Leaving my Chorus 806v

[Vladimir]

You could consider a Rega Brio-r for your budget. Would still liven things up and is a very flexible amp for any future speaker changes.

Might not give the 'warm and enveloping' sound the OP is after. It's reported as bright, harsh and unreliable.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

If you want to save messing around with amps then go for a abrahamsen 2up £899 or a marantz pm8005 which in the uk you can buy for £600 new and it's a model above the marantz pm7005 . It has been talked about on here before that there is no house sound on any amps I thought the same my self that marantz had a house sound but they have a flat response so it seems people on here think there is a house sound still .

 

[Regoma]

I wonder what in the world is wrong with French retailers...the PM8005 is 240£ more expensive here than in the UK! Too bad they won't deliver the rest of Europe

Right now I'm reaaally confused by all the choice in terms of amp so I will wait a bit before making a decision

Anyway thanks for everybody's input I really appreciate it! I still need to decide between the CA and the Naim (or changing speakers because some other people are pushing in this direction *crazy* ). Never thought hifi could give headaches

 

[plastic penguin]

You could consider a Rega Brio-r for your budget. Would still liven things up and is a very flexible amp for any future speaker changes.

It's reported as bright, harsh and unreliable.

By whom?

 

[Vladimir]

You could consider a Rega Brio-r for your budget. Would still liven things up and is a very flexible amp for any future speaker changes.

It's reported as bright, harsh and unreliable.

By whom?

By people who buy it. Do you need names, addresses, dates?

 

[plastic penguin]

You could consider a Rega Brio-r for your budget. Would still liven things up and is a very flexible amp for any future speaker changes.

It's reported as bright, harsh and unreliable.

By whom?

By people who buy it. Do you need names, addresses, dates?

Ah, right. Buy those who've bought them, but you haven't had experience of either Rega Brio-R or Focal, right?

Another Vlad "car crash" statement doesn't do anyone any favours, especially when it's based on conjecture.

 

[Vladimir]

I guess the days of "My Brio-R is amazing, but it sounds like ****, it hums and this is the 5th one I had to send back" are long behind us. It can only be a good thing. 😉

 

[plastic penguin]

I guess the days of "My Brio-R is amazing, but it sounds like ****, it hums and this is the 5th one I had to send back" are long behind us. It can only be a good thing. 😉

Presumably, Rega had a batch of amps that had issues. Is that fair to state that that's representative of all Brios? A few years ago Roksan (LIII I think) had reliability issues as well, as did Cyrus CDPs, as did Cambridge Azur range at low volumes - one channel was quieter than the other.... and so have most brands over the years.

Just because some have problems, you can't tar every amp with the same brush.

 

[Vladimir]

Feel free to search on Google "rega brio-r humm", "rega brio-r bright" and "rega brio-r broken". This forum comes up quite a bit, which confirms my memory of this particular amp that was very popular couple of years ago.

 

[ChrisIRL]

To be fair I had a Brio-r that didn't sound bright or harsh, nor did it buzz or hum. Granted it's probably not the warmest sounding amp but it's certainly lively and exciting. A decent all rounder.

I suppose the problem if you Google a product is generally people only post to complain or look for solutions to problems. There's many a glowing review of the Brio-r too.

I would still point the op towards the Nait 5si if at all possible. I had it posted to me for €1250 from the uk, not €1500.

 

[Regoma]

I would still point the op towards the Nait 5si if at all possible. I had it posted to me for €1250 from the uk, not €1500.

I would be less reluctant to buy it for 1250€ but the French market seems to ignore foreign pricing as here the lowest price is 1509€ (which is odd, we're talking about a +20% difference). Still, the fact that the Naim has no sub output doesn't exactly play in its favor as far as I'm concerned. I mean if a better amp doesn't solve my issue, maybe my hearing is just completely off the "average" and I would be stuck with brilliant high/medium speakers and a 1500€ amp. The sub output has this reassuring factor that if a new amp doesn't bring me the punch I'm chasing, then a sub properly paired certainly will (or else i'll just buy a pair of Beats and hide myself in a cave)

I don't know if my logic is clear or not (and neither do I know if it's right)

 

[drummerman]

I guess the days of "My Brio-R is amazing, but it sounds like ****, it hums and this is the 5th one I had to send back" are long behind us. It can only be a good thing. 😉

Presumably, Rega had a batch of amps that had issues. Is that fair to state that that's representative of all Brios? A few years ago Roksan (LIII I think) had reliability issues as well, as did Cyrus CDPs, as did Cambridge Azur range at low volumes - one channel was quieter than the other.... and so have most brands over the years.

