Whatever happened to the budget stereo amplifier market?

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Cricketbat70

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Not sure I agree. At the turn of the century, an entry level Marantz was about £150 with a Sony, or Cambridge Audio a little less and a NAD a little more. Ajust that for inflation and you have abut £250 to £300 in todays money, what can you get for that? Cambridge Audio AXA25, Yamaha RS202D or AS201, WiiM Amp, Sony STR DH190, and the fantastic Merantz PM6007 is only £50 over budget at £349 and worth saving up for if you are in the market for something a little cheaper.

Then on top of this you have all the little class D amps like the Fosi Audio V3 that offer a very cheap way into hifi. And there is also strong second hand market thanks to online marketplaces. There was a post on here the other day where someone was putting a system together on a budget and started with an old Cambridge Audio A1 and a Marantz 41CD. I have a second system in my bedroom that probably gets as much use as my main hifi, it is all second hand including a Sony TA F246E that I paid about £25 for ten years ago.
It makes sense that the market is smaller as it becomes more specialised as people listen to music on their TVs, mobile phones, and little plastic "smart" devices. But for those who are interested there is plenty out there and at a huge variety of prices. Look at how the cost of streaming is coming down. Add an external DAC to a WiiM mini and you have a £160 streamer that will destroy a £500 streamer from a few years ago. I'm not sure the availability of a newish technology has moved that quickly since the first ten years of CD.
I thought exactly the same as you, my first Amp bought in 1992 was a Denon PMA250 mkII £150, allowing for inflation today's price around £350, bingo marantz PM6007 and I bet that would knock spots off my Denon. (That I still use at work)
 
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You're applying a broad brush. Some lowly priced class D amps may not be as good A/B solutions priced at many folds than the ubiquitous WiiM amp but there are many premium Class D amps NAD D3045 · Hegel H95 · Bel Canto C5i · Heaven 11 Billie · Lyngdorf TDAI 1120 that sound better than many folds cheaper A/B solutions.
It really isn't about D vs A/B per se, but more about design and quality of the components used.
Hegel don't do Class D.
 

Stevy68

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The term 'entry level' scares me half to death sometimes. I have just about finished building a system that would be classed as entry level, some parts are, others not and it has matched musically most excellently. It has taken some time and risks but it's just about done. I will be honest I think the cables have brought the sound to a premium as upgrading those has made the biggest difference.
 

Fandango Andy

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The term 'entry level' scares me half to death sometimes. I have just about finished building a system that would be classed as entry level, some parts are, others not and it has matched musically most excellently. It has taken some time and risks but it's just about done. I will be honest I think the cables have brought the sound to a premium as upgrading those has made the biggest difference.
I was going to say 'entry level' is a relative term, but I'm not sure that's the right expression. To say it's different things to different people.

The entry level amps the original article talks about are still there, but they now cost £250 to £400. While this is a lot more than they were thirty years ago, they are on a par when you adjust for inflation, something the writer seemed to fail to do.

Then you Fosi Audio, WIIM, FiiO, SMSL, and Aiyima. They are all offering either cheap upgradeable amps, streamers and DACS that are far cheaper than anything on the market atbthe back end ofnthe last century if you ajust for inflation the other way.
 

Fandango Andy

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The term 'entry level' scares me half to death sometimes. I have just about finished building a system that would be classed as entry level, some parts are, others not and it has matched musically most excellently. It has taken some time and risks but it's just about done. I will be honest I think the cables have brought the sound to a premium as upgrading those has made the biggest difference.
BTW, what do you have in your system?
 

