What is a good 2nd amp to look for £2-300??
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Just about anything off the Sansui "17" series - the 217 up to the 717. Not a duffer amongst them. Expect to pay around £50 for the 217 and up to around £200 for the 717.
matthewpiano
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- Nov 23, 2007
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Arcam or Creek, IMO. With Arcam steer clear of the A70 which was a wet blanket, but the A85 can be had for £300 and is excellent. The less powerful A65+ can be had for less and works very well for the money.
Creek Evo is great if you can get one close to budget. Audiolab 8000S or NAD C326 are also good amps you should be able to get within budget.
as always my 2 cents is for the Pioneer A400. £100 will buy you a very good example of a legendary amp. No reliability issues and sound that still puts many modern amps under £500 to shame
I wholeheartedly agree with ifitsoundsgoodlistentoit. I picked up an A400 for £100 last month and must admit it compares well with my Plinius 9200. In fact, I'd say it probably delivers 60-70% of the sound of the Plinius for about 3% of the cost, which I think makes it an absolute hi-fi bargain and makes that extra 30-40% of sound quality look bloody expensive!
In terms of value for money I think you'd struggle to find better. I also picked up a Marantz PM66SE-KI last month for comparison and the A400 bettered it no contest. Don't get me wrong, I love Marantz gear having had a CD63-KI in and out of my system for over 13 years (I bought it new), and the PM66SE-KI is a good amp but it was outclassed by the A400. My girlfriend, who's normally completely disinterested in hi-fi, even commented unprompted on the clear difference (I won't repeat her exact words lest some die-hard Marantz fans get bent out of shape).
My only caveat would be not to use the A400 with overly bright sounding speakers as it could prove fatiguing over time.
Hope this helps.
In terms of value for money I think you'd struggle to find better. I also picked up a Marantz PM66SE-KI last month for comparison and the A400 bettered it no contest. Don't get me wrong, I love Marantz gear having had a CD63-KI in and out of my system for over 13 years (I bought it new), and the PM66SE-KI is a good amp but it was outclassed by the A400. My girlfriend, who's normally completely disinterested in hi-fi, even commented unprompted on the clear difference (I won't repeat her exact words lest some die-hard Marantz fans get bent out of shape).
My only caveat would be not to use the A400 with overly bright sounding speakers as it could prove fatiguing over time.
Hope this helps.
plastic penguin
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- Apr 28, 2008
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You should be able to get a good Musical Fidelity X-A2 for less than £300 on ebay (thats where I got mine), but you may have to wait as they don't come up ever so regularly.
There's a A200R on there at the moment, but has quite a few issues so by the time you've shelled out on repairs it'll probably go past £300
There's a A200R on there at the moment, but has quite a few issues so by the time you've shelled out on repairs it'll probably go past £300
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