened to the A21aL Series 2 model? It got a 4-stars rating from Hi-Fi Choice.

I actually listened to the Masterclass IA-4. It impressed the hell out of me.. but it's not cheap 🙂