Jasonovich

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The term 'entry level' scares me half to death sometimes. I have just about finished building a system that would be classed as entry level, some parts are, others not and it has matched musically most excellently. It has taken some time and risks but it's just about done. I will be honest I think the cables have brought the sound to a premium as upgrading those has made the biggest difference.
Eh.....from one cable guy to another cable guy.....welcome to the forum :)
 

Steve983

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I solved the problem by getting a fully restored NAD 3020 which looks brand new. I had one of these back in the day and am very happy to have one again. After fully trying it out I will be selling my NAD C316 BEE.
s-l1600 (7).jpg
 
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armondo666

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re: "I spend quite a lot of time looking through the What Hi-Fi? magazine archive that is stored lovingly in our test rooms. Almost 50 years of the magazine packed with group tests and great products is there in neatly organised binders. I came across an issue from the 1980s recently and looked through its substantial Buying Guide at the list of recommended affordable amplifiers. It featured the likes of the Arcam Alpha, Creek CA4040, Denon PMA250, Mission Cyrus One, Musical Fidelity A1, Naim Nait, NAD 3020 and Rotel RA820B, to name just a handful or so."

Hey, you can buy a new Creek 4040A for $1280. A price of $750 in 1985 is about $2100 today so it's a bargain.

 

Rui

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i want to make a remark not critise this or that component, i have a relativelly big hi-fi component colection ,mainly from the 7'0´s but i have components since late 50´s or even 1941 by Philips

, it works today ,only buy cleaning it and it as a great design with high quality materials ,in the style ,some don´t know it but it´s Art-Deco , it as a incorporated woofer of 40 cm´s wide ,

it can be conected better speakers, a proper turntable that i own from my great-grandfather as the records,

but it evolved , being in my opinion the start point to built anything today it´s most of it from the 70´s not developed today,

as minimal apliences can be made to improve it´s quality of working , but now refering to several brands who do release new type of hi-fi components, they are expensive and the quality is not there, and i´ve seen it in amplifiers, speakers and turntables ,also cd players,

how can such low quality be refered by brands as being "audiophile range" or whatever those people are or from wich place in a city , they come out at night or very early in the day ,.because i never saw one and tthe one i was like what?! said to me with a cheap 90´s system that he is an "audiophile" he things good sound is extremelly high in volume ,high frequencies to the point of not hearing the other instruments or most of it,

he´s a kind of person that belives first in a kid with 20 years of life that made a video in youtube than me that i knew him and become friends when we were 4 years old , and he thinks he knows more of , as an example cassette decks and turntables than me who worked in this type of material since the mid 60´s ,

and evolved through the years. In the city where i live people ask about amplifiers or instruments to the ones they know and think they are experts and only then they send it to me and say that i am the most experienced in hi-fi or instruments ,such as analog ,including old electronique keyboards,

who people call synthesizers, but also explored a lot synthesizers from yamaha ,roland and Korg, and even used a groove box with a midi keyboard and smapler in my live acts when i was a dj and no cds at the time were aceptable to work and the quality of sound being so low it had a certain number of actions to take in a few minitus to be used as a source of sound,

Now i have been buying a new system but slowly to match everything the better possible, and i can say it´s complete but i am using a top of the line Magnat receiver (tube pre-amplified) as a older cd player i already had bought in 2016(also ,tube pre-amplified) with the transpull 1500 speakers and sounds good but it´s not what i expected but above many brands here refered and speakers, they sound good bu8t they seem very small or not that high quality compared to what i have from the 70´s ,80´s and 90´s,

and i´m talking about stereo sound not surround or DTS or anything like that ,i have my tv and box already conected to a system from the 70´s with matrix 4 . so what would be better knowing that i have some of the best sound systems done in the 70´s or 80´s and even some in the 90´s ,

this stereo equipment not needing more than two channels to music listening, is there anything from a price perspective, like a pre and power amplification system , speakers i do know them ,so i´d like a response from others and what are their opinion and till 5.000€ at the most,

only forget to refer that i have from 75 to 200 watts speakers from brands like Tannoy, Elac, Wharfedale, JBL ,more recentelly bought from around 89 to 95 DB´s as sensitivety, or frequency response from 20hz to 20khz or around 10 to 35 Khz, i think this two specifications are the most seen in speakers before buying them ,if not possible to try them before buying ,i seen it happen in more recent shop´s ,

before one would try diferent amplifiers and speakers at the stores, that i knowing the owner would buy those at a more afordable price, almost 45% of price reduction,
 
