Looking to bi-amp, suggestions?

[gbhsi1]

Hi,

I'm looking to bi-amp my current setup so looking for a second hand good quality power amp to power the neat tweeters. Willing to part with £250 - £350, any ideas? Am looking at the arcam p25 or quad but maybe something with valves??

Regards,
Hugo

 

[chebby]

What is the other amp?

 

[Frank Harvey]

An Arcam will keep it smooth (Arcam Alpha even smoother), as would a Quad 909 or 606. Maybe look out for a Rega too.

What are you driving the speakers with currently?

 

[gbhsi1]

I currently have the roksan kandy III integrated with arcam cd 93 and neat motive 2 speakers...which would you recommend in that price range guys?

 

[Frank Harvey]

I'm not really one for mixing and matching power amps in hi-fi systems, as you have to be careful with mtching input/output sensitivities and gain matching. I would ideally recommend a Roksan Kandy K2 power amplifier. If you want a pick from those recommended though, the Arcam might match in ok tonally. Saying that, you might get away with the Quad too....

One thing to try, would be using the intgerated amplifier to drive the bass, and the power amp to drive the treble - it sometimes works better tha way round. Audiolab used to recommend that for their 8000 series back in the day. Worth a try.

 

[gbhsi1]

The k2 is already out of my price range and I can't find any mkIII power amps....:-( I was thinking of using the power amp as you have mentioned so would I be wasting my money not going for the same brand?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Not necessarily wasting your money, but if you're buying blind, expect the possibility of it maybe not sounding quite right if the gain of whichever power amp you go for is quite different to your Roksan. Usually, manufacturers will use the same gain for all their own products.

That in mind, I think the Quad would be the best bet.

 

[Ben K.]

I have a rotel power amp, an arcam a75 integrated and recently tried bi-amping some ma br2s. The power amp has adjustable gain although I didnt get round to adjusting it. Firstly I hooked the speakers up to the arcam alone to hear the sound I was trying to better. I tried using the power amp for lf and arcam for hf then the other way around. The rotel has a very different sound to the arcam and so neither combination really sounded right. I then tried the rotel on its own using the arcam as a pre amp only. This had more authority than the arcam alone but I prefered the arcams smoother sound. In the end I bi-wired the arcam to the speakers and this gave me (to my ears) the best sound.

Not sure if this will help you. I tried it out of curiousity as I already owned all the components. If I had bought the rotel just for this purpose I would have been very disappointed.

 

[Craig M.]

sell your amp and add the money to the budget, buy a better integrated.