low end Hi-Fi advice needed !

[erasuretim]

Hi!

My trusty old Sansui amp is giving up the ghost after 25 years service and I am thinking of replacing it with something equally cheap, prob from eBay. Only need something to drive some not very good Eltax c-205 speakers, also connected will be an ancient Sony CD player and my laptop. I like medieval music in a standard living room, so not looking for something capable of putting out 10000000000's of watts.

Can anyone recommend what i should look out for if I wanted something really cheap and value for money please? I would ideally spend under £100.

regards

tim

[Cynar]

Loads of stuff available on Ebay. I'd probably look at something from Cambridge Audio or NAD.

[pembers]

I'd go for something like this, lovely little amp.

The eBay sale is nothing to do with me by the way, just one I spotted.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Creek-CAS-...item3f26a29982

[MakeColdplayHistory]

If this goes unsold, contact the seller with a cheeky offer?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nad-C320-A...item5af2af938f

[Cynar]

Or you could get this in budget brand new with warranty.

[Rod]

That Creek is a good amp. Try for one of the Arcam Alpha series of amps too.

Rod

[KJH]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fatman-iTu...item43bd7da495

Something a wee bit different!

2 inputs would be enough providing you are using phono's from the Laptop

[Spencer Lee]

I'd go for something like this, lovely little amp.

The eBay sale is nothing to do with me by the way, just one I spotted.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Creek-CAS-...item3f26a29982

I just sold one of those. The thing about the old Creeks are that the connections on all but the Phono stage are 5 Pin-Din so you'd have to buy 5 Pin-Din/double phono interconnects.

[LuBee]

My old cheap hifi is mainly Rotel, nowt fancy but does the job and available cheaply on the bay. My amp is a Fatman itube cost me £80 off the bay and I can highly recommend those if you fancy a valve amp.

[LuBee]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fatman-iTu...item43bd7da495

Something a wee bit different!

2 inputs would be enough providing you are using phono's from the Laptop

exactly what i got minus the speakers. If you need more inputs get a little switch box from maplin.

[erasuretim]

Thanks for the advice guys, I might look out for NAD, Cambridge Audio, Creek etc on eBay and see what i can come up with think i need to avoid reading revues and just go for something that works as i wouldn't know the difference between them all with my setup! My current amp loses one channel intermittently until i apply percussive maintenance and belt it one.

regards

tim

[northernmunkeh]

I'd recommend onkyo amps but whilst good value might be over the top for your needs.

[mrw_y2k]

Or you could get this in budget brand new with warranty.

+1, have one of these in the basement linked up to Technics 1210s & JBL Control 5s, more than happy with it.

[Dapper]

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...-topaz-am1-blk

[erasuretim]

Hi!

Just a note to say I won a Marantz PM-32 amp on eBay last night for £16, it's collection only but luckily I only live 5 miles away and the fact that I could pick it up meant I had no postage to pay. Hopefully it will be alright and I will no longer have to get up to belt my amp in the middle of a piece of music. Thanks for all the advice BTW what do you think of Marantz gear? vendor says its about 17 years old and works fine....

regards

tim

[gunner]

Can't go too far wrong with Marantz, TEAC, Arcam, NAD, Cambridge etc.

As well as ebay, check Richer Sounds clearance department.

[vulcangascompany]

If you're looking for low end hifi another vote for Richer Sounds. They have some great deals, always my first stop when one of the units die - helpful, good service too!

[Taff]

Cambridge Audio A1 Mk3 is a fantastic amp that can be had from the bay very reasonably - better than the topaz if you don't need remote etc.

I'd go for something local to you from any of the big names mentioned - also old AV amps from denon and marantz etc are fantastic value and sound quality. Now cheap as they wont have the latest Av encoding or HDMI.. which you dont need! (just use the 2 channel function and off you go!)

Update up on what you get.. and what you think!

[mrwozza70]

Get yourself to Richer and see how far your money goes... they are usually good guys in the stores and will always demo stuff as long as you don't mind waiting or coming back in when they have set up time.

[BSB]

I don't know if you're interested but, this thread has reminded me I have a full components system in the loft that I haven't used since moving in with the other half a few years ago. It's the Teac Reference 500 system which had some excellent reviews in the late 90s when I bought it all brand new. There's the AH500 Integrated Amp with remote, the PDH500 compact disk player, the TH500 tuner and even the RH500 cassette deck. I also have speakers that I bought at the same time - I seem to recall they're Monitor Audio R252s but I could be confusing them with another pair I had - they start with 'M' anyhow (Mordaunt Shorts???) with some Atacama speaker stands. All the components are in the original boxes and there's all the connections and decent speaker wire you could need. £150? I'm in Kent. Just a thought.

[trisdg]

I'm not a hifi geek at all, but am a musician so appreciate a decent noise.

Very happy with the Cambridge audio amp and CD player I got from Richer Sounds a few years ago. But I was lucky that a friend was upgrading his system at the same time and gave me an excellent pair of Mission speakers :-)


Tris

[erasuretim]

Thanks all, but I'm sorted now, the Marantz amp I picked up from eBay sounds great to my ears, I've even retired my crappy old graphic equalizer to the loft because it sounds so natural without it. My system has really set me back a fortune though, i picked up the Eltax speakers [140w] and Sony CD player from a charity shop, amp from eBay all for under £25 perhaps i should splash out on some expensive cables?

regards

tim

[Steve748]

Marantz is pretty good stuff I had a 2215b in the 70's and it gave an excellent sound.

When I explored the loft of my new home in SoCal I found my girl has nearly the same unit but hers has the bigger output!

[Josh B]

Thanks all, but I'm sorted now, the Marantz amp I picked up from eBay sounds great to my ears, I've even retired my crappy old graphic equalizer to the loft because it sounds so natural without it. My system has really set me back a fortune though, i picked up the Eltax speakers [140w] and Sony CD player from a charity shop, amp from eBay all for under £25 perhaps i should splash out on some expensive cables?

regards

tim

I have a few dozen metres of Nordost Valhalla lying around you can have cheap...

[Steve748]

I have some good quality hand made cables which are 3m long and you can have them for £45 posted.



If you are not happy with them I will refund you.

[gunner]

I don't know if you're interested but, this thread has reminded me I have a full components system in the loft that I haven't used since moving in with the other half a few years ago. It's the Teac Reference 500 system which had some excellent reviews in the late 90s when I bought it all brand new. There's the AH500 Integrated Amp with remote, the PDH500 compact disk player, the TH500 tuner and even the RH500 cassette deck. I also have speakers that I bought at the same time - I seem to recall they're Monitor Audio R252s but I could be confusing them with another pair I had - they start with 'M' anyhow (Mordaunt Shorts???) with some Atacama speaker stands. All the components are in the original boxes and there's all the connections and decent speaker wire you could need. £150? I'm in Kent. Just a thought.

I have the same system except I went for B&W speakers. The amp in particular is a nice piece of kit.

[Grandiloquence]

I have a real soft spot for Technics gear. I have a couple of the SU-A900 MkIIs (got a spare just in case) and am on the lookout for an SL-PS7 CD player to go with it. They got looked down on by a lot of audiophiles but I think it's decent sound for a decent price.