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MikGle

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I have some issues reading this article. Simply because it replies its own quetion but ont take into account where the brnads has their focus, the world economics and competition within the trade. I also thik there is a lack of mentioning what the consumers want and setting a certain standard. Cheap amplifers do also today sound, well, cheap. The phrase telling that thech has become cheaper and therfore should deliver high quality for less money. In this situation the price for basic parts it not in the quotation, A transformer still cost a sum and can dont get cheaper, that count for cabinets and other vital parts. Then the argument using class d amps come in to play. Well here we can for sure say that cheap amps with class d sounds cheap. Secondly a issue like the way we consume music and spend money on consumer good is alwayd in change. This is defenately a reason for why well known brands dont spit out redicolous cheap integrated amps.
 

Steve983

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I know its long way back but here is the buying guide for Amplifiers from What Hi Fi December 1983. Of course the prices have all changed but the sheer number of amps available then compared to now... Anyone got a recent copy of WHF for comparison?

20240424_150951.jpg

20240424_150830.jpg
 

Steve983

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Plenty of "budget" options still available, though I doubt that they are manufactured as well as they once were. I think the same is true for higher-end options.
Sorry for the delayed response..

From where I am in the UK there are very few budget amps available today especially compared to those lists from 1983. Maybe it depends on what you mean by 'budget' -I'd say under £500?
 

Fandango Andy

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Sorry for the delayed response..

From where I am in the UK there are very few budget amps available today especially compared to those lists from 1983. Maybe it depends on what you mean by 'budget' -I'd say under £500?
I think compared to that list from 1983 there less at every price point.

The notable thing about those old lists is how many manufacturers have multiple products at close price points. Marantz have five between £79 and £209. that would be £260 to £690 in today's money. Today they only have the PM6007 in that whole bracket.
 
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Cricketbat70

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Do you think that's because consumer demand just isn't there anymore? I've said before on other threads the company I work for used to sell hifi separates. We had 4 high street shops within a 20 mile radius that sold HiFi admittedly we were limited to Kenwood, Technics and Sony but we stocked everything from budget to top of the range for those three manufacturers. We used to sell Castle speakers too but then they were only a few miles across the border in Skipton.

On top of us I can think of at least 4 dedicated hifi stores in that same 20 mile radius. We stopped selling hifi nearly 20 years ago and of the 4 dedicated hifi shops only one still exists.
All our customers want is Bluetooth speakers, Sonos gear or Ruark one box systems.
Pointless manufacturers making a range of products that aren't going to sell.
 
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Jasonovich

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Yester year budget amps we know of, NAD, Marantz, Rotel, ARCAM, old Cambridge have moved into upper echoleons of the price bracket. Not unless you consider £500+ to be where budget starts?

It's seems the only true budget amps these days are from WiiM or Chi-Fi brands like Fosi and Ayima.
 
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Steve983

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Do you think that's because consumer demand just isn't there anymore? I've said before on other threads the company I work for used to sell hifi separates. We had 4 high street shops within a 20 mile radius that sold HiFi admittedly we were limited to Kenwood, Technics and Sony but we stocked everything from budget to top of the range for those three manufacturers. We used to sell Castle speakers too but then they were only a few miles across the border in Skipton.

On top of us I can think of at least 4 dedicated hifi stores in that same 20 mile radius. We stopped selling hifi nearly 20 years ago and of the 4 dedicated hifi shops only one still exists.
All our customers want is Bluetooth speakers, Sonos gear or Ruark one box systems.
Pointless manufacturers making a range of products that aren't going to sell.

Yes, the demand is just not there anymore compared to the heyday. In my local town of Worthing, there is absolutely nowhere to buy hi fi separates. I can go to Brighton though where there's Richer, Sevenoaks and Audio T if I want to buy in person but I think it's sadly fading away as the need for convenience wins out.
 

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