Good Used Amps?

[admin_exported]

I'm looking for a new amp, and I was thinking of buying a very good used one on eBay for less than it would cost new, so can people suggest to me some good amps that I can look for?

It needs to have a phono stage, and excuse my pickiness, but I would quite like a black one if that's possible, haha.

 

[the record spot]

What budget did you have in mind? When you say "used" how far back do you want to go - five, ten years....more, less?

There was a Marantz PM66SE-KI on Ebay last night on Ebay for £85 buy it now....would've been a good snag, but there's a stack of others you could pick up on.

Basic Sansui's like the one I currently have come up often, are incredibly good VFM and will set you back anything from £30 to £70....Audiolab 8000As, Harman Kardons, tons of NADs, Cyruses, Arcams...and so on!

 

[Anonymous]

How much have you got to spend? Presumably this will drive the Tannoy Revolution Signature DC4? Do you have any preferences or dislikes about the sound's tonal qualities?

 

[fatboyslimfast]

S'all down to price - there's lots of goodies out there from the grossly underestimated Rotel RA-820 for twenty quid or so to Arcam amps £1-500, Naim Pre/Powers starting at £250 to well, you get the picture.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah baby... gis a budget, lets go shopping!

 

[Anonymous]

I was thinking of spending up to £500.

It's gonna be playing a huge range of genres, so a good all rounder would be ideal.

 

[fatboyslimfast]

What sort of sound do you like? Rhythmic and fast (and maybe a little forward) - Naim.
Smooth and mellow - Arcam. Something in the middle, but very detailed? Primare...

 

[Anonymous]

A smooth, gentle sound would be nice, but maybe something with a bit of punch too, if that's not too much to ask?

 

[Anonymous]

Tricky. I wonder whether you'd be better off sticking with the Arcam Solo.

 

[Anonymous]

Haha.

Judging by the posts made so far, I think I might go for an Arcam.

Which model would you recommend?

And if anyone was wondering, the record player is a Rega P3 that I got from eBay.

 

[Anonymous]

Well Arcam is a good choice...

for about £500 you could get an A32.... or A85/P85 combo....

Arcam A85

But I think that there are more choices to be had.... how about a Sugden?

Sugden A21

there will be others...

.. or stretch the budget and get a graded new Cambridge Audio 820 V2....

Richer Sounds CA820

Although getting the version 1 would put you back in budget.

How about a Musical Fidelity A3 dual mono....?

 

[Anonymous]

pity it has to be black ... I got an old silver Pioneer SA-9800 for £275 off ebay and in mint condition ... very detailed and not much around to touch it (for the price I paid) ... 100watts at 8 ohm

If you dont mind old, these were on my wishlist (including the pioneer SA-9800 or 9500

kenwood ka-907, kenwood KA-9100,

Yamaha A-2000, Yamaha Ca-1010, Yamaha Ca-2010

Sansui AU-9900, Sansui AU-11000, AU-D11

Marantz 1200, Marantz PM 7200

Sony Ta-F7

something that also interested me when I bought my first pioneer A400 amp was the Musical Fidelity (cannot remember if it was the A3.2 or A5)

 

[the record spot]

£500....nice...*thinks valves*....or failing that, one of the higher end Sansuis too. A recent example went for just over £600 and a pre/power a few months before that took £800 of a buyer's money. Their 717, 917 amps are so over-engineered it's untrue and god knows what their RRP would be if they were new on the market now.

 

[matthewpiano]

This is screaming Sansui AU-999 if you have the patience to wait for a really nice example. Its a beautiful looking thing and its warm but punchy sound with incredible sense of atmosphere would fit your requirements very well. Sorry, but it would leave any Arcam for dead.

If you could find a clean example for about £300, I'd then recommend getting it serviced - recapping, removal of the infamous Sansui glue, and a good clean-up of all the pots and controls. You'd then have an incredible amp for relatively little outlay.

Other Sansui amps well worth a look are the AU217 (as RS advocates) and the AU3900, which looks rather lovely with its black fascia and silver knobs and sounds almost valve like in its fluidity. One of those should come in under £100 and the phono stage on them is glorious.

Of more recent amps the Pioneer A400 and A300X are gems and the Yamaha A-S700 is a stunning amp.

Slightly off the wall, but I'd also be very tempted to look into the Icon Audio Stereo 25 valve amp. They can be demonstrated at a small number of dealers or by Icon Audio themselves in Leicester and look to be sensational value for money.

 

[the record spot]

Speaking about onboard phono stages on the Sansui, I just hooked my turntable up to the 217 for the first time and can vouch for it too, rather like the rest of the amp it's a good performer. Very fluid, good separation between the instruments, nice depth - lovely midrange...piano sounds quite convincing too and you can really detect the impact and vibration on drum toms.

Just listening to Monster Magnet's "Superjudge" on vinyl and it's very impressive (Bernie Grundman's mastering job does help admittedly).

 

[sthomas048]

Hello,

Would any of these Sansui amps

http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/son-passion95_Amplificateurs-integres_W0QQ_fsubZ5433868QQ_sidZ385963457QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em322

be able to be used in the UK ? Lots of tasty Sansui goodness there !

 

[the record spot]

Yup, all very nice and all very VERY expensive. Depends if you want to pay the premium or wait for an auction. I would say that even at £150, or so, the 217 is a fine amp. However, I paid £33 for mine, near mint and delivered, so it suddenly looks a big jump!

EDIT: There's an American dealer who does the higher end Sansui amps...usually services them and updates the caps, etc, inside. Think Sansui 517 upwards, expect to pay circa £250 plus shipping.