MA RS8s / Arcam Diva 85

[admin_exported]

Decided this is the amp I want to pair with my MA RS8s but after a lot of searching, cannot find anything! I have only managed to find the upgraded I21 version I think which is far too expensive. Any help here?

Other two options below are the creek evolution MKI amp or the Rotel RA-06, but the former is near impossible to find too and the 06 doesn't come up second hand much..

 

[plastic penguin]

Could just remind me of your budget?

 

[Anonymous]

It keeps changing!! Originally it was around £250 and now I would be willing to pay more if I were to find a deal I liked.. maybe max £350ish.

 

[Anonymous]

I bought my A10 a month or so ago (ex demo/hardly used from the Dutch importer, a real bargain, 60% off), and it is fantastic. I had not expected such a big improvement over my NAD 320BEE. Not that they are easier to find than A20's, but keep your eyes open for the A10 also!

 

[Anonymous]

Will keep that in mind mate.

 

[Anonymous]

I had the Primare A20 MKII amp. This requires very careful system matching and doesn't just get on with every component. What is your source?

 

[Anonymous]

Monitor Audio RS8s. Supposed to be good synergy between the two from what I have read?

 

[Anonymous]

Your source is your cd player - what make is it? Between the MF A3 (your other post) and Primare A20, I would be inclined to go for the former.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, complete audio n00b aren't I. Source is only the laptop for now unfortunately. I will know very soon if I can get the MF Amp.

 

[Anonymous]

You really should invest in an external dac to since you are using the laptop and nothing unfortunate about that at all. The sound quality you can get from an external dac is absolutely superb

 

[Anonymous]

hi fi newbie:You really should invest in an external dac to since you are using the laptop and nothing unfortunate about that at all. The sound quality you can get from an external dac is absolutely superb

See, in simpleton terms, can you explain what the purpose of this 'dac' is and what it does? Is it a middle-device between the laptop and the amp? I still want to be able to play songs from my laptop directly with quality sound..

 

[chebby]

APatel8:

See, in simpleton terms, can you explain what the purpose of this 'dac' is and what it does? Is it a middle-device between the laptop and the amp? I still want to be able to play songs from my laptop directly with quality sound..

A Digital - Analogue Convertor lets you plug in the 'raw' digital output from your laptop - bypassing the built in soundcard - via USB or optical and uses superior, hifi quality components to convert the bit-stream into an analogue signal that can be plugged into an amplifier using RCA (or XLR in some cases) like any other line level source.

You can achieve the same connectivity with a simple 3.5mm - RCA lead from the headphone output of your laptop's soundcard to your amp, but using a standalone DAC connected to USB (or optical if your laptop has it) is going to give you much better quality.

Every CD player has (and has always had) a DAC built in to convert the digital bitstream into an analogue line-level output that can be plugged into an amp.

A seperate DAC (in a standalone box) allows other devices like Skyboxes, Playstations, DVD/Bluray players, laptops, Freeview boxes etc to be plugged in too.

 

[Anonymous]

How about this pre and power Rotel for £215? It's 70W and is a predecessor of the RB-03 and RC-03.

 

[Anonymous]

igglebert:How about this pre and power Rotel for £215? It's 70W and is a predecessor of the RB-03 and RC-03.

Would prefer an integrated mate, and a little tight on space for it as it is...

 

[Anonymous]

chebby:
APatel8:

See, in simpleton terms, can you explain what the purpose of this 'dac' is and what it does? Is it a middle-device between the laptop and the amp? I still want to be able to play songs from my laptop directly with quality sound..

A Digital - Analogue Convertor lets you plug in the 'raw' digital output from your laptop - bypassing the built in soundcard - via USB or optical and uses superior, hifi quality components to convert the bit-stream into an analogue signal that can be plugged into an amplifier using RCA (or XLR in some cases) like any other line level source.

You can achieve the same connectivity with a simple 3.5mm - RCA lead from the headphone output of your laptop's soundcard to your amp, but using a standalone DAC connected to USB (or optical if your laptop has it) is going to give you much better quality.

Every CD player has (and has always had) a DAC built in to convert the digital bitstream into an analogue line-level output that can be plugged into an amp.

A seperate DAC (in a standalone box) allows other devices like Skyboxes, Playstations, DVD/Bluray players, laptops, Freeview boxes etc to be plugged in too.

Thanks for that - was confusing me no end and that really helped 🙂

 

[Anonymous]

marantz pm7200 has also been suggested to me now.

 

[plastic penguin]

APatel8:

marantz pm7200 has also been suggested to me now.

By whom?

You seem to be going from one make to another. This is fine, but one can be confused if you try to skip and have too many makes on your list. Been there, got the t-shirt.....

Let me confuse you a little further

....nothing personal. The best match for Monitor Audio RS8 is Arcam. many on here dislike Arcam, claiming it's insipid. In some ways I understand where they are coming from. However, rig up Arcam A80 or A85+ RS8 = sonic heaven. Arcam look really good and are well built, thus both Arcam & RS8 will guarantee pride of ownership.