Just because some have problems, you can't tar every amp with the same brush.

Be nice to each other, its a lovely sunny Good Friday.

Save the insults for a rainy day. - Like tomorrow 🙂

 

[rainsoothe]

brio-r didn't sound overly bright for me, but it was pretty messy, rhythmically speaking

 

[radiorog]

I dodnt find my brio r messy rythmically, thought it actually excelled here. I found the sound very sweet, and not exacrly bright, but lean, as a lot of rega products are described. Not huge depths of bass. But I think for classical and jazz it can be a superb amp. It depends on what kind of sound you like. Soundstage isnt huge, but not everyone needs that. It did have humming issues though, although this was dealt with by rega, but id be surprised if this had been totally resolved. Just my amature guess.

 

[ChrisIRL]

I would still point the op towards the Nait 5si if at all possible. I had it posted to me for €1250 from the uk, not €1500.

I would be less reluctant to buy it for 1250€ but the French market seems to ignore foreign pricing as here the lowest price is 1509€ (which is odd, we're talking about a +20% difference). Still, the fact that the Naim has no sub output doesn't exactly play in its favor as far as I'm concerned. I mean if a better amp doesn't solve my issue, maybe my hearing is just completely off the "average" and I would be stuck with brilliant high/medium speakers and a 1500€ amp. The sub output has this reassuring factor that if a new amp doesn't bring me the punch I'm chasing, then a sub properly paired certainly will (or else i'll just buy a pair of Beats and hide myself in a cave)

I don't know if my logic is clear or not (and neither do I know if it's right)

I don't think you need sub out on an amp to use a sub. I've never used one myself but I think an active sub can be connected to the speakers. Maybe someone else could help here.

To be honest with the 5si I'd be surprised if you needed a sub anyway. Analogue seduction in the uk ship worldwide.

 

[Regoma]

I would still point the op towards the Nait 5si if at all possible. I had it posted to me for €1250 from the uk, not €1500.

I would be less reluctant to buy it for 1250€ but the French market seems to ignore foreign pricing as here the lowest price is 1509€ (which is odd, we're talking about a +20% difference). Still, the fact that the Naim has no sub output doesn't exactly play in its favor as far as I'm concerned. I mean if a better amp doesn't solve my issue, maybe my hearing is just completely off the "average" and I would be stuck with brilliant high/medium speakers and a 1500€ amp. The sub output has this reassuring factor that if a new amp doesn't bring me the punch I'm chasing, then a sub properly paired certainly will (or else i'll just buy a pair of Beats and hide myself in a cave)

I don't know if my logic is clear or not (and neither do I know if it's right)

I don't think you need sub out on an amp to use a sub. I've never used one myself but I think an active sub can be connected to the speakers. Maybe someone else could help here.

To be honest with the 5si I'd be surprised if you needed a sub anyway. Analogue seduction in the uk ship worldwide.

I indeed Google'd the sub without a sub output thing and yes you can (although I didn't really understood 100% how) but your speaker are still going to render the frequencies that the sub takes care of which to me...is a bit weird?

About Analogue seduction... "Please note, this product requires collection from our showroom. Not available to purchase online" 🙁

 

[ChrisIRL]

Phone them.

 

[ChrisIRL]

They also have a request information form on the site.

 

[Regoma]

I'm back! My amp took ages to be delivered (i.e. 2 awful and painfully long weeks). I tried to have a look at the Naim but after asking multiple places it seems like the brand itself doesn't allow its resellers to ship abroad so there was no way I could afford the French retail price.

After reading many reviews (pro and amateur) I ended up ordering the NuPrime IDA-8 and it's just great! There is a clear difference with my Marantz 5004, the sound is less "clogged". It is funny how I used to think bass was my only problem because now that I have a higher end amp I can definitely tell it was NOT the only point of improvement!

So...bass. Definitely better: I can hear them without tweaking the EQ in the most ridiculous ways! (unfortunately not exaggerating at all) However despite the great overall improvements I can definitely tell there is something wrong with my speakers: either they do not fit my tastes anymore, either they're sort of faulty (they're demo models).

Thanks again for your helps guys, it really helped me in my reflection 🙂