In Need of An Amp and Cartridge to Complete Hi Fi Set Up!

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Aug 10, 2019
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Hello I'm a jazz student at the Royal Welsh College in Cardiff, and having spent a lot of time listening to music with other students who have these great set ups, and getting into vinyl, I've gotten an appetite for listening to music properly, and for good sounding music with detail and depth, I'm finally putting together a hi fi set up of my own.

It's begun with getting a pair of speakers and a record player down from the attic of my parents' house - which I will be keeping (hoorah) It's as follows-

A pair of Wharfedale Linton 3XPs in great condition, which I'm enjoying! (they were clearly in the attic because of their size rather than anything else) They fill the room nicely and give a pretty clear picture without losing much detail or depth.
And a Pioneer PL-112D, which after wiping the old ruined belt away and replacing it, is working fine...

At the moment I'm using an Ortofon VMS 3 Cartridge, and a Sansui AU-2900 amp. Yeah I'm enjoying the sound of all this but the cartridge and amp are from elsewhere in the house and aren't up for grabs for the likes of me.

So I'm on the search for an amp and cartridge. As a student, I'm on a low budget but was looking to spend up to £200, £250 - though that may need to go towards a phonostage as well depending on the amp.

I've been recommended a Rotel RA 1 or 2, and have found there are a lot of Rotel models out there as well as those.

So yes, if anyone's got any recommendations for those that'd be great, I'm looking to get a more budget friendly cartridge in anticipation of upgrading in future and not over spending with the lower end record player I've got. So am looking to spend the bulk of my budget on the Amp, one I could keep when I perhaps get a new record player/ pair of speakers in future. I mostly listen to vinyl and an aux from my laptop (Itunes) and Ipod.

In the way of what I listen to on this set up, a broad range with jazz at it's core I guess, not so much 1930s and 40s records nearly as much as more contemporary music, Ornette Coleman through Sun Ra, to Bill Frisell, Django Bates and Keith Jarrett. But then also music like Massive Attack, and also Feist... and accordion music (a confused listener perhaps, but I'm not looking for something to cope with my thrash metal, audiobooks and Beethoven Sonatas)

Cheers!
 

matthewpiano

Well-known member
If you like the sound of the AU-2900 why not seek out a similar amp? AU-2200s, AU-2900s, and AU-3900s come up every now and then on Ebay and really are ideal in that set-up. Won't cost you anything like as much as a new amp and will complete a great period system that will have a wonderfully musical and intimate sound.

PS - I've got an AU-2200, AU-2900 and AU-4400 and wouldn't part with any of them because they are lovely amps to listen to and use.
 

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