 

[Andrew Everard]

I think the RS8s will benefit from some welly from the amplifier, so the PM7200 would be a good choice, as would the Arcams the Penguin is suggesting. If you were going the Rotel route I'd say at least the RA-06 would be required, if not one of the company's bigger amps.

 

[plastic penguin]

Quick addition to my earlier post. The Arcam, should you hanker after an improvement a year or two on, produce some of the best power amps in their class.

 

[Anonymous]

OK, here goes my negativity again...forget the Marantz as with the RS8s I think you'll find it too bright. So where do we stand? Requirements:

1) Good looking, single box, integrated amp
2) Plenty of current to drive the slightly current hungry RS8s
3) 70W upwards to ensure decent loudness capability

What's in?

a) Newer Arcams that you can add a power to later on for biamping.
b) Primare I20 (not conviced on the bass control of this one but haven't heard this model variant).
c) Rotal RA03 or RA06 if you can find one. Not the last word in bass control either.
d) NAD C370? Plenty of grunt, suitablee tonal balance, poor looks.

Looks like option a with a view to adding more power later or option d.

 

[John Duncan]

See what happens when you go away for the weekend...?

I have an A20 Mk2, and it has plenty of current for most applications, though 'Wolf is correct in that it doesn't gel with just anything - I tried some Spendor SA1s on the end of it, expecting it to be sonic nirvana (¸ audiophile clich‚s #126) but it just didn't work. I ended up with speakers a third of the price...

Anyhoo - if you want to find one in budget, you need to do what I did, which is set up searches in a well known auction site where you get mailed when a new listing matching your search goes online. I had to wait weeks, but then one turned up Buy It Now within budget, and bob was my uncle.

That's not to say that any of the other suggestions above wouldn't work for you as well as better, but I'd understand if you were seduced by the knobs...

 

[plastic penguin]

igglebert:OK, here goes my negativity again...forget the Marantz as with the RS8s I think you'll find it too bright. So where do we stand? Requirements: 1) Good looking, single box, integrated amp 2) Plenty of current to drive the slightly current hungry RS8s 3) 70W upwards to ensure decent loudness capability What's in? a) Newer Arcams that you can add a power to later on for biamping. b) Primare I20 (not conviced on the bass control of this one but haven't heard this model variant). c) Rotal RA03 or RA06 if you can find one. Not the last word in bass control either. d) NAD C370? Plenty of grunt, suitablee tonal balance, poor looks. Looks like option a with a view to adding more power later or option d.

Ooooo, iggle, no no, matey. The new Arcams won't fall within his £350 max budget. The Nad was, I believe, given only two stars by WHFI, which probably won't interest the OP. The Rotels, like the Marantz just will struggle to synergise with MA's and the Primare is....well, the hi-fi Ikea. No it's a good amp, but when I played it with my RS6's wasn't a patch on my A65 (synergy-wise).

The A80 you can get for about £200 and A85 £300 via our favourite (use term loosely) auction site.

 

[Anonymous]

It is really slippery slope this - I do keep changing my mind to be honest as I keep reading different reviews and being influenced. These responses have done a lot to help me too 😛

 

[plastic penguin]

APatel8:It is really slippery slope this - I do keep changing my mind to be honest as I keep reading different reviews and being influenced. These responses have done a lot to help me too 😛

Look at it this way: phone up any of the big retailers and ask them what is the best amp for Monitor Audio. I will guarantee you they will say Arcam.

I've tested so many amps over the past year and a half, including Roksan kandy LIII, Cyrus 8VS2, Primare I21, Naim Nait 5i, Rotel RA06 to mention but a few. All are better amps in themselves, Roksan, Cyrus and Naim are blistering. None of them could gel as well with the Monitor Audios like the Arcam.

 

[Anonymous]

r.e. the Arcams, I was really considering the Alpha Integrated 10 but it just looks absolutely awful - like a cheap set top box as I described in one post.

However, the A85 looks A LOT better and like a proper amplifier, however I was left to believe that the Alpha 10 would smoke it when paired with the Monitor Audio RS8s - again that's just something I read, but please correct me if that's completely wrong?

Synergy wise, from everything I've read (and it's a lot), it seems that the consensus is that the quite lively Monitor Audio RS8s go well with the following amplifiers: Arcam, Primare and Musical Fidelity.

Others that have been ruled out now are:

Rotel: Generally people say it doesn't go well with the RS8s and doesn't do a good job of controlling the bass and at low volumes - after hearing the Rotel trying to control a pair of MAGS20's I was put off)

Creek: Difficult to find and haven't found many that have paired it with MA RS8s - amp doesn't have tone or bass control either - that bothers me.

Marantz/NAD: - Differing opinions on both but not a fan of them looks-wise, and aren't they budget amplifiers?

Cambridge Audio: - Again, synergy wise read that they are quite bright sounding and the RS8s need something more refined to control them. Also, is it bad that I don't even want to consider them just because of the awful name?

Will wait to hear your opinions on the A85/Alpha 10 and will add the A85 to the Primare and MF options and TRY not to change 🙂