Repair or buy new?

Llwynygan

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Jan 31, 2021
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How far has integrated amplifier technology moved on?

I have a faulty Cyrus 8 (15 years old) which can only be fixed by Cyrus for £300. Is the likes of a Rega Brio at £600 better use of my money. The Cyrus cost more when new but how much has the technology moved on. I know for turntables old is still very good (I have a Rega Planar 3) but is that true of Amplifiers also?

What would you do?
 
Depends on how much you love the 8, amplifier tech hasn't really moved on too far I feel.
perhaps it might be best to buy new and have some sort of guarantee .
£300 is a lot for what might just be a simple board swap.
 
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Llwynygan

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So would you buy new rather than repair?

I dint do wide auditions when I got the 8 so might love something different as much. How much was the 8 was new? I bought mine second hand.
 

Gray

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...and bear in mind that other 'common' fault I mentioned.
When I worked in a Service Dept. repair guarantees were on the repair that was done.....not on unrelated future problems. I fear that power-up fault may be a disaster waiting to happen on yours (and my old 8 :unsure: ).
 
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Llwynygan

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The local engineer I used is a specialist. He clearly knew what he was talking about. He landed on a diagnosis that we think only Cyrus can resolve. Maybe this is leading me to replace it...
 

Llwynygan

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He's got the 8 which was £800 new. (Not that too much importance should be placed on that)
It is a really valid question. I have 3 choices:
1) pay Cyrus £300 to fix it (delay until they are open post lockdown)
2) continue hunting for a cheaper fix (think this is a dead end) - meanwhile no music
3) buy a new amp - is a £600 amp today (eg Rega Brio) as good as my Cyrus 8 which was £800 new 15-20 years ago. If I had the £1200 8a it is far easier to justify spending £300 to fix it.
 
WHF features sub £1k amps this month - four costing £5-600 - the Brio, Musical Fidelity M2, Marantz 6007 and Audiolab 6000. All get five stars.

If you can get one of these new with the capacity to return if not happy (I believe a lot of online retailers are offering this), that might be the best bet -you can find out for yourself about sound quality and vote with your feet if not? Only you will be able to answer question 3 to your own satisfaction.

Looking at it, the M2 was £800 in 2019, but it's easy to find one at £600 now. No built-in phono stage though. Did you say you have a turntable? The others all do, I think.
 
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Gray

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It is a really valid question. I have 3 choices:
1) pay Cyrus £300 to fix it (delay until they are open post lockdown)
2) continue hunting for a cheaper fix (think this is a dead end) - meanwhile no music
3) buy a new amp - is a £600 amp today (eg Rega Brio) as good as my Cyrus 8 which was £800 new 15-20 years ago. If I had the £1200 8a it is far easier to justify spending £300 to fix it.
Much as I like Rega (In pre-Brio days, I spent a couple of months on final test in their amp dept.) I'd say theirs would be different rather than better.

Can only say that I originally did home demo of Cyrus 8, Roksan Candy and Arcam A85.
The Cyrus was such an easy choice for me.
Although you'll be well used to the Cyrus sound by now, who knows, once you start auditioning you might prefer something else?

P.S. Just seen Monkey's post above and yes, I would have to have the Audiolab on my shortlist if I was buying at the price. If you can get them home with you for a while....certainly worked for me.
 
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I agree with the suggestion to try a new amp on a returnable basis. As for technology moving on, it certainly hasn’t for Rega, as I think they mark their circuit boards with a reference to an original design from Wireless World magazine in the 1960s, iirc.
Many standard class AB amps like the Brio, are simply nicely made versions of traditional designs, in a contemporary case. For something different, Cyrus make a model One, that uses much newer class D technolog. I doubt that either would outperform a brand new Cyrus 8, were the comparison possible. https://www.cyrusaudio.com/products/cyrus-one/
 
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