sohould i go retro or buy new ??

[admin_exported]

i have the setup below and i have only just aqquired the denon products and at present they are connected to the teac but they sound much better than the teac unit ! i am looking for an amplifier but unsure as to buy new or one from the same era as denon products the amplifiers i have been looking at are the cambridge audio topaz a5 denon pms 250se or onkyo a1955 .which would suit the system best ..obviously the teac will go when i have the amplifier .

 

[Anonymous]

just purchased denon dcd 615 denon tu260l

 

[matthewpiano]

The PMA250SE was an excellent amplifier and great value second hand if you find one that has been well looked after. That would be my choice for your system.

 

[Anonymous]

my main concern of buying a second hand amp is i dont know how hard it has been pushed ect !

 

[chebby]

my main concern of buying a second hand amp is i dont know how hard it has been pushed ect !

A brand new Denon amp isn't going to cost you a great deal more and will still match...

http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-2683-denon-pma510ae-amplifier.aspxhttp://www.richersounds.com/product/amplifiers-receivers/denon/pma510ae/deno-pma510

 

[lindsayt]

If the amplifier sounds fine then there's a very high chance it is fine and has never been damaged. They're electronic items, not mechanical ones. So they don't wear out in the same way that a car or bicycle wears out with use. There are some great vintage amps that can be bought for reasonable cost. Some of them will benefit from a service. Most of them will be fine without being serviced. There are also some great modern amps that can be bought for OK prices 2nd hand.

Last week at Scalford I was very impressed with a system that used a Sony ES integrated amp with a modded Technics 1210 turntable and Royd Merlin speakers.

 

[hoopsontoast]

If the amplifier sounds fine then there's a very high chance it is fine and has never been damaged. They're electronic items, not mechanical ones. So they don't wear out in the same way that a car or bicycle wears out with use. There are some great vintage amps that can be bought for reasonable cost. Some of them will benefit from a service. Most of them will be fine without being serviced. There are also some great modern amps that can be bought for OK prices 2nd hand.

Last week at Scalford I was very impressed with a system that used a Sony ES integrated amp with a modded Technics 1210 turntable and Royd Merlin speakers.

Sony TA0F670ES (not mine)

 

[rjb70stoke]

Ive just bought a Denon PMA-355UK with a pair of Kef Q35's for what was going to be a second system in the conservatory to stream my iTunes library through an Airport Express. I say "was going to be", but its turned out to now be my first system, given that it sounds that much better than my AV Receiver / Kef Egg system in the lounge.

After 10 years of sub-sat systems, primarily for movies, due in no small part to having a young family and not wanting fingers through my woofer's, I'm astonished just how good it all sounds. Whilst not exactly comparable to what many on here have, my initial re-entry into hi-fi, has got me "listening" to music again, not just sound in the background.

 

[chebby]

Ive just bought a Denon PMA-355UK with a pair of Kef Q35's for what was going to be a second system in the conservatory to stream my iTunes library through an Airport Express. I say "was going to be", but its turned out to now be my first system, given that it sounds that much better than my AV Receiver / Kef Egg system in the lounge.

KEF Q35.2s are (were) brilliant speakers. I used a pair for 11 years from 1996 - 2007 (in a Rega Brio/Rega Radio/Rega Planar 3/Yamaha KX-580 system).

They are still in daily use in a friend's Sony PS3 + Arcam A65 gaming/Blu-ray system and show no signs of giving in (despite the fact that he uses them much louder than I ever would have).

 

[lindsayt]

Sony TA0F670ES (not mine)

Yes, they're really nice amps for the £100 that you can buy them for these days. I bet you enjoy listening to it in your system. Sansui, Onkyo, Kenwood also did some really nice amps towards the top end of their ranges that can be bought for not a lot of money.

 

[Anonymous]

some nice suggestions and ideas there thank you for your advice :wave:

 

[Anonymous]

for all those that advised on any amps i have just purchased a denon pma-255uk edition £50.00 from ebay which will go nicely with my nos denon tu260l tuner and the denon dcd615 both from ebay and have just ordered brand new interconnects from richer sounds so should sound very nice indeed :dance:

 

[rjb70stoke]

Let us know how it all sounds when hooked up and cranked up. I absolutely love what I have now, so much so, I'm now thinking of upgrading my Home Cinema receiver, because it sounds so utterly awful with music, that I dont want it on anymore

 

[Anonymous]

i just accidently purchased a yamaha dsp-e200 when using my new phone i wasnt used to oops but it only cost £15.00 including postage so ill hook it up to the tape circuit and have centre and rears to boot :rofl: cant wait to set that up

 

[Blackdawn]

How different is the Denon PMA 250SE to the UK version? I really like my special edition. It was amazing value at £40 and goes well with my Klipsch speakers. No problems getting plenty of volume if need be but equally as good at low volumes. very natural and musical sound, better than my Kenwood 3020SE which I had previously. The Denon is only 30 watts so you may want some speakers which are easy to drive.

 

[Anonymous]

to be honest im not sure on the differences i think its a case of uk has an extra button or knob .. my tannoys have been running well with the old teac i just got rid of and that was only 25wpc and before that they ere running out of a yamaha 492 amplifier so should sound equally as good if not better through the denon

 

[Anonymous]

The denon amplifier arrived today i took a pic but i have no idea how to upload as it doesnt have a url as its just in my pictures folder on pc !! got it running at this point with spotify sounds amazing dont know why i ever sold my last hif for for the mini !!

 

[Anonymous]

I now have my system complete the amplifier arrived today i couldnt upload pic as have no idea how and dont know what a url is !! so the setup is on the left the sound is awesome considering the amp and cd is second hand the amp arrived very very grubby i neede four or five baby wipes to get rid of it so i wasnt looking for much but WOW! great to be back in the proper hifi club again :dance: